Experience with GoodLord referencing?

Landlord Discussion
1

Hi there. I have a prospective tennant who is worried about failing referencing for the following reasons:

"To be clear, I have always worked as a PAYE for almost a decade, and was given an opportunity to become a full time consultant for the first time (Since November 2021), and contract my services to a technology company I love, doing my dream job, launching them into the UK.

Yes, I am newly set up as a limited company, but have both a contract confirming my employment as an exclusive sales consultant with my new firm, at a fixed fee per annum of £80k a year plus bonuses, which cannot be reduced for the full minimum 2 year contractual term of my agreement, and also a reference from my company’s head of HR confirming the permanency of my contracted employment, which I thought would be more than enough to provide a landlord confidence in my income and employment!

Heartbreakingly, I was wrong!

Due to being registered newly as self employed, for less than 12 months, it means some referencing agents will not accept me, to my horror, considering how much I love this new job and how elated I was that I had worked hard enough to earn the salary I have.

Some agencies are however happy with my contracted employment agreement, my HR reference letter and projected figures from my accountant, but I honestly didn’t love the properties they offered me as much, and really want to make sure I was 100% happy in my new home as I will be working remote and making such an incredibly big move, so I’ve tried to be patient until I can find either a private landlord who understands my position and is open to having me as a tenant or a letting agent that works with a referencing agency like GoodLord who are happy to accept my with my circumstances as they are, that has a property I really love.

Its hugely stressful, and honestly causing me a large amount of anxiety, but I truly believe the right home is waiting for me, I just need to be patient and keep looking."

She has suggested GoodLord - does anyone have any experience with this platform? or any other referencing advice? Thanks!

2

I do referencing according to the individual’s circumstances. I’m a member of the NRLA and use their credit checks. I use their referencing where convenient and for most ‘employed’ tenants, but for others do my own referencing. If I’m doing my own referencing, once I have a satisfactory credit check, I do referencing according to the circumstances. In your tenant’s situation, I would approach the company that they’re contracted to directly, and attain a reference from HR confirming all the assurances that the prospective tenant has claimed are in place. It might also be worth checking out the stability of the company too. Plus I’d attain a reference from the last landlord directly. I’ve not used GoodLord, so can’t comment on them. I would also check the last 6 months of the tenant’s bank statements to check they are financially capable. And go with your instinct about the person (not always reliable, but I’ve found it to be so in my case). They seem to have good written communication skills, if this is matched in person, and they are more than willing to provide everything you need (as suggested above) in a timely fashion, then that bodes well. There are always risks even with traditionally employed people, we can only do our best at assessing each situation.