I have a good job.
No criminal history.
I have a past landlord reference.
Yet I failed the referencing checks.
I got a Debt Relief Order back in 2020 which I assume is the reason why I failed the credit check. I have ZERO debt currently. And earn £30,000 a year as a Product Marketing Executive. HR even confirmed my employment details. Also my landlord reference was positive so I am surprised it says “Referee Unreliable”. This makes no sense. I’m 26 and am going through a divorce - I urgently need somewhere to live. I have no idea why it is so difficult to rent a place currently.
The DRO will still be on your record even if it is satisfied. Were you honest about it upfront ? If you failed to mention it that will make most landlords look for someone else.
The DRO lasts for 6 years so this can be a problem for you in respect of renting. that is possibly why you are finding it difficult It is not hard to understand the reluctance of a landlord as somewhere along the line some firm or individual has not been paid what you owed to them
Point is, other people won’t have a DRO. Landlords have choices. They will say you failed referencing, but in fact what they mean is that other people have clean references so naturally if they have a choice they will go with the other person.
2 Likes
Government policies have pushed many landlords out of the market - and inflation and high mortgage rates have resulted in more people competing for fewer rental properties
At the same time courts are very slow at processing evictions and recovering back rent.
So landlords now often have 60-80 applicants for any property and wil chose those less likely to default on the rent.
Most who did not previously do credit and reference checks are now being very thorough in them .
Mot landlords will immediately exclude any applicant that did not reveal a debt , or misrepresented income of the checks show something different .
Most now won’t touch anyone who has had a CCJ judgment against them (unless they are offering a hovel for inflated rent which is the only way to make a living offering to risky tenants)
If you have an issue like a previous DRO always tell the landlord yourself and explain why they can be sue you wil continue to pay rent and be a reliable tenant on fist contact . If you don’t do this you are stuffed!
4 Likes
If you have paid off the DRO, put a notice on your credit file.
It will still show and may not necessarily change the outcome of any reference decision but it’s still better to put your notice of correction.
2 Likes
That is very optomistic to think it has been paid off Mr T . I await Joy10 response . If paid off she would have said so?
2 Likes
She did say she had zero debt currently.
1 Like
I did note that I Thought a debt relief order means you do not have to pay it back .It is like a clean slate. That does not mean that the people you owed money to are happy bunnies ?
2 Likes
I have just checked , after 12 months they do not have to be paid You get away with it . No such tenants for me ,someone has suffered a loss.
3 Likes
I thought the current zero debt that she stated, meant it has been paid off, but I didn’t know how a DRO works. But interesting to know it’s written off after 12 months.
2 Likes
if the debt is under a certain amount and the person has no assets and no chance of paying ,a DRO can be issued and after a certain time does not have to be paid back. !! No wonder landlords are wary …Incredible is it not ,a person can run up debts , go bankrupt, or liquidate a company and start up under a different name and not have to pay anything back.!! Country gone to the dogs comes to mind.
2 Likes
Joy must have read our coments but has not said anything further ? ? ? Why would the referee or reference be unreliable ? we will probably never know
Basically it about risk for the landlord and if there is a slight iffy thing then it will be difficult
Do you have a guarantor? Once my tenant got one in place I was fine about her CCJ. Failed referencing with no guarantor would have invalidated my landlord insurance. Not sure what to say about the unreliable referee, maybe contact the referees and ask whether anything was amiss.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.