Hi, I found a house through OpenRent and the lovely landlord accepted my offer and initiated referencing, which was completed within a day because I alerted my employer and current landlord. OpenRent sent a message saying my report is now with the landlord. Does this mean I passed referencing? I have great credit and rental history but this is the first time I am being referenced.
Two days later, I still have not received a contract to sign to finalise the rental. Is this normal and how long does it typically take? Is it possible that the landlord is still considering other tenants? I need to move out of my current place soon and I want to know how certain the rental is at this point.
Once the landlord receives your Reference Report, they can very quickly (as long as it takes to make a decision) initiate the next step of the process and that is to instruct OR to issue the agreement to the lead tenant (you). You will then receive an electronic copy of the agreement for your perusal/(electronic) signature.
The fact that a report has been issued does not indicate whether you have passed the referencing checks or not. It will simply “recommend” whether you have passed, failed or need a guarantor.
If you paid a holding deposit to OR then the property will have been withdrawn from the market. Check on their website to see if the property is listed as “Let Agreed”.
The referencing report was completed on Wed (got an email confirmation from rentguard and now I am waiting for a copy of their repot) and the landlord said he prompted OR to prepare the contract, but the status still reads “tenant undergoing referencing” three days later. I find this suspicious. How long can the landlord sit on this decision and my holding deposit before I can either get a contract or my holding deposit back. Is there a deadline beyond which OR returns the deposit to the prospective tenant?