Hi.
I’m having trouble to find a property to rent as most of the landlords are asking for guarantor.
I don’t have a guarantor that live in the uk, the landlords they don’t even let you see the property without guarantor. I have offered pay 6 months in advance but apparently nowadays that’s not good enough
I have other incomes apart of my full time job but they don’t even ask about that.
Also if you are a single mum with 2 kids they find another excuse if it’s not the guarantor.
I have always paid my bills and I’ve never have any debts but I’m struggling to find a place to live.
Landlords are preparing themselves for the rental reforms coming in which will make it even harder for them. As if its not bad enough already!
Many are asking for guarantors as standard.
Most properties are now receiving over 50 applicants so landlords have the pick. Many landlords have sold up as they dont want to deal with what’s coming, so there’s a shortage.
Tenants need to get onto their MPS and oppose the reform bill.
Is your other income via permanent employment or actual self employed business with a trading history and SA302 available? If not it won’t be considered. Are you meeting affordability with your main job income?
you should try social housing
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Yes I can afford the property with my income but they still want a guarantor and obviously they won’t accept a guarantor that doesn’t live in the UK
I don’t want social housing, first because the waiting list is huge, second because my income isn’t that low and luckily I’m not homeless and third cause you can’t really choose when it comes to social housing
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does it actually meet their required criteria? Gross annual income requirement is typically 2.5 the rent.
I know. Yes I meet the 2.5
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There are companies who offer rent guarantee services. Eg Rentguarantor. Have you considered using them?
I let a property to a couple (via Open Rent) who did not have a guarantor but promised to be good tenants. They stopped paying rent during the first term and would not allow me to have any access. It took 10 months via Open Rent and the court to evict them. They wrecked the white goods (fridge, dish-washer, w/m, etc.) before they left and stole fittings (including made to measure curtains - why?). The police were useless - they said the thefts were a civil matter. Letters kept coming after they left about debts, CCJs, parking tickets, unpaid credit card bills, etc. In the future, I will only let to someone with a guarantor. No guarantor => do not bother to view.
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I’ve was renting for over 16 years, no issues, no late rent, zero drama, nice quiet respectful tenant. I had no savings. If someone asked me to be their guarantor I would say no. No one should be responsible for your rent but yourself. I would never ask anyone to do something, I wasn’t prepared to do myself.
Landlords need to understand that there are amazing tenants out there, and asking for a guarantor can be unfair on those that don’t have those sorts of connections. I was very shy and a loner when I was younger. I lost both parents early, my family. My graduation, every hospital visit, birthday, Christmas, alone.
I was turned away by so many landlords for some of the grottiest dives I’ve ever stepped foot it, because I couldn’t provide a guarantor.
I was in tears, sick of lodging in overpriced rooms in shared houses, with no privacy. I went on gumtree and saw a tiny bedsit for rent. The landlady never asked me for a guarantor and I am so eternally grateful to her. That bedsit saved me. I had no one. I was scared. I ended up living there for years, amazing happy years in that bedsit, saving, working hard. Now I always walk past my old building and think of all the characters that lived there and our shared history.
I understand it’s frustrating for landlords when things go wrong, but there needs to a better way than a guarantor.
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There currently is no better way than a guarantor.
A guarantor allows some people who are in less than ideal circumstances to at least have a chance of renting.
Should a landlord not rent to those with a chequered credit history at all, or one deemed as higher risk? Why shouldn’t a landlord protect themselves? There are different ways of getting guarantors, even it means paying for a professional guarantor service.
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Unfortunately, when there are so many tenants looking for a property & the Govt makes it so hard to recover a property from a non-paying tenant, only tenants with the least financial risk will be taken on. You are right, it is unfair, but so is being unable to get a property back from a tenant who owes thousands in arrears.
Unless & until the Govt substantially increase the number of social houses for rent this will not improve for people in a similar situation to yours 16 yrs ago - in fact it will just keep getting worse! That unfortunately, is the housing crisis we are in today.
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Totally agree with you, the law needs to change. There should be a £££ protection scheme for landlords in that respect.
Helen that will not happen. it is not a vote winner . No matter who the goverment is There are fewer landlords to vote than the millions of private tenants . Landlords are selling up. To change things ? > Pay landlords direct the element of housing benefit without the tenant being able to cancel it. Quicker court action to evict non payers and the L A NOT rehome them if evicted due to non payment of rent ( after all , if they stopped paying ,it is their fault. ) Build more social housing and do not sell them off again
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Who’s going to pay for that?
not sure I’d admit to that in public. It’s a criminal offence to open post addressed to anyone else. If someone with cause wanted to use that against you, you wouldn’t enjoy the consequences.
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