Guarantor reference /income

Landlord Discussion
1

Hi , am new to Openerent .

Can anyone advise of how much a guarantor should earning to cover the rent .

Any thoughts ?

Thanks

2

Annual net income is more than 3 times the annual rent, or annually 30-36 times more than the monthly rent.

Note, “Rentguard, usually require the rent to be 35% or less of the tenant’s income to pass the affordability criterion of the referencing check.”

The same applies to the tenant if you wish to take out rent protection insurance.

3

Thanks for your reply John,

I have a tenant that viewed my property on Monday , I am keen to her to apply via rent now button to start referencing . If she passes referencing does she need a guarantor? , and in what circumstances does she need one ?

1 Like
4

Hi Anne-Marie, you can let to tenants even if they don’t pass referencing. We don’t try and force landlords to accept or not accept tenants – that’s up to you as the landlord. Referencing is just a helpful way to find out more about prospective tenants before deciding to let to them.

In most cases, if a tenant fails referencing, landlords would usually ask for a guarantor who would be able to cover the rent in the case the tenant can’t pay. If the tenant passes referencing usually landlords don’t ask for a guarantor, but you could still ask for one if you wanted one.

Hope this helps!

Sam

5

Hi A-M,

The thing to remember is a £1000 pm rent and a guarantor on £36k ish pa would render the guarantor as okay to cover £1000pm but it could be if they were also renting or had a high mortgage they could not cover the both rents /mortgage. Therefore on one point they are good for £1000pm but may not be on their own property and the rented property. The credit referencing would advise on this. You then take a balanced view. I.E I had this very case recently but the likelihood of the guarantor in my case having to pay all the tenants monthly rent would be low and therefore I allowed the tenancy

6

Hi Brian ,

Thanks for your reply , I have had 2 applicants fail referencing based on them booth having CCJs and even their guarantor’s reference failing, based on having insufficient funds .Have wasted almost 80 pounds on referencing fees .
I am new to all this , 1st time landlord, the whole process seems to be mine field .

Thanks for your advice

1 Like
7

Hi A-M

In your advert Re applicants when replying to you.

  1. You can create a number of pre qualifying questions which they must answer with the application
  2. You can of course send them these upon application to save you money on referencing.
  3. You can play about with the words below but the concept should help.

Applicants and guarantors must successfully pass a credit referenced when we decide to move forward to the next stage of your application if we consider you are suitable

• If you have pending or have had CCJs, debt issues please do not apply for our property, as your application will not accepted.

• If you are applying with Universal Credit or any other benefit have you completed an affordability eligibility ?

• Are you currently furloughed?

• Tell us a little about yourself

• Why are you applying and moving location?

• Has your landlord asked you to leave. If so why. Please note if we decide to proceed with your application we reserve the right to confirm this with them

Anyway food for thought in improving your applications and getting the right family without unnecessary expense

8

HI Brian,

That really helps, I will use what you wrote to create screening questions to screen out the applicants who won’t past the credit checks due to credit issues and CCJs. It will save me loads of money on referencing .

Much appreciated. Thanks for your all your help .

Kind Regards

A-M