Importance of OpenRent’s £20 referencing

Sent to Info@OpenRent just now:-

“I thought I had let the house, but it turned out I would be letting to pups and on legal advice from the National Residential Landlords Association, I had to pull out.

They had not signed a Tenancy Agreement, produced another Guarantor, after one parent got cold feet, or two employment references the morning of the day they were supposed to be moving in, nor any month’s deposit or one month’s rent, minus a week’s holding deposit.

I paid £120 for Open Rent Referencing for 5 tenants and 1 Guarantor, which was very thorough and great value for money.

They even refunded £20, as the sole, valid Guarantor, did not initiate referencing, within the week allowed!

Open Rent Referencing said “proceed with caution” on all 5 tenants, due to one’s minor discrepancies with her month old sub-landlord, in a short term let and 4 others stating they were living with friends or family, when a total of 3 were living in the short term let.

Two other, signed and witnessed guarantor forms, were invalid.

Then they started bullying, threatening and harassing me, stating they would be homeless, when they weren’t my tenants.

One was even stalking the property, with another individual, as I came out of it at 16:30 hours, yesterday.

The same one even called me a vigilante - over my previous voluntary work, as former Organising Secretary of Islington Conservatives, having studied law and helping residents, eg when Linda Robson, of ITV’s Loose Women, said “Everyone Needs an Oriel”, over my Court action against two big bailiff companies and clamps on her stepfather’s car, John Bull, who was ill in bed with cancer, which article appeared in the Mail on Sunday, by Tom Harper.

This is proving a disaster and my property is still unlet.

Please help.

If the tenants have caused issues on the referencing that is down to them. If they havent completed their referencing successfully that is on them
The referencing is there for a reason.
If they are a problem now it would be worse if they moved in.
The referencing is a very good indication of what you may expect.
Find another renter.
The issue of 5 renters may even be a problem itself.

Lucky you.

Continue advertising and look for proper tenants.

Is that a typo or some form of urban slang I’m not familiar with?

Thanks, Mike.

In this market and what is to come, either in the next few months, with the Renters Reform Bill fast approaching and as we approach 2030, when “we will own nothing and be happy”, of course we have to be extra cautious.

As for 5 people, Hackney Council Selective Licensing issued me licences for 5 people for
2 separate properties at a cost of £950 per property.

Oriel

pups is short for puppies.

ah right… yeah, no wonder references didn’t work out. Puppies don’t have much life experience.

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