thank you for your earlier comments on my previous post
I’d really appreciate some input from fellow landlords on this topic also.
I have a prospective tenant with the following profile:
• no UK credit history → credit check did not pass
• no UK-based guarantor
• unable to pay rent in advance (even 3 months)
• however, he does have a letter of permanent employment confirming a permanent role confirming above 75.000£ yearly salary (his employer relocated him from US to London and he has a dual nationality - US and Irish. He has sent me copies of both passports).
I’m trying to weigh how much weight other landlords place on a permanent employment contract in the absence of UK credit, guarantor, or rent upfront.
For those with experience, would you consider proceeding in this situation, and if so, on what basis or additional safeguards (if any)?
Thanks in advance — interested to hear how others handle this in practice.
you need to speak to the actual employer’s HR dept to verify that the terms of employment are bona fide. Also, get him to name people like his line manager or dept head and then see if you can locate them on LinkedIn as real people. This will help to build a pic of the reality of his employment.
I’d still be asking to see 6 months of bank statements. This will give you an idea of how he manages money, what savings he has for a rainy day, whether there are any huge loan payments etc.
Rent upfront will be illegal from 1st May anyway and I’ve never placed any value on it. It guarantees nothing beyond when that balance runs out.
Id walk away certainly if youved not met face to face- unclear if already here in uk and working on new contract or if applying from abroad
Someone earning that much and being moved internationally should either have 3 months rent savings or the ability to raise it (a loan from firm, friends or whoever). Standard advice for anyone is keep 6 months income eg in case of unemployment. If rent is 30% of income, 3 months rent is less than a months income. If they cant raise that its a big risk.
They can pay a company a monthly small fee to provide a UK guarantor service and you can then get RGI (check with your rgi provider)
They still need to provide right to rent checks (you need that anyway as not legal otherwise ( and proof of ID - ditto)
You can maybe offer a short term for say 2 months at a 10% (?) higher rate to cover the risk you will have to re-market again and also that they disappear without paying finsl month.
Check past bank statements etc but if you are advertising at the right rate for a uk tenant with a good uk credit history etc why take the risk on someone who in their new uk job might feel homesick and go back after a month. If you have priced higher to allow for risks for international tenants that’s different