After paying the holding deposit, the landlord wants to use a 3rd party reference agency.
Since I didn’t agree to this beforehand, can I just ask for the holding deposit to be returned to me by OpenRent ?
Its none of your business which reference agency the Landlord wishes to use or how they consider your application. That’s like telling your bank how to credit score a loan application!
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You mean you did not want him to reference you? What did you think he would do in order to run a check on you?
The reference company would be contacting me for documents, would they not ?
Does Open Rent have their own referencing service ?
…Possibly. If you don’t want to go ahead with the rental, why not speak to the Landlord and ask to stop the process. I’m sure they do not want a tenant who doesn’t want to be there.
I’m just wondering how this works with the holding deposit held by Open Rent. Can the landlord subsequently ambush you with endless requests for documents and 3rd party companies doing the same ?
Every Landlord will have their own process. The Openrent Reference process can work very smoothly. Its a series of online questions, and depending on your circs what document might be needed for verification. Maybe none, if you sign up if you are employed and agree to the Openbanking link-up..
The landlord may want to do some of his own checks as well. You’d be wise to ask the Landlord in future about their ‘next steps’, as every Landlord will want to do things their own way.
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Ambush you?? The worst case scenario is you email the same documents to the landlord as you do a referencing firm. Not exactly taxing.
Landlord has what you want remember. He needs to be cautious.
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Mark 10 has just said what I was going to say “ambush” is a bad choice of words
The LL can certainly ask you for info before deciding whether to go ahead with the tenancy and can use a reference co as well. Just like you can ask LL. You are both signing a financial doc with lots of responsibility on both sides. LL is trusting you with a valuable asset, needs to know you can afford the rent and see if eg you have CCJs. Sometimes there can be things that aren’t clear from a referencing report that a LL may want to check with a potential tenant eg if they have any history of late payments or if they have changed address a lot. Depending on referencing report LL may ask for a guarantor. Equally you need to know about the place you want to rent and what’s expected and may not have asked everything when viewing.
Totally understand it might be a surprise being asked for lots of info if you’ve not been through the process before but it’s in your interest too to be thorough and have a LL who cares about getting the right person for their property, who can afford it etc. It makes everything easier later
Good luck
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assuming the “endless” was just sheer hyperbole borne of your frustration, if you let us know which documents the landlord has requested, we can let you know whether they are standard requests or not.
FWIW, once I’ve seen the applicant’s passport, I’ll need to see 6 months of bank statements and payslips and/or any supporting documentation for any benefits.
If they balk at this, then in return, I show them my birth certificate so they’re clear that I wasn’t born yesterday.
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The Tenant Fees Act does allow you to get the holding deposit refunded if something is imposed on you that you hadnt agreed to in advance. I would suggest you check the full extent of the referencing requirement before deciding though as all referencing is by its nature intrusive.
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Yes this seems to be the guidance. You have to always ask the landlord whether they intend to use a third party reference agency, and what separate referencing they want to do. Otherwise you can pay the holding deposit, and then suddenly they can spring it on you, and you are in a legal no man’s land.
Anyone can get a sample of a reference off the open rent site so can see exactly what is involved. As a landlord I pay the reference fee. Having just done 2 references for 2 prospective tenants im jolly glad I did. One clearly couldn’t afford it and the income didn’t stack with what he said and the second had a string of unpaid ccj’s he omitted to tell me about. If a tenant isnt prepared to have references done Im not prepared to risk having them as tenants and the £’s it would cost me to get them out once they have the keys.
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That’s pure hyperbole
You’re not in any ‘legal no man’s land’.You are in a position that you and LL are negotiating a deal. That’s all. LL doesn’t hold the holding deposit and if you aren’t satisfied with how long it’s taking or LL asking questions to protect their valuable property by choosing someone they are happy to rent to, you can easily walk away. All you have to do is tell OR to give you back the holding deposit. Simples
Good luck
Are you a first time renter?
Yes it’s an open market so landlords have those options. But on OpenRent maybe there could be a couple of extra checkboxes for landlords who want to use an external reference company, and for landlords who won’t go through OpenRent and want the holding deposit paid to themselves.
It would just make it more transparent for the tenant this way.
Getting bank statements off that applicant would have cost you nothing and given you the same result.
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Referencing companies don’t really vary in how they work or what they ask, so I’m not sure why you think there is a need for a checkbox for 3rd party companies. I think that even Openrent’s referencing is outsourced, or it was the last time I used it. Also landlords that want to be thorough will ask for supplementary information too. Whether they do may depend on what they find in the referencing.