I have a prospective tenant who is currently living in Germany and will be moving to London to start a new job in investment banking on 19 October.
His base salary will be £91,000 plus bonus, and the rent is £2,000 pcm, so affordability itself isn’t an issue. He has said he can provide his employment contract and landlord references.
However, this will be his first UK job and he has told me that he doesn’t know whether he has any UK credit history. He also doesn’t have a UK-based guarantor — any potential guarantors would be in Germany.
I intend to take OpenRent’s Rent Guarantee Insurance, so RGI eligibility is important to me.
Has anyone put an applicant in similar circumstances through OpenRent’s comprehensive referencing recently? In particular, if the applicant has strong verified employment/income but little or no UK credit history, can they still pass the requirements for RGI without a UK guarantor?
I’m particularly interested in hearing from landlords who have actually gone through the OpenRent referencing/RGI process with an overseas applicant in this situation.
Openrent sell Legal for Landlord’s RGI, but they do their referencing inhouse. . I do not use Openrent’s referencing. I use LegalforlLandlords referencing directly, and I buy LegalforLandlords insurance directly too.
I have a tenant who is in exactly the same position as yours. She had been living in Germany, she had no UK Credit score and she had no UK guarantors or referees. LegalforLandlords verified her income – they contacted the HR dept of her company – and subsequently sent me a reference saying she was suitable for their RGI.
If I were you I would simply cut out OR for these things, as I did. It has to be better to buy the references and the RGI from the same company – in the event of a claim they will find it harder to reject you on the grounds that the references weren’t done correctly.
Just phone LegalforLandlords, they’re friendly. You’ll save a bit of money that way too.
Thank You @David240 I’m so glad you highlighted this. I’ve read the info you linked and watched the horrific stories in the Panorama programme. So due diligence is key. So how do I validate a fake passport is what I would want to know?
Thanks @Howard1 for weighing in as well. Does LegalforLanlords check the passports as well? I will phone them and ask how their process works. Really grateful for this info, as I was relying on OpenRents referencing and RGI.
I am not an expert on validation of passport but for a German national you need to validate their right to rent, and as they are a non-uk/non-irish national you don’t check their passport at all, you get them to send you their HO share code.
See guidance
And
(You can still check physical documents but you then need to have them in your hand it can’t be done by video link)
You should check their right to rent yourself, but you do not need to see their passport. They will give you a “share code” which you use on a Government website. It comes up with their picture and the details of how long they can rent for. It really is very easy, nothing to worry about, it takes one minute or less. It’s much easier to check the right to rent of foreigners than it is for Brits!
If I remember correctly there were two levels of referencing at LegalforLandlords, a cheap and cheerful computer based one, and a de luxe service where a human being does additional verification. You will need the latter for your tenant - they will explain.
It’s great to have your support, particularly as you have been through something similar.
I also have someone from the UK as well, who’s also interested. I’ll do checks in both of them and then make a choice I’ll definitely be using LegalforLandlords for referencing and credit checks.
He sounds sincere, and I feel for him, as I suspect he might be experiencing problems, as he has no UK credit history, but I won’t exhale till I’ve done all the checks. I think the world we now live in demands due diligence, through and through.
Just to update you - I contacted LegalforLandlords directly and was impressed with their Comprehensive Complete referencing, so I’m going to use them for the tenant reference.
I also looked into their RGI in detail and obtained the full policy wording. The point that gave me pause was the insurer behind the policy. The RGI is underwritten by Devon Bay Insurance Company Limited, which is based and regulated in Anguilla rather than being a UK-authorised insurer. I specifically asked L4L what protection I would have if the insurer became insolvent, and they were unable to confirm that FSCS protection would apply.
That made me look at alternative RGI policies. HomeLet’s policy is underwritten by AmTrust Specialty Limited and explicitly states that the insurer is covered by the FSCS. Alan Boswell also quoted me a policy underwritten by Aviva, with FSCS protection potentially available.
Interestingly, both will allow me to use L4L’s referencing provided it meets their respective criteria. HomeLet have also said I can send them the completed reference and they will check whether it meets their eligibility requirements before I proceed with the policy.
So I think I will still take your advice on using L4L directly for the referencing, particularly given their ability to deal with someone who has recently arrived from overseas, but I’m now leaning towards taking the RGI with a UK-authorised insurer instead.
Thanks again for pointing me towards L4L — it was definitely worth investigating them directly.
That’s excellent work @Joanne51 , and thanks for letting us know. Much appreciated. I shall investigate to today. No good to customers can come from L4L’s decision to choose an offshore insurer.
If it’s true, then OR really needs to reappraise their decision to resell L4L insurance - if they go belly up and OR customers lose out as a result, there could be significant damage to the OR brand. I must admit, I chose L4L simply because OR endorsed them, I assumed that OR were on the landlord’s side, but in truth they’re just another agent.
This is the response I got when I asked for clarification and it’s an excerpt from their email a few days ago:
4. Insurer insolvency / policyholder protection
Devon Bay Insurance Company Limited is a non-UK insurer and provides the underlying insurance cover under the policy. The insurer operates under the regulatory framework of Anguilla, where the local regulator sets requirements regarding insurers permitted to provide insurance and their financial standing.
LegalforLandlords acts as the UK intermediary and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As part of this, LegalforLandlords is subject to requirements relating to due diligence, conduct and client protection.
The arrangements therefore provide oversight at both the insurer and UK intermediary level.
In relation specifically to FSCS protection, I would not want to confirm that FSCS protection applies to this policy without the relevant confirmation from the insurer or policy documentation. As Devon Bay Insurance Company Limited is a non-UK insurer, the applicable protection in the event of insolvency may differ from that available for policies underwritten by a UK-authorised insurer.
Be very careful! Alan Boswell require two forms of identification, the L4L references take only one form of ID. The devil is always in the details with this form of insurance.
Thanks, I’m not using them anyway, as they leave the responsibility for complying with their referencing requirements entirely to the policy holder, and will not provide a pre-check on completed references.