Prospective tenant has told me she has a couple of CCJs relating to business failure during Covid. Husband who will also be tenant has none. I want to give them a chance and they can provide a guarantor. I am minded to ask for 6 months bank statements but in what format could these be provided? should I ask for? Also I don’t want tenant to put down deposit then have to cancel application when referencing shows the CCJS she has already told about. Could I do this through Open Rent then let them keep the deposit or should I not take a deposit and do referencing outside of Rent Now process?
You sound a bit confused. After you get referencing done, including for guarantor, you decide what to do. The referencing isnt just to check for CCJs. It might show they cant afford it, for example.
If you choose to reject the application after referencing the holding deposit gets returned unless you have a proper reason to keep it eg if they lied or misled you about something
https://help.openrent.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/115001490632-How-will-the-holding-deposit-be-treated
If you use Openrent rent now to create a tenancy they insist on taking a week holding deposit. But you can use OR or anybody else to do referencing separately
Good luck
That’s their problem. Just ask them each for 6 months bank statements and payslips AND same from guarantor.
If she volunteered the info then fair enough. If you unearthed it somehow, I’d recommend halting this application and looking elsewhere.
Business failure during COVID could well mean that they were operating on a shoestring and didn’t plan a safety net or make use of govt assistance. I’d want full details of exactly how she ended up with those CCJs, and if they were avoidable, I wouldn’t proceed with application.
I don’t mind asking for the statements, I just wondered in the experience of the people on here. how they are practically provided in these days of internet banking? Can the tenant email them to me? Do they have to get printed copies from the bank? I’ve seen the referencing services mention Open Banking but have no idea what that means.
Some people still get paper statements in the post. If they have turned this off they may get copies by email instead or people can login to their bank account online and download statements there and print these off or save as pdf files. Or even login just do a search of transactions between todays date and 6 months ago and print off so its all in one pdf file. They can then email you and attach the pdf files.
Very few people would need to visit their bank to get hard copies these days.
Openbanking allows referencing companies like OR to get direct access to the records so they can see all the transactions- if they know the income and employer they can automatically pick out the monthly pay going in, and if they know what rent the tenant is paying they can see it in the monthly outgoings.
Best
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I typically got PDFs or screenshots by email
“i want to give them a chance” - words written on the grave of every landlord who died early from stress
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