Rental applicant has exaggerated salary!

Landlord Discussion
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Hello. Advice needed please.

I’m in the process of referencing tenants, but I’ve discovered a tenant has exaggerated their income, and I’d like your thoughts on the situation …

Quick background: I’ve recently advertised our rental property. On receiving viewing requests, I always send out a short questionnaire asking for the following basic information: name, age, job title, salary, company name, pets, etc.

I proceeded with an offer from a couple, who seemed like a good option. Since referencing however, I’ve found out one of the two has exaggerated their salary amount by about 18%! The applicant said they were earning 51k on the first application to me, but in fact earns 43k.

On 43k this person passes the affordability criteria on their share of the rent, but only just.

I immediately contacted the reference company to discuss the fact the applicant had given me a different salary amount on the original application. The reference guy checked his paperwork and told me that no ‘bonus’ box was ticked by the applicant on the referencing form, and therefore the difference in salary couldn’t be explained away by any extra bonus payments. Also the ‘savings’ box hadn’t been ticked.

I then asked the applicant to explain. I suspect they lied to me at this stage! The answer I got back was: ‘I’ll be receiving a 5k bonus in a few months time, and a pay rise and promotion’.

The problem is no bonus was listed on their referencing form, and the salary/work reference made no mention of any bonus payments either. No bonus is shown on the employment contract. Therefore there is no real evidence to believe any bonus exists!

To complicate things, the partner appears to be a fairly high earner, and it looks like the partner can comfortably afford the rent. Taken as a couple, together, they can easily afford the rent.

I’m just a bit uncomfortable because I’ve caught this person lying to me. I’m annoyed because I proceeded with their offer based on what I now think was false information. The applicant didn’t answer the salary question entirely honestly - they inflated their salary! For me that’s a bit of red flag.

We received a number of offers on the property, fairly quickly. I probably wouldn’t have accepted this offer, over the other offers, had I known what I know now. The other applicants generally had two high earners in the group, not one.

Am I being unfair to question this person? The rental market is very competitive where we’re based, and I guess this person was just trying to make themselves look as good as possible in their opening application! I have a little bit of sympathy, although it’s not something I would have done personally.

They’ve since apologised to me for the original salary information, which is now is being referred to by the applicant as an ‘estimate’ !!

I haven’t yet agreed the rental as the references only came back in full today. The situation has made me slow down a bit and think carefully before accepting.

Thoughts please. Would you accept or decline ?!

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one lie to me and I kick into touch . I do not lie to them so I expect the same standard

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This is the first time an applicant has lied to me about income. I can’t decide if they’re naive or incredibly cocky!

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I think his version is plausible. It is fairly common to be told several months ahead of pay rises and bonuses and it can take months to actually get official paperwork.

Tenants are jointly and severally liable for rent so i wouldnt overly be concerned whether they can afford their share but look at joint income. If overall it is comfortably affordable they are probably not trying to deceive you.

You could ask him to provide some evidence from employer of pay rise/ bonus if it would help.

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If he is prepared to lie to you on application what else is he prepared to lie to you about is this really the start to a Tenant/LL relationship you want?

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Personally, I don’t consider it, a big lie, over the course of the rental he probably will achieve that salary. I get much bigger liars than this! This is more of an exaggeration than a lie

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An £8000.00 pay rise is not going to happen.i wouldnt think over the 12 months (and you only have his word for it) so when the rent is late 1 month and he says “im due my bonus next week and will settle then” will that be ok?
I get what you say about it being an exaggeration however he has mislead you (deliberately) in order to get a property that as you have admitted yourself he cannot afford presently
Obviously I am not a LL and never have been however I firmly believe in being honest and open from the start with someone who is prepared to give me a chance to live in THEIR property

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I agree with Richard19. He may not be lieing. I think you should ask for supplementary evidence.

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This from the original post says he is lying he has told you he earns 1 amount but he clearly dosent thats a lie isnt it?

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From replies, it looks like some people don’t see some bending the truth as a problem, while others do. For me it would be a red flag, but I’m from a different culture. I find that people in the UK often say what they don’t mean (and don’t say what they do mean). I guess it’s just cultural.Ahem.

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11

Gary, good for you. I like straight people. They’re so much more pleasant to deal with.

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We don’t know all the facts here. To be a lie it has to be an intended untruth and it may not have been intended. If, for example he knew that he would be getting a pay rise and bonus and that for the majority of the tenancy he will have £51k a year income then I can understand his desire to say that, although I think he should probably have made that clear. He has little incentive to deceive the landlord if his partner is a high earner and between them they can easily afford the rent. Now all he has to do is show that this is the case.

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I agree with David122. When people provide income details it is usually on the basis of neither side specifying what to include. For example, in this case, does he have a pension and how much has he and the employer contributed? That could make up the difference. Whenever I ask tenants for their income, I can almost guarantee that what they have told me is based on a way of calculation that I would not use. E.g. tenants on welfare rarely even know what the UC cap is. A lie would be to say that he had a job when he didn’t.

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14

I’d listen to your instincts. Personally if someone lied to me in this situation I’d politely decline and move on.

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Don’t be swayed by high earners, they can be high spenders too and not on your rent.
Trust is important and I suggest moving on to the next applicant.
I had someone who lied about the rent they were paying and then failed the referencing affordability anyway.
I also had a high earner who waa always late with the rent, every time in the end.

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This thread echoes a concern of mine that we landlords are becoming too cavalier in rejecting tenants for trivial reasons. The large number of tenants looking for rental properties has made it too easy for us to simply move on to the next one when there is the slightest irregularity.

Anyone offering a service for money has a duty to conduct their business fairly and equitably and to make decisions based on professional practice, even if they consider themselves “amateur” or “accidental” landlords. I would urge all landlords to set aside their initial emotional reactions to any issue they discover and investigate the facts before making a balanced and informed decision.

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Personally for me, a lie or exaggeration in something as critical as a rent application would be a warning. It’s a matter of trust. Having been lied to, how can you trust anything he says going forward. Especially when he did not need to lie. I would refuse their application and make it clear why. It will be a life lesson. I wonder what his employer would say when asked to confirm the expected £8000 rise, £5000 bonus and promotion?

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has a duty to conduct their business fairly and equitably

Completely agree. Fair towards both parties, too. Apart from being legally compliant, this is widely open to interpretation.

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I would ask their employer to confirm (or refute) the 51K figure and go from there.

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“I’m annoyed because I proceeded with their offer based on what I now think was false information.”
Why would you proceed before you get references back ?
Anyway he inflated the figure to get you to proceed with them, a blatant lie. Next please.

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