I’ve just paid £80 for referencing but now realise the reviews of Rentguard are horrific - incorrect information, employment references not done properly, tenants failed for being late with info etc. All the failed tenant references I received in the past now make sense.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.rentguardtenantref.co.uk
How can OpenRent ensure both landlords and tenants have a fair process, and in particular, how can they can ensure RentGuard are following their own processes?
Agreed, they are shocking reviews, the National Landlords Association do tenant referencing, perhaps they are better.
I have actually found them very helpful. There was a case, recently, when the landlady was away on holiday so did not provide a reference. RentGuard failed the referencing because of the lack of landlady reference. However, when the landlady got back in touch, they sent over a new report which passed the tenant. The referencing is based upon the information they are given, and they certainly tried a number of times to make contact. So a failed report, doesn’t mean the end - it means you need to ask why (and it clearly said in my report that there was no landlord reference).
I have also had refunds from them when I wanted to cancel referencing (and they’d started the process) both by calling them, and through the open rent site (when tenants didn’t do the online agreement for the referencing)
We also have the RentGuard insurance, so passing reference is a requirement.
As always, I think people are more likely to go and complain on a review site, than they are to praise a company. Since the referrencing company don’t harass us with “please review us” every time, it is just those with a gripe that tend to bother with the reviews. Give them a try, and if you don’t like it this time, go elsewhere.
Do we have to use the RentGuard agency? what are the disadvantages of using another one?
Thanks all - some balanced answers there. I was worried because it was rated poor from landlord point of view, and not just prospective tenants. I’ve used them before, and had similar experiences to some of the landlords reviewing on Trustpilot, but thought I’d had a bad run or a one off. However, once I saw the reviews I realised that my experiences had been similar to other landlords, particularly in terms of gaps or incorrect information, or an excessively high rate of failures. I’ll give it another try, and see how it goes.
Chris, yes you do have to use Rentguard if you book through OpenRent/use the RentNow feature, and/or need the insurance cover. You could use a company separately if you don’t need the insurance cover. I’ve looked at a few others - some do it cheaper but don’t do job checks, others are about £5 more and do a few more checks - OpenRent is about in the middle. The main advantage is ease of use - having everything on one platform.
Hi all, some great answers here! I just want to clarify one point.
OpenRent landlords can use whatever referencing company they’d like. If you are using rent now, you can choose not to order any reference checks via our site, and order them from another company instead. That’s absolutely fine.
It may not be as smooth, as the other company won’t have been integrated into the OpenRent system. You also won’t be able to insure your tenancy with our extremely good value Rent Guarantee Insurance policy, because access to it requires the tenants to pass Rentguard’s referencing (or provide guarantors who pass).
Sam
Hi Sam answering you but aimed at everyone. Personally for me they have been fine, but I guess to some extent if they reference a bad one they are on the hook as well as I use their insurance so we all have skin in the game which gives me peace of mind. Also I think it’s a sector where when things go wrong probably involves money, so people are very unhappy and hence bad reviews. However my issue with the current process is the tenant fee ban issue, which before was annoying if references failed as a waste of time, but now it’s a waste of time and money for the landlord and these costs ultimately get passed on. Rightmove have a free tenant passport which I can’t understand why it hasn’t had wider press as it would make everyone more confident about this process? Rather than the perceived unfairness for the tenant now getting just stuck on the landlord the Rightmove product appears to be a win win.
I use Rent guard and whilst I may not agree why a reference has failed it is usually for a valid point which cannot be ignored. I had one where the Mother passed but the son failed because of something from 3 years earlier which had been cleared. It was not a large amount. I did accept them because I knew something of their history previously. They are wonderful tenants and now into year 2. I couldn’t get the rent guard because of the sons fail. Now another year has gone by could I get the Rentguard now? I don’t think I would ever need to use it as they are smashing people but it pays to be covered.
Referencing through OpenRent costs about £25 and I have used them for years with no trouble at all and I recommend it. The Rent Guard is a bonus which for a £100 is great peace of mind for me.
I’ve used RentGuard several times now and have been happy with the outcomes. They recently failed a prospective tenant for very sound reasons. I used this result to get the tenant (who had been very open with me prior to the referencing) to have a guarantor. The guarantor passed fine and RG are happy to offer the insurance. I used Experian and RentNow (?) via uPad previously and haven’t noticed a difference in the approach.