Renting with a ccj

Hi I need some advice
I’m trying to rent a place for me and my dog and I’ve Applied for a property and got turned down because I have a ccj but I never knew I had one so does anyone know what will help me to get a place

You need to find out what the CCJ was for. If it was for non-payment of rent or utility bill, most landlords would not rent to you as you would be regarded as a risk. There is a lot of information online about what to do if you have a CCJ on your records. With a dog, you’re already looking at a reduced pool of properties so you need to improve your credit history as a priority.

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your best bet is a private LL. also how much money do you have up front? do you have good references? if you have no money up front, a dog and a ccj you must realise you are a high risk candidate and you need to cosy up to the council. once you are in a property and dont pay the law means you can be there for maybe a year, trash the place and walk away scot free. thats why LL’s like myself are selling up. its too far in favour of the tenant now, i have sold 3/4 of my portfolio and still going because of this

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My advice is to get the ccj satisfied and be upfront from the beginning that you have one. I have rented to folk in those circumstances. If you don’t disclose before the credit check stage(when the landlord becomes out of pocket) then it’s a rejection from me.

I didn’t know I had one but if I did know then I would have told them I’m a honest person I like to be upfront and honest

I know it wouldn’t of been a non payment of utility bill or rent because I’ve never rented before

I would never do that to a place because that would be my home at the end of the day I would pay on time and the house would be spotless as I can’t stand mess

It can happen that you didn’t realise you had a ccj. Often to do with mobile phone contracts. Pay it and move on. If it is paid (satisfied) and you are upfront some landlords will overlook it.

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Agreed, for mobile phone CCJ’s in particular

As Steve mentioned, it could be from a mobile phone bill or whatever, but regardless of where it’s from, the fact is that you have a CCJ on your record and there’s no ignoring a CCJ as it won’t go away. It’ll be recorded on your credit file for six years from the date it was issued, and you’re at risk of further action being taken to recover the debt if you don’t pay it. So best to sort the payment out asap and then be upfront about the situation to prospective landlords.

Start by getting your full credit file.
Free report can be obtained here:
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk/

It should give you the info.
As others here have said then go and pay the CCJ .

Getting a property in some area’s of the UK is quite hard even with good credit and deposit as there is simply a lack of quality private housing in some areas.

Good luck.

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Hi, just for info, CreditKarma is now Transunion -
https://www.checkmyfile.com/?utm_source=google-ads&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=campaign&gclid=CjwKCAjwiuuRBhBvEiwAFXKaNBfpJBZNA9EbAw59SuRb76H0Z44yZaaXsh6-C_6K3R2RUSLwpnQwVRoCvnsQAvD_BwE

The other 2 Credit Ref. Agencies are Equifax & Experian (again, you can get them free each month once you register).

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Credit Karma is not TransUnion, but it uses TransUnion data.

There are quite a few services out there (eg Credit Karma, Clearscore, Check My File, Totally Money) but they all piggy back on one or more of the actual credit reference agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion being the main ones, plus Crediva apparently, which is a new one on me!).

They tend to have a level of free service and charge for extras or ongoing access. What you can see varies from service to service, so I would sign up at a free level with two or three.

Eg you can sign up directly with Experian, but can’t see much detail unless you sign up for their paid service.

Credit Karma and Totally Money (based on TransUnion) and Clearscore (based on Equifax) have quite a good level of free info.

Check My File (which looks at all four) gives you a month free and then wants £14.99 a month from you.

Similarly, you can sign up directly with Equifax, but they charge after the first month.

So, I would sign up for the free accounts at Credit Karma, Clearscore or Totally Money and Experian and that will give you a good coverage.

From memory, it was easier to sign up with Credit Karma than Totally Money - I signed up with Credit Karma a few years ago to find the answers to the questions that HMRC was asking to check my ID and it was easier to sign up with them and find the answers than to answer HMRC’s questions without. I just signed up for Totally Money and ended up logging into Credit Karma to find the answers to their security questions too.

Hi Cath2,
Thanks for clarifying that - I’m clearly out of date(:)! And a school day for me re: Crediva (I’ve never heard of it). [It was CreditKarma who’d advised me a few years back they were changing to Transunion - when all comms. from them automatically changed to Transunion}.
KR’s.