Hi
Just wondered why when you reference prospective tenant(s) does a message get sent out to all the other prospective tenants that viewed the property saying that its no longer available?
In my opinion the property is available until the contract is signed. If the referencing takes a while and in the end you decide to cancel the tenants application then you might have lost other potential tenants.
I don’t see the reason for the message in the first place, why am I not allowed to reference more than one prospective tenant at the same time? Then I can choose, it’s at no cost to the prospective tenants.
Hi Chris, I think it’s partly for clarity so tenants know where they are, but also because the £200 holding deposit is taken. It wouldn’t really be fair to take from more than one person. That’s how the reference is paid for. I’m not sure how they could do it differently as it’s a whole system. I agree it’s a little awkward for landlords, but nothing to stop us keeping a couple informed that they are next on the list, and nothing to prevent still carrying out viewings on the understanding that they might lead nowhere. I read somewhere here that you can pay for your own reference on other tenants so you’re ready if the first doesn’t pass, and you haven’t lost time. Hope that helps.
Another point on reference checks, my prospective tenants have given me a different reason as to why they are moving compared to the reason in the report. When I questioned this with them they have produced evidence that backs up their story. This information was actually given to the company doing the reference checks so I’m not sure why then the check states differently.
I agree with Chris. If the tenants fail credit checks and are rejected by the landlord, their deposit is refunded and the landlord loses out in other possible tenants. Correct me if I’m wrong!
I agree the current process brings clarity for tenants, but the letting status should state something like Offer Made or Referencing in Process. This would allow other tenants to view and make their offer too.
I think there needs to be a step before tenants can select RentNow and lock out other tenants. Tenants looking to begin the referencing process should be in a list and the landlord should be able to select who they would like to go forwards to referencing. Its not about who has the money first, but who the landlord thinks is a right fit for their property.
I had to reject a young couple over a professional couple. I know they get their deposit back, but it felt awful the had start referencing. Being able to select tenants going forward to referencing would have nice solution on both tenants and landlord.
It would be really useful to be able to set a listing status as ‘Subject to Contract’… just to flag the fact that an application is being processed (references etc), but a contract has not yet been signed.
This allows potential other renters to see the property online, and can help a landlord by if necessary processing some of the preliminaries for an alternative tenant should the first in line fall through.
