Can anyone offer any insight as to whether becoming a ‘Verified Tenant’ is beneficial?
Or it is about as vauable as a LinkedIn recommendation? 
Not for us. We noticed that all verified TT’s inquiries are from unsuitable candidates. The latest ones are self-employed novelists and have a dog and are willing to provide a guarantor but state they make £70K p/a. Why guarantor then? Half of this would pass affordability check. We haven’t done a single viewing for a verified applicant yet.
We noticed that all verified TT’s inquiries are from unsuitable candidates.
It’s definitely worth qualifying statements like this for the benefit of the community as a whole.
I can only see 2 verified tenants who have enquired about your advert, so not the biggest sample size to make a sweeping statement like “all verified TT’s are…” from.
It’s worth also pointing out that you have 50 declined non-verified tenants, which isn’t representative landlord behaviour. Most OpenRent landlords proceed with a tenant within the first 15 enquiries.
The latest ones are self-employed novelists and have a dog and are willing to provide a guarantor but state they make £70K p/a. Why guarantor then? Half of this would pass affordability check.
The tenants are stating they can provide a guarantor if a landlord wants them to. They aren’t saying they have to, or even want to, provide a guarantor. We try to make this clear in the existing copy, but will see how other landlords are interpreting this and try and make sure the copy is extremely clear.
Thanks for your comment. It’s the third flat that we’re listing with OR. We derive our conclusion from the total experience.
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The Verified Tenant functionality is relatively new (it was rolled out to a small % of users initially), so it’s unlikely to have been encountered even earlier this year - just to make sure we’re talking about the same thing!
Definitely keen for people to share their experiences, so far the feedback has been positive from landlords. Unsurprising as it gives verified data up-front which is otherwise impossible to obtain until referencing.
From a tenant perspective it gives their enquiry much more prominence, increases their chances of being chosen by landlords in this hot market, and generally speeds up the entire rental process by pre-verifying identity and ruling out adverse credit data.
The aim, generally, is to solve the problems about enquiry filtering / tenant demand that has been raised multiple times in this forum. We’ll keep listening to what additional data would be useful / which parts tenants find onerous, and generally improving our processes as ever!
I know that it’s not up to us to speak on behalf of TT, but it seems that quite a few of them find our questionnaire tedious and just ignore it. Probably, because it’s the second set of questions in a row to answer.
Not sure what the solution can be here, especially if TT apply for a large number of properties. Understandably, answering ten or more sets of questions is a lot of work. But as LL, we like it.
Yes, we’re talking about the same thing. We rented two flats in summer, and are in the process of renting the third one now. Quite a revelation that most LL find a tenant within first 15 inquiries. Good for them.
no pain no gain If they do not answer they cannot be that serious
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I appreciate the responses.
I am looking to rent a place imminently and was keen to see if having a verified status would actually improve my credibility from a LL perspective.
I am brand new to this forum and I’m assuming that ‘Daz’ is OpenRent employee? You will have to forgive my scepticism regarding the statement that verified tenants enquiries offer ‘more prominence’ to LLs.
As I single man with a decently paid job, I have found that LL’s preference is to take on a couple / 2 tenants with average salaries rather than someone like me. I work in business and this makes perfect business sense from a risk mitigation perspective….it’s just not very helpful for me!
I have saved 6 months worth of rent to pay upfront, hopefully this will aid my applications.
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not my preference to take couples i have quite a few singles
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Neil, as long as you pass affordability check (minimum salary = monthly rent x 30), you will be considered. Couples may be considered more reliable, but there’s much more to it. If you saved 6 months rent in addition to passing affordability check, you should have no problem finding a place. It’s a huge bonus and shows your great money managing skills. It also suggests that you don’t have money-draining habits, like gambling.
My advice is be forthcoming with your offer to pay a few months in advance, take initiative if you see the place that you really like. It may put you in front of the queue.))) Also, have all usual documents, references ready. If you wait for your HR to give you reference, you may lose the property to somebody else who has it all at hand already. Get all the documents scanned and saved, too. We personally ask TT send documents to us by e-mail.
Hope it’ll be of some help. Best of luck.
2 of my tenants have joined Credit ladder
Your tenant continues to pay their rent as they have done previously. Your tenant’s bank account is connected to CreditLadder and each month we will report the rent payment to credit agencies, including any non payment.
Its a way to prove their competence in future.
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I hadn’t heard of Credit Ladder, thanks for the heads up 
Leslie, how did you persude them to join Credit Ladder? Does it provide T with a proven record of rent payment?
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I hadnt heard of it until they joined and Credit ladder advised me, it does provide a record which is useful to the tenant.
I joined Canopy
Not any useful so far as estate agents have never heard about it. I was a verified tenant, was of no use. But that is probably more due to a lack of ideal properties for me.
Get tenants to do a pre emptive reference check, I’ve had so many that said they could afford a property. I spent a lot of money referencing everyone and they were all failing!
That would really be a winner. I would certainly prioritize TT who do their credit check and prove they have good credit history.
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This is exactly what Verified Tenant is… The tenant has supplied us with their information so we can see their credit history and display that to landlords at point of enquiry, in a fully verified manner.
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