My IVA was accepted last November 2011. I am currently living at home but would like to move in with my boyfriend.
Due to IVA we are planning on renting until my IVA is finished and then eventually buy a property.
However, I am increasingly nervous about how to go about renting with my IVA because on paper I am not someone a letting agent would consider renting to but there are positives to mine and my boyfriends situation and therefore I would be extremely grateful of any advice on how I should proceed/approach agents.
My boyfriend has a clean credit record and earns £1700 approx a month after tax etc and I have a professional career as a teacher and earn a good salary after tax.
from this it is clear that we could comfortably afford to rent and pay all necessary bills etc whilst maintaining my IVA. How do I convey this to a letting agent so that they will accept me?
I am tempted to email/call a few and put my situation to them and see what their response is but I thought that it may depend on what their individual landlords views are, so would I be wasting my time?
My biggest fear is that no one will rent to us while I am involved due to IVA and we wont be able to move on with our lives for another 4 and half years. Im already 31 and my partner 35, we would both like children and I am scared this will never happen if we cant even move out together.
Any advice would be greatly recieved.
R
Dreaming of the day that I'll finally be debt free!
Have you thought about offering a few months rent upfront first as a good deposit?, would you be able to put some money aside for this? one other option is to find a private rental or perhaps ask your parents to be a guarantor?
A rental agreement in your partner's name would be an option as would a guarantor or just speaking in advance to the agent. Alternatively, you could look for a private landlord who would have no access to credit files and may be happy with two professionals as tenants. They normally advertise in the local press or there are websites easily found by googling.
Your IVA should not hold yourself or your partner back and this is easily resolved.
You could always ask for the landlords consent that it is ok to live with your partner if he takes out the agreement in his name only. You don't neccessarily have to be on the agreement but landlords like to know who's living at the property. If you don't ask they may take some offence to you living there.
My partenr had his name only on our agreement for 3 years until we moved into the place were in now, we were upfront with the agents and told them he would be fully responsible for the propoerty/rent etc, they said as long as his credit check was clear and he could prove he could afford it on his own then it weas ok.
Sadly not all cases are the same, many will want all people who are residing in the property to be credit checked (mainly because they make money on this process!!!!) some will ask either for a gaurantor or 6 months rent up front with a bond also.
Best option is to rent from a private landlord however this also comes with pitfalls as you dont have the protection of a letting agent doing all the running round should something go wrong however there are many good landlords out there too!
Arty
IVA completion and certificate received 08/10/2012!!!
Hi Ruth - it is a dilemma which is especially frustriating when you know there will be absolutely no problem paying the rent and covering all bills. You could try private landlords but in some areas these can be few and far between. It would be worth speaking to couple of agents and being upfront - show them your joint income and expenditure to show your affordability. Hopefully they will see although you have a bad credit rating, you are not acutally asking for credit and can easily pay the rent between you.
Keep us posted how you get on.
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Firstly, it is up to the Landlord and not the agent who they let to.
Secondly, many people rent while in an IVA - me included! I was honest from the start, knew we would fail the credit score and asked whether we needed money in advance or a guarantor. Most wanted either 6 months or a guarantor.
If you were to rent in just your partner's name then you would still have to be 'declared' as living there. A standard short hold tenancy agreement states that no person can live there for longer than a set time (2 weeks, I think?) and no subletting is allowed. If you are contributing to the bills and rent it could be construed as subletting. Honesty is the best policy and to avoid any potential pitfalls a tenancy in joint names with either the rent in advance or a guarantor would be the way to go.
Thank you angelrainbow, I think I would be most comfortable with joint names on the tenancy anyway. I may have trouble getting a guarantor as none of my family know my situation, but paying 6 months rent up front seemes like it could be our best bet.
Dreaming of the day that I'll finally be debt free!
Hi Ruth..i'm having the same problems at the moment. I must of phoned about 20 letting agencies and all their answers have been different. Most have said that if we can provide a working guarantor then it shouldnt be a problem but it would be down to the landlord to decide. One company I rang said that as long as I didnt have any CCJ's having an IVA shouldnt affect things.
Although some agencies have said offering 3/6 months rent upfront would help one said it wouldnt as in 6 months time they'd still be worried I'd fail to pay!
I've since decided to find a private landlord as it seems a lot less hassle and I can hopefully build a relationship with them without them having to know too much.
Hope you find somewhere soon x
When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long...the past cannot be changed. It is the present and future that counts
A rolling 6 months is an option..so maybe pay the initial 6 months upfront and then pay into an account monthly for another 6 months and pay them a 6 month lump sum from that. Or 6 months up front and then pay monthly..so they are always 6 months in advance - which is how long an assured shorthold tenancy last for anyway!
There are some great landlords out there. Ours are fantastic! Completely non judgemental have REFUSED to increase our rent, despite the agent recommending they did. They have suggested we pay 4 weekly rather than 4 weekly to fit in with hubby's pay frequency, have done any jobs promptly and without any issue and have allowed us to have pets for no extra deposit. Keep looking - they are out there!
I know luluj had to put up six months in advance and she had no problems.
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Given your professional backgrounds, and earning abilities, you would be a landlord's dream - so do disclose this to the letting agent but expect to be accepted with open arms. If this does not work, I would seriously consider taking out the lease in just your partner's name, and then perhaps a month or two later get him to seek permission for you to co-habit - at that stage, with a history of payments behind him, neither the landlord nor their agents are likely to be terribly fussy about your financial background.
