Nice to hear things panned out for you singlemum. It seems common sense has prevailed. I am soooo pleased for you and think that this is the only sensible decision from the landlords point of view.
Re my own situation (thanks for asking by the way) after giving this some serious thought this is what I decided to do. I have found the house I wanted, via a letting agent. Upon receipt of the application forms I read these carefully and they stated 'the information given may be used to obtain a credit reference' i.e. it did not say we will get a credit reference. Also the application requires three other references, an employer, landlord and personal reference. So after much thought, what I have decided to do is fill in the aplication, pay the fee (£115) and not mention the IVA at this stage. I must point out here that I have not been dishonest or misleading in anyway, as the form did not ask me any questions about my credit history and I have provided them with all of the information they have requested, leaving it to their discretion as to whether or not the run a credit check.
Now, assuming that they do run a credit check and come back saying it has shown up my IVA, my response to this will quite simply be 'and why is that a problem'. Not because I am niave or playing dumb, but I genuinely don't see why it is an issue. I took out the IVA as I got myself heavily in debt by putting myself through University and Law school. I had to do this as I come from a working class background with parents who simply could not afford to fund me. My IVA is not as a result of 'bad debts', I did not get myself in arrears nor did I miss payments or attempt to avoid my debts. I decided to take out the IVA simply because if I did not my chances of ever being free of debt were incredibly slim as all I was paying was the interest alone. Besides which, I am not applying for credit here, my rent will be paid in advance and I have already agreed to a hefty deposit as I have a pet. I therefore cannot see why a VOLUNTARY arrangement on my credit file should have any bearing on my renting a property. If I am refused on this basis I will be challenging this decision, legally if necessary (although I hope of course it won't come to that).
Now the reason I decided to do it this way is simply because, although I agree with the concept of being upfront an honest and have taken everyone's advice here on board, my theory was, if I tell them this will they just dimiss me out of hand without seeing the positive side of my application. What I mean be this is had I have been upfront would they have just said 'don't apply'? So I have decided to do it this way so that they can see what I earn (a good healthy salary) where I work (a large Law firm) and also so they can get my refernces from work, landlord etc. Everything else they check will be glowing, the only blot on my copy book is the IVA. I hope that by doing it this way I am allowing them to put the IVA into context with the rest of my application.
Sorry for the huge post, but obviously this is something which I have given a lot of thought to lately and I just wanted to share my view in the hope that it may help someone else. Also it will of course be very interesting to see if my theory pans out and if my mitigating argument is successfull should I have to use it.
So watch this space and keep everything you have two of crossed for me. Shouldn't be long now. Gulp.
) xx