tell all agents upfront re the iva

[mavericksolo]

hi! if not, sorry - its the first time i have logged on here - my husband and i are in a joint iva which ends - hopefully - in december this year. We were in private rented accomodation before hand and in low paid jobs with me fresh out of five years at uni, with the debts to match and a new baby. We signed the papers without really being sure what we were doing - we went with a manchester firm who sent a guy round to speak to us and then next minute, all our communication was with the firm in ireland sending over receipts etc and calling overseas when ever we wanted updates. it was the worst thing we ever did but now we are nearing the end i think in some ways we are glad we did it to learn not to constantly live above our means and to budget more etc....however, we recently moved to a new area with our work and are trying to secure new rented accomodation but are struggling as noone will take us on without credit checks but when we pay the £100 fee for one, we get a low score because of the iva and then get rejected anyway, £100 poorer! we cannot afford mortgages and have a four year old so returning home to parents is not an option. any tips on how to try and persuade new estate agents and landlords/ladies to take us on seeing as we only have six months left of the five year iva - we make joint payment of around £335 a month and currently pay £650 rent a month so no issues with afording to rent still - just noone will take us on with credit rating as it is - any tips on how long your credit is affected for?

[Viki.W]

Hey mavericksolo, you are definately in the right place for advice and support. I'm not an expert on the renting thing but a lot of forum members have managed to secure rented property whilst in an IVA. If you can provide a reference from your previous landlord then many private landlords may help, please wait for someone a bit more in the know to help you. By the way, your IVA company sound like a nightmare. Ian Millington, an expert on this site knows Manchester firms and I'm sure he'd be interested to know which one it is. Viki X

[aguise]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.
The best advice I can give is to be upfront with them. Get a good reference from you present landlord. Even possibly a ref from your IP to state that the iva has run well and is nearly finished. I have seen that some have paid 6 months rent upfront, but I understand that is not easy to do. Some private landlords will be easier to deal with than the letting agencies that credit check.

All the best

Ang

[ianmillington]

I echo that- the IVA will obviously affect your credit rating and so if any landlord is to rely solely on a credit check you will probably always fail. You are better tackling this the other way around. Get a reference from the Supervisor and tell any prospective landlord about the IVA from the start, and give them a copy of the reference. If they then tell you they can't help then that would be the answer when they did their checks at your expense anyway. So in doing it this way you save both sides time and yourself money.

You shouldn't get that answer from everyone - not all landlords are the same. In your previous applications, did you disclose the IVA?

Ian

[Qikichi]

Can anyone guarantor for you? My dad had to with me.

[mavericksolo]

thanks - will try private if we can but running out of time. ian- the firm was mcambridge duffy - you heard of them? we did disclose iva but most firms insisted they do the credit checks anyway to see what score we got as each firm work on different minimum scores!joy!

[Soulgrowth]

Hi

My IVA was with McCambridge Duffy and they produced a very good one ... and have recently also secured me an even better Full and final offer ... eventually!

Debbie

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Be upfront but ask the agency to find out the landlords policy on IVAs before parting with any more money.
Many forum members have successfully obtained approval whilst in an IVA
Good Luck

[mavericksolo]

thanks for your comments - fingers crossed it helps - we are currently talking with one firm who we told about the iva when we first looked round the property and they spoke with the owner who agreed in principle to us having it. We were told the only difference would be that we would have to either pay the first six months rent in advance, which at £650 a month is impossible for us with no savings etc, or have a guarentor so at the moment we are talking to parents.....nightmare situation when you are nearly 30 years old but i guess another punishment for getting into pre-iva mess! roll on December when we are out of this agreement - anyone recently out of their agreement who can explain what happens after and how long your credit is affected by the iva? some websites say 1 year others say 3 some say you can pay to remove the iva shadow on your scoring.....very confusing and Mcambridge Duffy have gone quiet on us this year in our final year despite being asked to answer these questions several times!

[mavericksolo]

update is that we asked my parents to go guarentor and they said no as they are planning to retire and don't want to risk anything - noone else we know to ask who has good credit history or earns more than £20k which they need to have to be guarentor....noone who can lend us six months rent in advance which was the other option the estateagents were offering....we earn too much to have a council house right away and have to go on the waiting list anyway which we will be the lowest down we can be on it as we have just one child, no safety issues and can actually afford to find private rented places....tried privtae rented but no landlord wants us once they know re the iva which we have to disclose when asked about credit history despite providing a letter from McCambridge saying we haven't breached and are due to finish in December 2008, and glowing references from past two rentals we have had....the owners move back in on 9th July.....moving back to parents isn't feasible as it means moving our sons' school and he has only just moved seven weeks ago and the journey is too far to commute every day...checked all local agents and private landlords and now seriously running out of ideas and hope......any suggestions gratefully received - we've never been this low - ironically just at the end of the iva, we seem in the worst position we have ever been in!

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Do private landlords ask about credit histoty ?
You could ask your IVA provider for a payment break whilst you save the six month deposit.Do you have a deposit coming back from your present landlord ?If so you could use this to repay some of your missed payments
Regards

[mavericksolo]

just in case anyone is following this thread and is in a similar position, we found an estate agent who we told upfront re the iva. she had no clue what one was so printed off heaps from the net re the info and provided iva leter to show we have never missed a payment in the four and a half years we'd been in at that point. the agents spoke to the landlady and she agreed to take us on provisonally on a three month contract with a bond of a months rent. we did this with no problems until she decided to un-emigrate from Oz leaving us house searching again within two months. We went with another estate agent purely because the original one had no similar sized properties. This agency again knew of our iva and told the landlady. she agreed to take us on but wanted six months rent in advance or a guarentor which we didn't have. We borrowed the money from a family member and paid it back at the same rate we would have paid for the rent each month so made no difference to us really or the family member luckily! that contract expires in Dece,ber as our iva finishes in November. we have already renewed the contract hopefully (yet to receive cinfirmation in writing) but we've found the new landlady is happy we are so close to ending the iva that she will take us on privately without the agents and onl;y wants a month rent in advance and will sign another years contract.The only advice i would give is tell all agents upfront re the iva. most insist you pay the credit check fees anyway as they say, however true this is i dont know, they need to know the exact score you get as this determines if you can just have a garentor or if you need to pay six months in advance or if its a simple flat no.it was a nightmare for us and at the time we felt we would be homeless in the last few months of our iva but we got through it and there is light at the end of the tunnel - ust sometimes you have to burrow a different route to get to the light!lol

[MelanieGiles]

That's a great post - and thank you for sharing your experiences for us.

[David Mond]

We have provided many letters to clients in IVA's who are moving to newer and cheaper or dearer rented property. We indicate that they have paid their contributions and are up to date etc. I believe that is what we are here for - not only to earn fees but to give practical help. Melanie and I have (and others here) for years. Great post Mavericksolo.