Tenancy credit check - a question

[bhunaboy 10]

My gf is moving in with me in the house i rent. we are paying through a letting agency. they are asking her to pay £72 for a credit check even though the rent share on the form is 0% as she is paying me and my wage covers what is needed to cover the rent. it just feels like we're paying for nothing.

 

Do we actually need to have a credit check for someone that is down as having 0% of the rent share???

[donuticus 10]

Why put her on the tenancy agreement if she's paying the rent to you not the agent? Just rent it in your own name and she can live with you.

[bhunaboy 10]

We just wanted it all to be legal and her name on the contract. Just don't see why the credit check needs to happen when they already know my wage is enough to pay the rent.

[Arrr Sez I 10]

The letting agent is protecting the property for the landlord. You have been credit checked and referenced, you have been cleared to live in the property. You can't then just invite some broad you like to live in the property without being credit checked and referenced herself, she might be a total nutjob, arsonist or furniture thief for all the letting agent knows. Besides, you might move out leaving her there alone if you break up which could lead to all kinds of issues. Anyone who lives in the property must be fully referenced and credit checked. That's how we landlords roll.

[bhunaboy 10]

I'm contracted for 12 months so I can't just move out and leave her in the house. And even if I did, what difference would having a £72 credit check make if she is down as 0% share?

 

---------- Post added 15-07-2013 at 19:01 ----------

 

i guess what i'm trying to say is; why do we have to pay for a credit check for her when the sole responsibility of paying rent is mine?

[Arrr Sez I 10]

I'm contracted for 12 months so I can't just move out and leave her in the house. And even if I did, what difference would having a £72 credit check make if she is down as 0% share?

 

Yours is not to question why. If you want your latest fling to move in, that's £72 please. What do you think this is, a holiday camp. You have been entrusted with an asset worth a lot of money, your girlfriend could be anyone, a thorough credit check will verify her identity and any previous issues she may have had renting other properties. If she has bad credit, she's a bad risk. We landlords don't allow bad risks into our expensive properties whether you pay the full rent or not.

[lobster 54]

its just money making for the agency , credit checks cost up to a maximum of £25.00

[Arrr Sez I 10]

its just money making for the agency , credit checks cost up to a maximum of £25.00

 

You are paying for the persons time to collect the details, run the checks, ok it with the landlord, do the paper work, send out any letters, file it all away. What do you think time is, free? Does a tradesman just charge you for materials.

[Kristian 11]

I don't know why so many estate agents are hated when so many of them are so clearly pleasant :/

[retired 10]

To be given the tenancy you had to have a tenancy check and come out with a clean record. You are a safe bet for the landlord.

 

Now you want to put your girlfriend on the ast. Lets say, she has a bad credit history, she is a bad bet and for the landlord best avoided.

 

But you are paying all the rent? Yes but what if you leave her, she has the right to stay and could be a bad payer. if she has ccj's already then she has not much to lose by getting another, her credit history is shot anyway.

 

So, yes, they do need to do a credit check and they might not let her go on the ast. As for £72 then it is cheap for a letting agent but they do cost the letting agent about £24 the rest is for their time and it how letting agents run their business. Without charges and commissions they would not make a penny.

[Pinnacle PAT 10]

its just money making for the agency , credit checks cost up to a maximum of £25.00

 

Nail on the head....ive paid for 5 over the last couple of months varying between £75 and £100

[Leah-Lacie 10]

So if you pay the 72 quid and she fails, will you be getting rid of her?

Probably not - you'll still move her in anyway without her name on it! So just go with that

 

 

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