News
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Getting Referencing Right
March 19th, 2010
The risks of allowing someone to rent your Durham property without properly referencing them can hardly be overstated. Referencing does not absolutely guarantee that you will never get a bad tenant, but it does massively reduce the risk. As a result, we place great importance on getting good references. The key components of proper tenant referencing are as follows:
Credit Score
This is the same credit score that people would have for a car loan or similar purchase. It is a single number which brings together all the available information about the tenant’s history of meeting their financial obligations. This gives us a very good picture of the person we are dealing with.
Employer Reference
We do this by contacting the prospective tenant’s employer and checking that: they have the job they say they do; that it is a permanent job or at least on a contract which is longer than the tenancy; and what their earnings are. We then perform an affordability calculation to ensure that their income is sufficient to enable them to pay the rent.
Landlord Reference
If the prospective tenant is already renting, then we will also get a reference from their current landlord. We will seek confirmation that not only do they pay the rent on time, but also that they look after the property.
Having done all these things, we are then in a position to recommend to the landlord whether they should go ahead. Of course, there will be some prospective tenants (e.g. those coming from overseas) who we just can’t reference. In those cases, we will gather what information we can and then have a suitable discussion with you, the landlord, so as to minimise the risk of things going wrong.
However you find a tenant, we strongly recommend that you reference them properly. If you’d like our help with finding and referencing tenants, then don’t hesitate to call us on 0191 374 1234.
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