cancov

Hi

Does anyone have any insight or experience of the following?

We are applying to rent a house in the UK. Hubby is already there and I am still here in Canada. We have agreed to pay 6 month's rent in advance as assurity since we won't have jobs initially. Estate agent has just sent me the application forms (for which there is a 185 pounds fee to submit). The forms (one for me and one for HUbby) are from the company "Rent4sure". From loking at their website, I can see that this company carries out a type of background check on us and provides the Estate Agent with an "Accept" or "Deny" determination, along with a profile. They verify employment, do a reference check with previous landlord, and do a credit check. Further internet research tells me that Rent4sure has a contract with "Callcredit" for the credit checks. From what I can tell, this is a UK company.

So this brings me to my questions/worries....

All of our (good) credit history is based in Canada. I have recent copies of my Canadian equifax reports-all good.

Will this "Callcredit" company simply run a UK search on us-to which they will find no history therefore bad credit score....or will they access Canadian records, for example run a Canadian Equifax report?

I am obsessively stressing out over every detail of this!!

If we could just secure this house, I would feel so much more relaxed. I'd know that me and the kids have a "home" to go to, I'd have somewhere to ship the dogs to, and somewhere to ship our stuff to. I would also know how early we can all get over there.

Anyways, if someone could shed some light on this whole credit check issue that would be great.

Thanks!!

Spacecake799

Hi,

My husband is now also back in England while I sort everything here. We rented a house over the internet before we left.
We were told that if we paid for 6 months rent in advance then no credit check was needed.
We were initially going to do this but instead let them do the credit check. It went on our landlord here in NZ and a reference from my husbands employer. They may ask for bank details as you are not returning to a job.

Off topic but just to say I we also hail from Coventry. We lived there all our lives before coming here. We are now going to North Yorkshire for something completly different.

Good Luck with the move.

Carole

cancov

Thanks for that....it seems we are having to pay the 6 months rent in advance AND go through this reference and credit check thing too. How frustrating. I just really hope they do a Canadian Credit check. If I knew this Rent4sure company used Equifax then I wouldn't be so worried, since they have it in Canada. But I've never heard of Callcredit or whatever it is.

Where in Cov are you from? How long have you been in NZ?

Spacecake799

I grew up in Mount Nod, finished living in Tile Hill, kids went to Tile Hill and Woodlands. Moved here 5.5 years ago. Was very happy with the schools and more than happy in Coventry.

cancov

I used to live in Tile Hill too about 15 years ago, but in the council estate in Delius St. My ex MIL lived in Hathaway Road.

Small world!

Spacecake799

Ha very much so, I went to Tile Hill Wood as did my sister, and then as a family we moved to Nutbrook Ave ready for our daughter to go to Tile Hill. The others went to surrounding schools.

MrMuffin

Check out this thread by SallySimmonds... it might help about the credit check question. Good luck!!

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=753085

gillyd65

Hi Cancov
We were told they couldn't do a credit check as we had been out of the country (albeit for a shorter time than you) but we did have a print out of our equifax report which they looked at plus proof of funds from bank account. If you are paying 6 months up front then it shouldn't be a problem.

Back2UK

I was also told the same over the phone, however my question to everyone is, do they still take a reference/admin fee from you even though you are paying 6 months rent in advance.

cancov

They did with us. We had to pay 185 pounds. And if we are successful with "referencing" (which according to the form includes checks on employment, income, credit check, and previous landlord reference), we then have to pay 95 pounds "for the tenancy agreement, one and a half month's rent as a bond, AND six month's rent in advance!!!!!

Back2UK

Thanks Cancov, Robbers lol

Good luck with it all.

ldollard

I can tell you this for certain, they cannot run your credit in Canada from the UK, its just not possible, I am pretty certain your landlord/Estate Agent knows you'll have no credit in the UK, which is not as bad as actually having bad credit btw. Thats why you are paying 6 months in advance.

You need to stop stressing. Even if you have bad credit 6 months rent in advance pays for a lot of "blind eye syndrome" on behalf of your landlord i'd suspect

cancov

Thanks.....

as an update, we did get the house.

ldollard

Thats great.

Paws3

Dear All
Am running into the same problem. Did you go through a estate agent/letting agent or just an ad in the paper? We are coming home in Dec and want to get into a flat before Christmas but these 'credit checks' seem to take a long time. Is there anything I can do from over here to speed things up? Six months rent would not be a problem for us (I don't really want a 6 month rent but I can't find any shorter...)