So my question of the day is around housing.....

As I've been gone for 15 years I don't have any current credit in the UK. However, I did keep a bank account open which has had regular, small, deposits while I've been gone.

We are definitely planning to rent when we first get home so my questions are:

1. How much should we expect to pay up front considering we have no credit? Would my open bank account be enough to pass a credit check for a rental?

2. Has anyone been able to secure a rental property from the U.S. before arriving back - if so, any ideas on how to go about that or who to talk to.

3. If we have no credit history but we do have a family guarantor would a landlord be more likely to accept a regular deposit from us?

Any guidance would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Karen

hey karen, all years I have been in US would have been nice to knew a few Brits who lived in Arizona! Good luck.

Hi there - well for my first 9 years in AZ I didn't know another Brit now I have 2 or 3 close British friends here - I think we're all hiding from the sun

1) It's usually a months rent in advance plus a months rent as deposit. The credit check is geared to identify those with a bad credit rating, your UK banking record should probably suffice. I needed to rent a property urgently many years ago and as the credit check could take longer than I could wait the landlord accepted 6 months rent in advance whilst he waited for the result of the check.
2) It will depend on the letting agent, I rented a property for a year in Belize from the UK.
3) I think number 1 covers that.

Hope that helps.

Rents are few and far between at the mo due to people sitting tight in their property on a down market. Only talking from local experience, brother in law just cannot find anywhere under £1500 pcm...

Bomber - thanks for the info

Stormer - am looking in the Cambs area - have already found several letting agents that have 20-30 properties a piece - many have been empty and listed for a few months. The couple that have responded to my email requests have confirmed there are many properties available in the 500-900 per month range for 2-3 bedroom.......maybe your brother should move lol

Ditto to what Erose posted. I asked a question in 'Inexpensive Living' http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=676945 and got a lot of replies which were helpful. I have been searching in different areas of the country and there are lots of places available - not all in the higher price bracket either. Have a look at http://www.findaproperty.com/ and see what is available - there are many other rental agencies too, I just know of this one at the moment. The places cost about double what they do in the USA and the amenities are not the same - I knew that when I left the UK many years ago. But homesickness will allow one to overlook some of the areas that would cause problems renting in the USA - such as very old fashioned plumbing! And no storm windows and summer screens! History and awesome ancient buildings make up for the above. At least they do for me.

I think this is one of the (rare) benefits of living in one of the most expensive cities in the USA - to me the UK rents look reasonable. Houses round here rent for $3-$4K per month, which is £1,900 to £2,400. Rentals in the New York City suburbs are often more expensive than a mortgage would be, which just seems nuts but I guess that's supply and demand for you.

UK house prices to buy, OTOH, are nuts. A detached house in many of the nicest parts of Yorkshire costs as much as a detached house half an hour outside Manhattan. That's insane!

hiya - we were out of the UK for 7 years and maintained small bank accounts as well. As son as my husband got a job he was approved for a mortgage as long as his probation period was completed. He banked with Halifax and they were the ones to approve a mortgage. They said that I could not go on it for one year because I was American. Halifax also gave him a cc for the same amount he had when he "stopped" using it before which was around £9000.

As for the rent, we had to pay 6 months rent in advance because they would not use any credit history from the USA and believe me I had everything. Both of us worked right up til about a month before we moved to the UK and both professionals. We still owned our home in the USA and they would not count that "history". We had a nice savings account in the USA but they would not accept that. They were brutal and they still made us pay for the credit checks even though they refused to look at any of our paperwork. After the first 6 months, they made us pay for second credit check and then we were fine.

SO all in all, to move into a rental we had to pay 6 months in advance, plus 6 weeks deposit, plus about £200 for application and checks.

So even though we had perfect credit here in the UK and money in the bank, they still made us pay it all up front for 6 months. We used Choices and they used a 3rd party referencing agency called Paragon.

Do you have any relatives in the area you want to move too? I found my rental through family, turns out the milk man owns houses he buys cheap does up and rents out, no credit check was done, he did have it in the local paper.
You know how it is, it's who you know.

Thanks CCmail - that's good to know!

Mummy - yes my family are all in that area and they are all keeping their ears to the ground for possible private rental opportunities - where my family connections would be more valuable than a credit check!

Hi we returned after 12 years in Aus.....we did not have a current bank account in the uk we opened a HSBC UK account while in Australia which was very easy, we rented a home and either had to have two written refs or 3 months rental in advance it was fairly easy it might depend on who you rent through but as I said it was straight forward for us..we bought a car cash and any other things the same way (we nearly always do anyway) but we do realise we need a credit rating ironic really but that is the way of life....more debt you seem to have the better for credit...lol...all the best and so far we are enjoying being home in fact it's down right lovely to be home....good luck

Your credit rating in the UK has not disappeared. It never goes away, you still have your NHS number right? You do have a UK credit history if you had cards or accounts previously. We got a mortgage three years ago over there "planning ahead" and were able to use our UK credit rating from when we left 12 years prior. We did keep a UK bank account that did show positive cash flow so maybe that helped. Good luck!!

Thanks britmomma - yes I still have my NHS number (oddly enough I still know it by heart after 14 years away!). Although your total credit picture never goes away I believe they only look at the last 5-7 years. I kept a small balance in a building society account - it's had regular deposits and an occasional withdrawal when I've been home on holiday.

Just out of interest - I don't believe the UK credit scoring system uses your Social Security number right? It never used to - they tracked you by name, DOB and address - has that changed?

Thats what I thought too! No in either the US or the UK they will look at your credit history and it never goes away. Bad marks on your account are removed in that 5-7 year time frame. We got sooooo scammed on our first car purchase in the US because I thought the same. They told me I had no credit history and of course my husband had just arrived his was 0. If you had a mortgage or car loan previously it will still be noted in your records, bad marks will be gone! All the best