durham_lad

I thought I'd share our experience in securing an unfurnished house for rental when we move back in May as it was a little different from our experience when we did this for a 6 month lease in 2011.

As before we used Rightmove.co.uk and we are looking to move to a particular market town on the edge of the N. Yorks Moors. Our requirements are for a house with at least 3 bedrooms and a garage and over the last 4 weeks have attempted to secure a lease on several houses but every time we inquired and asked our friends there to arrange for a viewing the target house was leased to someone else. We were either too late or the owner preferred to have someone local with cash in hand.

6 days ago we spotted a good candidate 3 hours after it appeared on the website and called our friends who immediately called and arranged a viewing the following day, Saturday. They told the agent we wanted the house and we also called and left a message to that effect.

We talked to the agent on Monday who confirmed that we were prepared to pay 6 months rent in advance and assured him that although we were retired and living overseas we could provide US pension statements to prove income. He asked if we had a UK bank account and for how long had we held it (since 1985). He then said he would talk to the owners and get back to us. Next day we had an email from him with an application form and their bank details to make a £250 deposit to secure a lease pending approval from a company called Rent4Sure who would do background checks, and then affirmation by the leasing company (i.e. him) of our secure income.

My wife and I each received emails from Rent4Sure to complete information on their secure website, and that information included NI number and a copy of a recent UK bank statement plus a copy of our US passports.

Having submitted that info we received another email from them asking if we had lived in the UK for at least 12 months at anytime during the past 18 years, and failing that if we had rented anywhere in the UK for any length of time in the past 18 years. Fortunately we were able to give them the address of the place we rented in 2011 and told them we had paid council tax and for a TV licence, plus gave them the contact details of the agent we rented it through. Two days later the agent sent us an email saying that Rent4Sure had given us a positive report and that he was happy with the pension and bank statements we had sent to him. He also agreed that when he sends over the lease that we can print it, have it notarized, scan it and send it back. Initially he had requested that we have it witnessed by an attorney but accepted my explanation that attorneys in Texas don't witness documents, it is Public Notaries, and that when we last updated our wills a few years ago it was a Public Notary who witnessed the signing of the wills, not the attorney who drew up the wills.

When we rented a place in the same town in 2011 it was much easier in that all the agent needed was proof of income via pension statement copies and no need to pay 6 months in advance.

nun

Wow, what a palava. I think I would have given up at the "secure website" stage. But I see that there is now a requirement for landlords to check immigration documents, WTF...don't get me started. If I move back I think my strategy will be to stay in a hotel (maybe somewhere like "The Hall", you know the one I mean) and look for a rental in person and take a wad of cash. The posh hotel address and a bunch of £100 notes won't hurt.

durham_lad

Being in the UK would definitely have helped when it came to finding a place but the company doing the background check was not interested in us having the money to pay, no questions on income, it was similar to what many landlords do in the USA, a credit check and see if we have outstanding debts etc.

This leasing agent, in Marton, was easily satisfied with proof of income via copies of last month's pension statements, and the deposit was in their bank within 2 hours of me pressing the submit button from my UK bank.

If we were in the UK first as you suggest then we still wouldn't have a credit record hence the extra steps rent4sure took to validate our background.

Of course it's likely that not all landlords and leasing agents go to the expense of doing a background, just like all landlords don't do the checks in the USA. We had a good friend when we lived in Louisiana and he had several properties he rented out and told me he always paid for a background check on potential tenants.

From the rent4sure website you can get to see a sample report that is produced.

https://rent4sure.co.uk/home

theOAP

Ah, not necessarily true. If you're carrying £100 bank notes, you may not have to search for a rental. Full accommodation may be supplied at Her Majesty's pleasure.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/bankn...t/default.aspx

durham_lad

robin1234

Now we know why you're coming back after all these years. Time to dig up that tin trunk you buried back in the sixties.

Oops sorry, this was supposed to be addressed to nun!

nun

Nice one, I've lived in the US for far too long.