Pulaski

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This is probably not true, as LiW had been out of the UK for many years when she returned, and likely was approved by the landlord based on the size of the upfront payment of rent and a "personal assessment" of her and her husband when they met the landlord. There is no requirement for a private landlord to perform a credit check on prospective tenants, and many tenants have crappy credit - that is why they're tenants, not homeowners with a mortgage.
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This may be true.

tdrinker

It might be true regarding the credit rating, I've been advised that it isn't the credit score that's critical to the credit checking companies that letting agents (and many landlords?) use, but not having any red flags - court judgements, missed payments, etc. But I take your point that if someone has no, a minimal or a poor credit history, this would be a factor.

People also rent because they lack the deposit required to buy a property. To be accepted for a Lloyds Bank credit card, you must:

• Be a UK resident, aged 18 or over, with a regular annual income. [Being self employed without a long income history could be a negative factor]
• Be free from County Court Judgements (CCJs), Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) and bankruptcy. [I expect missed payments, unauthorised overdrafts, etc. can be added to the list. Red flags rather than the credit score, which varies depending on the credit rating agency.]
• Not be unemployed or a student.
• Not have been declined for a Lloyds Bank credit card within the last 30 days.

There are a lot of banks competing for business currently, so it may be that if Lloyds won't provide a credit card, someone else will.

Pulaski

There are, indeed, many reasons why people rent - I used to know the IT director at a large corporate HQ near where I live, and he rented simply because he was on a contract and didn't want to buy a home and then have to sell again 2-3 years later - he just preferred to rent so that he had outsourced all matters of property maintenance to his landlord. But it wasn't for lack of money or poor credit that he was renting - he owned his own plane and was building another in the garage of the house he was renting.

That said, many tenants are renting because they have poor credit, and it is laughable nonsense to suggest that you need good credit to be able to rent a home.