(A level of caution is rendered even more necessary under the Renting Homes (Wales)Act)

A recent tenant application flagged up for me how important it is to look beyond the surface. On paper, the application, passed as “verified” by a Letting Agent’s third-party referencing company, looked straightforward.

On paper, the application passed as “verified” by a Letting Agent’s third-party referencing company, looked straightforward

But a couple of details didn’t sit quite right — and they changed the whole picture.

The landlord reference claimed a monthly rent of £200 in an area where this simply isn’t realistic. A check of the Land Registry showed the named landlord wasn’t the legal owner, and the landlord’s attempts to contact the previous landlord, reference in hand, led nowhere. In fact, the previous landlord’s given telephone number came up “unobtainable”. This isn’t a minor issue and goes directly to the reliability of the reference. Matters became clearer when the applicant later confirmed that no written tenancy agreement existed. That admission alone invalidated what had been presented as a verified landlord reference.

Further checks revealed inconsistent employment information (which incidentally took weeks of lost rent waiting to be returned). Actual referenced income levels in the report were lower than the headline salary stated, together with a credit score described as “Very Poor” inclined at first to be passed by the Letting Agent. But the three-month actual checked income was below the normal affordability threshold for the property applied for.

the three-month actual checked income was below the normal affordability threshold

None of the bigger picture was apparent at the outset.

The landlord had hired a Letting Agent on this occasion to take him through the mountain of regulation now involved in signing up what was formerly called “a tenant”, and is now in Wales called a Contract Holder.

Under the banner of Tenant Rights, tenants have enhanced rights of tenure since the devolved Renting Homes (Wales) Act was enacted in December 2023. A “Contract Holder” (formerly “tenant”) can call the right to quit. But landlords now have to wait much longer before they can ask a tenant to leave. This legislation is being followed in England by the Renter’s Rights Bill.

The lesson?

It has always been the case that good landlords run tenancies smoothly. But these days especially, landlord diligence when setting up a tenancy is not over-caution; it’s essential.

When things don’t add up, slowing down and asking the right questions can prevent you from stepping as Louis McNiece famously said, with one foot first and both eyes blind…The result?

In this case it was decided to ask the applicant for a guarantor and also, to explain more clearly what were his present living arrangements.

Needless to say he withdrew from the application…