Tenant Referencing – who do you use for a thorough check these days?

If a private LL cannot charge the prospective tenant for referencing checks, can they be deducted from the weeks holding fee if they tenant doesn't pass the checks?

No DSR. That would still amount to charging for them.

For clarity, OpenRent simply engage Rentguard to carry out the referencing, as did RLA through RLA Tenant Referencing. And there are two levels of detail, with the more comprehensive being circa £20.00

OK, so who's found a money-making opportunity here???
Seems to be the reason why the so-called 'referencing companies' referred to so far aren't allowing landlords to pre-assess potential tenants by deliberately dodging the questions that determine whether we, as self-managing landlords, offer a tenancy or not.
Is the following the latest strategy to rip-off landlords?
1. Don't pre-empt the questions that are landlords' deciding factors by asking them prior to application.
2. In the case of OpenRent, be the holder of the one-week holding fee. Don't ask let the landlord pre-determine the let subject to CCJs or Pets. Let it go to referencing and when the landlord rejects the application, it's no bother because they'll have to pay again for the next round of lottery-style referencing.
3. Lack of transparency. No confirmation was sent to me by OpenRent stating that they had returned the week's rent they collected from the middle-aged applicants I declined.
4. NRLA don't allow the landlord to screen out CCJs or unmentioned Pets (via a look at a properly prepared PDF application prior to electronic processing and landlord payment). The pertinent questions just aren't being asked on behalf of the client-status landlord. The week's holding fee has to be returned to the prospective tenants who've signed and agreed to nothing that concerns landlords' eliminating factors.
5. The expectation seems to be based on landlords' being an easy target for repeat revenue collection if referencing companies don't let them screen out unacceptable potential tenants.
Here's a definition of Stealth Tax:
Regulatory and compliance costs are a kind of stealth tax, because these costs are passed along to the ultimate payer who is often unaware they shoulder the cost.
It looks to be the case. Anyone disagree?

Reply to the comment left by Jireh Homes at 09/09/2021 - 18:12So that's all ok then..... referencing is just a 'simple job'. I couldn't disagree more!
Who on earth is going to do 'more comprehensive work' for £20 when an automated parking fine comes at £35 a pop?
Who is actually working for whom when it comes to referencing???
The real question is - is anyone working at all? This £20 looks like a 'processing fee', nothing more than that!
If there are any full referencing service companies in existence, please step up and let us know who you are. Thank you.

We Tried CANOPY for a while, but it relies on the tenant having an email address for them to gather info, the tenant actually responding, and then it takes ages and ages to comer through - by which time the tenant has signed up somewhere else.

So almost unworkable really. You either take your chances, or you get no tenants....!!

Just looked up Canopy.....

Rent:

We can only verify rent payments of tenants who have been paying via bank transfer or direct debit, in order to verify this they will need to self certify by connecting via Open Banking.

Perhaps that's the bit that nobody likes!

I have used OpenRent for about 2 years and I have setup over 15 tenancies with them in this period.

When I get a new enquiry via OpenRent, I always ask for certain details before I setup a viewing - such as employment, income details, credit record, etc. In case where the answers don't stack up, I ask for proof of income, in the form of bank statements, payslips, etc. Once I am satisfied with the information provided, I go ahead with the viewings.

If then an application in submitted along with a week's rent, I proceed with OpenRent's referencing. They check for the following:

- Address checks (through credit file)
- Identity check (through credit file)
- Employment (through employer)
- Proof of income (through Open Banking)
- Rental reference (through estate agent or landlord)
- Rental payment (through Open Banking)

I think this is fantastic for a mere £20.

If the above reveals anything that wasn't disclosed to me prior to referencing, I cancel the application and OpenRent always pay me the holding deposit, because I have written proof of the prospective tenant to have lied (or where unknown of their own credit worthiness).

If the above checks does not reveal anything adverse, but the applicant is still declined, I seek out for a guarantor and follow the above process again.

You win some, you lose some. But I have lost very few times, as my upfront questioning and checks/balances are thorough.

I hope this helps.

"- Identity check (through credit file)"

This is the part I'm not happy with. Due to the lack of available labour I've been getting pretty hands on lately. Only today I needed to hire a wacer plate. In order to get the hire booked I had to scan my passport and record myself moving my head around just to prove I was the person on the passport photo. This was so that I could hire an item costing less than £1000. But I guess even that system probably can't detect a passport that's been tampered with though.

Reply to the comment left by Gary Bray at 11/09/2021 - 19:36
I’d wager that it can. It’s probably using biometric scanning