The Tenant Qualifying Process at Andrews Property Group

Finding the right tenant is crucial to ensuring a smooth and successful tenancy. At Andrews, we take tenant qualifying very seriously to ensure that both landlords and tenants have a positive and secure rental experience.We use a referencing partner company called Goodlord, to streamline and enhance our referencing process. Here’s how it works and why it’s beneficial for everyone involved, especially in the context of the impending removal of Section 21 notices.

 

Why tenant qualifying matters

Effective tenant qualifying is essential for several reasons:

  • Reduces risk: By thoroughly vetting tenants, we minimise the risk of late payments, property damage, and other tenancy issues.
  • Promotes long-term tenancies: Well-referenced tenants are more likely to fulfil the terms of their tenancy agreement, resulting in stable, long-term tenancies.
  • Adaptation to legal changes: With the imminent removal of Section 21 notices, tenant referencing is more critical than ever. Without the no-fault eviction option, landlords need to ensure that tenants are reliable from the outset to avoid lengthy and costly eviction processes.

The Andrews tenant qualifying process

At Andrews, our tenant qualifying process is designed to be thorough, efficient, and transparent. Here’s how we achieve this:

1. Initial tenancy application 

Once a prospective tenant has viewed a property and decides that they’d like to go ahead with it, they are asked to complete an application form through our local branch network.

This application form includes requesting the following information:

  • Personal information: Name, contact details, and current address.
  • Employment details: Information about their current employment and income.
  • Proposed tenancy: Offered rent, proposed move in date, length of tenancy and any conditions of their offers
  • Additional information: We ask them to disclose if they have any children, any pets and if they have any County Court Judgements or any adverse credit that we should know about before proceeding with a full reference. 

At the moment, there are still more people looking for a rental property than there are properties available, so in most cases we are presenting multiple applications to landlords at any given time. We can also offer face to face meetings with all the prospective tenants who have submitted applications on the property too so that the landlord can meet them and decide if they wish to proceed with them or not. This is completely optional but available to all our landlords.

Off the back of the applications proposed, once the landlord has selected the tenant for the rental property, we then put them through referencing which then verifies this information, ensuring that the details provided are accurate and up to date. We use a partner company called Goodlord to complete these checks for us. Pending completion of the check and subject to the confirmation that the landlord is happy to proceed, a pdf document outlining the outcome will be shared.

2. Referencing through Goodlord  – what do we do?

Goodlord performs a comprehensive credit check on all prospective tenants. This involves:

Credit checks:

  • Credit score analysis: Evaluating the tenant’s credit score to assess their financial responsibility.
  • Debt review: Reviewing any outstanding debts, looking for any County Court Judgements, Bankruptcy and IVA's. 

This step helps us gauge the tenant’s financial stability and ability to meet rental obligations.

Right to Rent check: 

As part of the legal requirements, we conduct a Right to Rent check both in person and electronically via Goodlord. This involves:

  • Identity verification: Confirming the tenant’s identity using valid documents such as a passport or driving licence. 
  • Residency status: Ensuring that the tenant has the legal right to rent in the UK. 

This step is crucial for compliance with the UK’s Right to Rent legislation. 

Current residency check & employment verification checks:

Goodlord contacts the references provided by the tenant, including: 

  • Landlord references: Speaking with previous landlords to confirm the tenant’s rental history, payment reliability, and behaviour as a tenant. 
  • Employment verification: Confirming the tenant’s current employment status and income with their employer or, if the tenant consents we can review their income via OpenBanking.

These checks provide a comprehensive view of the tenant’s background and reliability.

Affordability assessment 

Goodlord assesses the tenant’s affordability to ensure they can comfortably meet the rent payments. This involves: 

  • Income evaluation: Comparing the tenant’s income against the rental amount to ensure it's within an affordable range. Goodlord look to see that the tenants can afford thirty times the advertised rental amount.  

This step helps us ensure that the tenant is financially capable of sustaining the tenancy. 

 3. Final approval and tenancy agreement 

Once all checks are complete, and the tenant is deemed suitable, we send a copy of the full report to the landlord and then proceed to the final approval stage: 

  • Goodlord report: We review a detailed report from Goodlord summarising all the checks and findings. 
  • Tenancy agreement: If everything is in order, we prepare and sign the tenancy agreement, ensuring both parties are clear on their obligations and rights.

The importance of tenant qualifying in the context of section 21 changes

The tenant qualifying process has always been important, but its significance has increased due to the impending removal of Section 21 notices. Here’s why: 

  • No-fault evictions: Section 21 notices currently allow landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason. With the potential abolition of this option, landlords will no longer be able to end tenancies so easily. This makes it crucial to select tenants who are likely to comply with tenancy agreements and maintain good relationships. 
  • Legal and financial implications: Without Section 21 notices, landlords will need to rely on Section 8 notices, which require valid legal reasons such as rent arrears or proven property damage. This process can be lengthy and costly, underscoring the need for rigorous tenant screening to prevent such issues from arising. 
  • Long-term commitment: The removal of Section 21 notices will promote longer tenancies. Ensuring tenants are thoroughly vetted means landlords can feel more confident in their long-term commitments, reducing the likelihood of disputes and evictions. 

If you do opt for our Rent Collection or Fully Managed Services, we can also offer Rent & Legal Protection which will cover any rental arrears and cover any legal costs associated with evicting a tenant up to a sum of £100,000.

For more information on this service, please speak to your local branch

 

 

 

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