Tenant Referencing – What Do They Check, and How Long Does it Take?

Tenant referencing is a standard part of many rental agreements. It’s essentially a way of ensuring that a tenant is who they say they are. It can also determine whether a tenant can be trusted to pay the rent, and to keep the property in good condition.

Whether you’re a landlord wondering whether you need to make a tenant check, or you’re a potential tenant wondering what this process involves, this is your essential guide to tenant referencing.

Do I Need a Tenant Referencing Check?

Whether you’re a tenant or a landlord, you should treat tenant referencing as a standard part of a rental agreement. However, if you’re a student with us you have nothing to worry about! We know you probably don’t have a credit history or previous tenancies to build your reference up – so we take a simpler route.

By assigning a guarantor, such as a parent or guardian, you can avoid the hassle of gathering all the necessary information needed for a full reference and rest assured that your previous inexperience or lack of credit rating won’t hold you back.

What is a Guarantor?

If a tenant cannot pay the rent, a guarantor can step in and cover the rent for them. Guarantors are a standard part of most student letting agreements. As part of the rental process, potential renters may have to provide information about their guarantors income and ability to pay rent in case the renter can’t.

Tenant Referencing – What Do They Check?

If your letting agent insists on a reference check, here’s what’s usually checked in a tenant referencing process:

• ID – All tenant referencing processes start with an ID check. Usually, this is simply a case of asking the tenant for some photo ID, such as a passport or a driving licence. They’ll also check if the potential tenant has the right to rent in the UK. For British citizens, their passport will do the job. But international students may have to provide additional documentation, such as their university offer letter.

• Financial Background – To ensure that a tenant will be able to make regular rent payments, tenant referencing invariably involves a financial background check. The tenant might have to provide proof of employment, such as recent payslips. Alternatively, they might have to provide bank statements or, if they’re not in employment, proof of benefits. At this stage, students might have to provide evidence of their student loan. Sometimes a credit check will also be involved.

• References – Invariably, tenants will have to provide proof of previous addresses. This is simply a means of proving that they are who they say they are. In some cases, they may also have to provide references from previous landlords. This is simply to demonstrate that the tenant is trustworthy, that they’ll reliably pay their rent and that they’ll do their best to keep the property in good condition. Obviously, when it comes to students, there won’t always be previous landlords to refer to! So the tenant referencing process may request references from other sources instead, such as from employers or tutors.

How Long Does Tenant Referencing Take?

It depends on how much information the tenant can provide up-front. If they can readily provide all necessary documents, then it can really speed up the process. But any time spent sourcing documents or chasing down certain bits of information will obviously delay things.

Some landlords choose to carry out their own tenant referencing. This can be an immensely time-consuming process, but you can speed things up by asking a specialist agency to run a tenant referencing check for you.

Other things might affect the time it takes to complete the tenant referencing process. It might take a while for the tenant’s references to reply. And if the tenant’s unemployed, a freelancer, or on benefits, the financial checks might take longer.

So how long does tenant referencing take? It all depends! But if you use a good referencing company, and if you have all the information you need to hand, then it can take as little as 48 hours. But as a general rule of thumb, you should allow for up to a week.

Tenant Referencing Made Easy

We’re one of the leading student letting agents in Nottingham, with a 100% room-letting success rate. Trust in us and we’ll take good care of you throughout your tenancy – from the very beginning right through to the very end.

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