Dear Samii

Can I reference students through the Tenant Referencing UK system?

Samii says

Yes, we have many student landlords who reference their student tenants, as well as their guarantors.

We believe if a student is going to take a tenancy (who’s over 18) it is important to get an initial credit search on them, which will start off their financial file. It will also provide you with valuable insight into any linked addresses if they are living in the family home, as they would have been registered on the electoral role. It will also flag up any financial problems, as some times CCJs can appear on a file within the first year.

With our system, once a financial report has been taken it automatically generates our unique tenant histories and at this point you will then be registered on the national tenant histories database as this tenants landlord. This means you can now report good or bad behaviour and rent payments on this tenant throughout the tenancy. You can also link guarantors through your comments too, referencing the guarantors (mostly parents) in the same way; linking the tenant to your address too.

I really think it’s imperative that students start their first rental in this nature.

Dear Samii

If your system doesn’t bring back any adverse data on my tenant, can I get a refund?

Samii says

Unfortunately we do not provide refunds if you just carry out a tenant history report. However, it is made clear throughout the site (and by the account managers) that our unique Tenant History reports are generated automatically when you take out a financial report. Therefore it doesn’t make sense to purchase a tenant history report on its own, but to carry out a basic financial report; which will always bring back data on the tenant, as it taps into millions and millions of records through Equifax. So if it doesn’t return any data on a previous landlord or letting agent it will automatically create a tenant history, thus stopping any tenant making multiple applications for the purpose of crime, leaving a landlord without notice, etc, etc.

The system is designed for data sharing, so as soon as you carry out the financial report you are sharing data on these tenants with tens of thousands of members right across the UK.

Have you got a tenant referencing question?
Then simply email samii@landlordreferencing.co.uk and it may feature here, helping other landlords and letting agents with the same query in the future.

Not an LRS member? Click here to join now and gain exclusive access to the only real-time referencing database in the UK, alongside 25,000+ fellow landlords.