About Paul Routledge – Landlord Referencing Founder

About Paul Routledge – Landlord Referencing Founder

The Development of Landlord Referencing Services and the network to try and help Landlords and Tenants:
Including: TRLettings.co.uk, LandlordReferencing.co.uk (including forum), RentSafeUK.co.uk & LetDirectory.com

Landlord Referencing Services is one of those ideas that took hold and has been expanding rapidly ever since its conception in the spring of 2010.

But the idea did not originate in particularly pleasant circumstances; it was the only possible solution to a real, and in some ways desperate, need. Great ideas come at strange times- Newton’s came to him beneath an apple tree, Paul Routledge’s came to him beneath a knife wielding tenant.

If you’ve not heard our origin story before then get yourself comfortably seated, perhaps with a hot beverage, and prepare for drama.

A tenant of Paul Routledge’s had rung about an hour before. She was frightened; there was shouting and crashing coming from the flat below hers. The police were too busy to come out and investigate and Paul, being the owner of the flats, was the only other person she thought to call.

Upon arriving Paul found that the front door of the property in question was open. This seemed unusual and Paul immediately felt concerned. Understandably so, considering that just a few months earlier he had discovered the bludgeoned body of another tenant in one of his properties.

Paul gently pushed the door ajar, nervously shouting “It’s the landlord, is everything alright?”

At that moment two men came running out of the flat, pushing Paul out of the way as they went. In the panic Paul didn’t notice the third man – his tenant – until he was on top of him.

Brandishing a knife.

The tenant slashed at Paul’s face and head before jumping to his feet and making a run for it. Paul managed to drag himself to the car where his son, Dean, was waiting for him. Dean then drove Paul to the hospital for treatment. Miraculously, despite one of the wounds being close to Paul’s eye, there was no lasting injury.

Paul was then arrested.

The tenant had gone to the police whilst Paul was being treated for multiple stab wounds to the head and had accused him of aggravated burglary. Thankfully, after a few hours of questioning, Paul was released without charge. But, when Paul wanted the tenant arrested for the attack, he was told that the Crown Prosecution Service would never follow it up as the tenant complained first. It would be seen as a tit for tat accusation.

At this point Paul decided that enough was enough. He felt a landlord’s job was extremely risky and that the law as it stood did not do enough to protect them. Landlord Referencing Services was created to help landlords protect each other.

Landlord Referencing.co.uk today powers the Tenant History referencing process for Tenant Referencing UK.com and as the website grows, now with 1,000’s of users and millions views, every landlord and letting agent in the country can add data to a Tenants History; keeping us all safer in the future.

How does it work?
Built on a simple idea that if a tenant has failed to meet their tenancy contract obligations, they are less likely to give that landlords details when they move to a new property. Tenant Histories bridge that weakness. The only information provided is the details of the previous landlord and whether the tenancy contract ended with any damages and/or rent arrears.

Why would this be beneficial for good tenants?
As a tenant you may find that as you have chosen to move over time that you may not remember your old landlords details, or maybe that landlord has changed their phone number and you cannot reach them. How do you show your new ‘landlord-to-be’ that you have been a great tenant and they should offer you a tenancy with confidence? For a long time tenants have promoted rental be taken into account when looking to purchase property – Tenant Histories provide a representation of a great rental history, helping to show a tenant as low risk. We hope that one day Tenant Histories can help give great tenants the credit they deserve.

Over time Landlord Referencing UK has helped many of our members, tenants and visitors. Through the forum we have helped answer questions, our systems are built to help landlord and agents reference thoroughly, our referencing process is built to be quick and efficient for tenants. We also never “Pass” or “Fail” any applicants.
It is our belief that it is a landlords business decision how they wish to run their business and that transparency and understanding is the key to a good landlord / tenant relationship.

What now?
Since starting, Landlord Referencing has worked to provide a one stop shop for all agent and landlord services, as well as useful moving check lists for tenants offering comparison tools and a tenant area on the forum.

Expanding to offer advertising through TRLettings.co.uk, Referencing & Management through LandlordReferencing.co.uk, Help and updates through the forum, Insurance through RentSafeUK.co.uk, Improving standards & Education for Landlords & Tenants through the NLCEUK.co.uk, and service providers for the letting industry through LetDirectory.com

LRS will continue to try and build and develop all the services on offer with the aim to work with Agents, Landlords & Tenants to improve the Private Rented Sector (PRS).

Having Problems?  Then call us now and let us help you: (freephone) 0800– 9994 – 994

TenantReferencingUK.com is a trading name for an accrual of referencing products created for the purpose of tenant referencing by LandlordReferencing.co.uk Ltd

Tenant History Reports & Lifestyle Referencing were created by Paul Routledge for landlordreferencing.co.uk and originated from landlordsdata.com in 1999.

Creator of Tenant History Reports at Tenanthistories.co.uk