Renting a Property with Bad Credit, CCJ’s, IVA’s or Bankruptcy

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Does having poor credit stop you for being able to rent a property? No of course not. There’s always a way to get around any problem as long as you know where to go and what to do. Just because you’ve been turned down because of bad credit or bankruptcy before at some locations, doesn’t mean
you’ll never find a place of your own.

The first thing you need to do is to find out exactly what your credit history is saying – what are potential landlords and/or letting agents seeing when they look at your credit.  Know exactly how many and who you have ccj’s with and be willing to disclose this information right from the beginning.  Being honest about your past can go a long way in getting the landlord or letting agent to see past those unfortunate problems from your past.

Don’t forget, both landlords and agents want to help you, because it means money in their pockets – they just want to know what type of a person you
are and that they will receive their money each and every month. Not every
landlord or agent goes to the trouble of getting credit checks so ask before
you go to see a potential property what references they require and do they
perform credit checks.

Try to avoid those properties that do require a credit check to be done. No sense setting yourself up for let-down right off the bat. Having said that however, you must be very cautious about renting from a landlord who doesn’t take the time to check out potential tenants. This could indicate that the landlord may not be too concerned about any problems or repairs that you may have throughout your tenancy.

One other possible avenue is to seek a property from a private landlord. Since the majority of the private sector does not have a means of doing credit checks,
your bankruptcy or bad credit need never come up. If you are able to get a
reference from a previous landlord showing what a good tenant you had been and how they had received your rent on time can also go far in securing good faith.

Bad credit does not have to define you. You could also seek a guarantor or someone who will move in with you to share the rent. This person would need to have the necessary credit rating and would be equally responsible for the rent. The landlord would have a legal right to pursue both you and your guarantor should the rent not be paid on time.

Obviously the ideal situation would not to have gotten into trouble with your credit in the first place, but because there are several reasons – some completely out of your control – for having bad credit or going bankrupt, the next step is to correct the problem and get back on track.

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