What is a tenant credit check?

If you’re applying to rent a property in the UK, landlords will often perform a few checks to verify your identity, confirm your right to rent, and gauge how you’ll be as a tenant. This kind of “tenant credit check” helps landlords and letting agents make sure you are who you say you are, and that you don’t have a history of missing rent payments. 

We’ve put this guide together to help you understand which information landlords or letting agents will have access to, how they perform these checks, and how you can better prepare yourself for upcoming tenant credit checks. 

What can landlords see in a tenant credit check? 

A tenant credit check is a “soft search” on your credit report — also known as a “soft check”. The other type of credit check, usually done by lenders when you’re applying for a financial product such as a loan, mortgage, or car finance, is called a “hard search” — also known as a “full search” or “hard check”. 

Landlords, employers, and insurance companies tend to use soft searches, which reveal public information including your Electoral Roll status, insolvencies, and County Court Judgments (CCJs) (note: we’ll explain more about these in detail further down this article). 

In recent years, the advent of official rent reporting platforms and rental exchange programs means that the three UK credit reference agencies (CRAs) (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) may now collect information about your rent payments. 

These programs let tenants consent to their landlord sharing their rental payment information with CRAs so that it can count towards their positive credit history. However, your landlord and letting agent will also need to sign up for the service. You can see whether CRAs have collected your rent payment history by checking your Checkmyfile credit report. 

What information are landlords interested in, and why?

Landlords are most interested to know:

• Your Electoral Roll status, because it helps them to verify your identity, confirm that you’re registered to vote at the address you’ve provided, and that you’re actually living there. It’s helpful to make sure your Electoral Roll status is correct before you submit your rental application, because it’ll make it easier to resolve any issues. This is also a symbol of stability which is a green flag for landlords.

• Your history (or lack thereof) of County Court Judgments (CCJs), because they’re indicators of substantial risk. A CCJ is a court's formal judgment that a debt is due. CCJs appear on your credit report and remain there for six years, even if the debt is paid off. They can make it challenging to get a rental tenancy agreement.  

• Your history (or lack thereof) of insolvencies, because like CCJs, landlords and letting agents consider them to signify substantial risk. An insolvency is a financial state where an individual or company is unable to pay debts to a lender. Insolvencies may be issued after insolvency legal proceedings and there are different types. For example, an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is a type of insolvency that forms a legally binding agreement with your creditors to pay back your debt (or part of it) over a period of time. A bankruptcy is a more severe insolvency, where individuals or businesses declare that they can’t pay back their creditors. All insolvencies are considered negative indicators on your credit report, but like CCJs, they’ll only remain on your credit report for six years once discharged. 

It’s always worth checking your credit report before submitting any rental applications to ensure that the information is correct. Additionally, if you spot any errors, you can take appropriate steps to fix them ahead of time.

If your Electoral Roll status isn’t appearing on your credit report, or if your name or address is appearing incorrect, notifying your local council about the problem will usually fix it.

In some instances, a CRA might be missing your Electoral Roll information, so contacting them directly may solve the problem. Similarly, you can contact the named court on your credit report about fixing any incorrect court records (e.g. CCJs). 

If the party responsible for lodging the error accepts a mistake has been made, they’ll have one month to amend your credit file with the correct information. The changes should be visible shortly after, but since back-and-forths with the party can take some time too, the whole process of fixing incorrect information can take several weeks. 

You’re more likely to pass your tenant credit check if you:

• Don’t have any CCJs or insolvencies

• Are showing up on the Electoral Roll at the address you’ve submitted as the most recent

• Don’t have a history of missed rental payments appearing on your Credit Report 

Do landlords need your permission for a tenant credit check?

Yes, landlords do need your permission to conduct a tenant credit check. Your landlord can only perform a tenant credit check with your consent, and you do have the right to decline their request. But remember that they’re using the check to confirm your identity and to help determine if you’re reliable at making payments. So, if you don’t consent to the check, it might negatively impact your chances of renting the property. 

How do landlords perform a tenant credit check?

Landlords can collect the information they need from one or more of the 3 credit reference agencies in the UK (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion).

How can I prepare for my tenant credit check?

If you’re sending out applications to rent a property in the UK, it’s best to be prepared for a tenant credit check. You can help prepare yourself by:

• Checking your information. You can contact your local council’s Electoral Registration Office to verify your Electoral Roll status. Making sure you’re listed on the most recent version of the Electoral Roll at your current address strengthens your application, because it indicates your interest in renting a property for the long term.

• Verifying the information that CRAs have collected. It’s possible for CRAs to return different information about you. If you’re concerned about errors or inconsistencies, you can use Checkmyfile, the most detailed credit report you can get, to quickly check your information across all three CRAs (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). You can also make it easier for your landlord to find and verify the information they need by ensuring your name, address, and any previous addresses in your credit report are correct. 

I have adverse court information. What should I do?

If you have adverse court information on your credit report, like a CCJ, IVA, or bankruptcy, some landlords will choose to decline your application. Fortunately, some landlords may still accept your rental application with some extra conditions in place, such as:

1. Putting down a larger deposit than would normally be required, as this may give them more confidence in your financial stability.

2. Bringing in a rent guarantor (someone who is liable to pay your rent if you can’t) to co-sign your application. If you do contact someone about co-signing as your guarantor, though, be sure to make them aware of the risks of being a guarantor.

3. Having a previous landlord advocate for you. Landlords often ask for references in the tenant screening process, so asking a previous one to confirm that you were a good tenant and that you made payments on time may increase your chances. 

Although court information can have a significant impact on your renting options, it’s worth noting that court information won’t remain on your credit report indefinitely. CCJs should be removed from your report once six years have passed from the issue date. Similarly, insolvencies (like IVAs or bankruptcies) should no longer appear if it’s been more than six years since the date of issue and you’ve been discharged. 

What other checks might landlords do in tenant screening?

Landlords might perform additional checks in the tenant screening process, such as:

1. Checking your right to rent

This is a legal requirement for landlords, and they can suffer financial penalties if they rent out their property to someone who doesn’t have the right to rent. If you’re a British or Irish citizen, you can usually prove your right to rent with your passport (current or expired), or with a certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen.

If you aren’t a British or Irish citizen, there are two ways to prove your right to rent. The first way is by using your “share code”, which is an online nine-digit alpha-numerical code that lets non-UK nationals verify their right to work. The UK government provides share codes if:

• You have settled or pre-settled status

• You have a biometric residence card or permit

• You’ve used the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to scan your identity document on your phone, when applying for a visa. 

Important note: landlords cannot demand that you use your share code to confirm your right to rent. You can use the second method, too—i.e., sharing your original immigration documents, such as your passport or a travel document issued by the Home Office. 

2. Checks to confirm affordability

Since landlords don’t have access to your full credit report, they may rely on additional checks to gauge if you’re likely to be consistent in paying rent. 

They might look into your earnings by asking you for proof of income (e.g., recent payslips and/or employment contracts) or contacting your employer about your annual salary. 

In general, landlords may want to make sure your annual income (or combined annual income for groups) is at least three times the annual rent cost. But this isn’t a strict rule.

3. Reference checks

Landlords and letting agents might contact one or more of your previous landlords to learn about how you were as a tenant, and whether you were regularly keeping up with rent payments. They might even ask about how much of your previous deposit you got back to gauge how well you looked after the property. 

If you’re on good terms with your current or previous landlord, these reference checks are an opportunity to strengthen your application. Consider asking them to write you a glowing recommendation detailing your strengths as a tenant, like how you paid your rent on time and looked after the property. 

Recap: what to expect in a tenant credit check

To recap, tenant credit checks help landlords verify your identity and better understand how you’re likely to be as a tenant. These checks only give landlords access to public information, which includes your Electoral Roll status and potential court information. Additionally, landlords need your consent to go ahead with these checks.

If you plan to send out applications, preparing in advance for these checks may prevent unwelcome issues and delays. It’s particularly helpful to monitor your credit report over time to make sure all your information is correct and up-to-date.