Referencing Criteria

This article will cover what we accept in order to verify the various sections of a renter's RentPassport®. 

The renter will see the following sections in order to complete their Essential RentPassport® : 

• Identity verification*
• Credit check
• Income verification
• Rent verification
• Savings (optional)
• Rental Preferences

If you request Comprehensive screening, they also have to complete the following:

• Employer reference
• Landlord reference

If you request Priority screening, they will see all the sections above but you will be gaining a dedicated case handler that will ensure your reference is completed swiftly by providing dedicated support to you and your applicant.

Sections of a RentPassport®

Identity verification:

A renter must upload a valid form of photo ID, which we will verify through our partner, IDnow. If a renter does not have any photo ID they will be required to input details explaining why.

Credit Check:

For a renter to complete their Credit Check they need to input their full legal name, date of birth, phone number, nationality and full address history. 

We are powered through Experian which asks for at least 3 years of addresses to ensure they have the most accurate credit profile. 

Income:

Users have two options when verifying their income payments:

Open banking:

The user connects with their bank account and quickly and securely verifies income.
They can add their bank account and select their payments from the transactions that are listed.

Manual verification:

Users can do this by uploading the relevant documents and manually inputting their employment type, employer, and annual salary for income.
For rent, they input their landlord/agent's name and the rent amount. 

Please see below a list of  the documents we accept to verify income depending on the employment status: 

PAYE Employment 

• 3 months consecutive most recent payslips if they are paid monthly
• 4 weeks  consecutive most recent payslips if they are paid weekly
• 6 weeks consecutive most recent payslips if they are paid bi-weekly
• Employment Contract and offer letter (together with recent payslip if the role has started)

Self Employment 

• Accountant Signed Reference Letter (Acceptable with a minimum of 6 months of accounts to be considered) We would need to validate the information provided to our satisfaction
• Most recent completed tax return
• SA302

As directors/partners are classed as employees of their company we can obtain an employer reference for them.

Pension 

• Latest P60
• Latest state pension annual statement
• 3 months consecutive most recent pension payslips
• Most recent completed tax return
• SA302
• Accountant Signed Reference Letter. We would need to validate the information provided to our satisfaction

Benefits 

• Entitlement/award letter confirming the benefits due (dated within 3 months) accompanied with proof of latest payment (if applicable)
• Entitlement/award letter confirming the benefit income received over the latest financial year or the provisional payments for the current financial year
• Latest 3 months’ fully itemised bank statements showing the benefit payments.
• For Universal Credit, we also accept the latest 3 months’ pay statements

Unemployed/Zero Income 

• A renter who is unemployed or has no income will still be able to complete their income section in the RentPassport by selecting the correct option and entering 0 in annual salary. Please ensure you request a guarantor if needed.

Scholarship/Bursary/Sponsorship

• Award letter dated within the last year confirming the annual amount. (If the award letter is older than a year, due to being issued at the start of a course that is longer than a year, we obtain proof of the latest payments to ensure the scholarship is still ongoing)
  
• Signed Reference Letter from the relevant department within the university or awarding body.  
• Signed Reference Letter from the sponsoring embassy

We only accept the maintenance element of the award only, not payments towards the tuition fees.

Rent:

Users have two options when verifying their previous rent payments:

Open banking:

The user connects with their bank account and quickly and securely verifies rent.
They can add their bank account and select their payments from the transactions that are listed.

Please note, that only renters who have been paying via bank transfer or direct debit can verify through open banking.

Self certification:

Renters that are unable to connect to their bank or paid their previous rent in cash can self certify their rent payments. You may need to refer to a landlord reference for those who self certify.

Employment reference:

We can only accept the following details from a suitable referee. A suitable referee is someone who is in a senior position to the applicant within the company or in a personnel position within the company such as human resources.

• Company name

• Job title

• Employment status (F/T-P/T)

• Permanent/Temporary/Zero hours

• Start Date

• End Date (if applicable)

• Basic annual salary

Landlord reference:

We can only accept the following details from a suitable referee. A suitable referee is someone who owns or manages the property.

• Tenancy Start Date
• Tenancy End Date (if applicable)
• Rental Amount
• Whether notice has been served?
• If there was any damage to the property?
• Whether the applicant has/had any rent arrears?
• Would you rent to the applicant again?

Additionally, you are able to request a right to rent, ID verification or a guarantor for all RentPassports®. Fees may apply depending on your requests.

*Please note, if ID verification is not visible on your RentPassports. This will be an optional paid add on depending your contract.