Moving to Birmingham - Rent/Deposit/Guarantors

ratedR

Hi all,

Looking for some advice.
I recently graduated (mature student, early 30s) and have secured a job in Birmingham.

I don't start until July, and went over a couple of weeks ago to sort out accommodation. It's a good paying job so I was looking for my own apartment, nice area, secure place for a car, etc, which I found, within my price range.

Found out the hard way about letting agencies fees, deposits, etc, but was able to come up with (the large amount) of money.

Sorted, I thought, they'd just need to do some checks and I'd be in. My credit rating in Ireland is good, I have a good job secured and had my contract to prove it, and also gave them permission to get in touch with my new employers.

But now there is a problem. Because I have no UK bank account (catch 22, need an address first) and no history of UK credit, they need either 6 months rent up front (I can't afford that) or a guarantor. Except it needs to be a UK resident, who's a homeowner with good credit earning 25k+ a year.
I don't know anyone in that position. And unfortunately work can't help me on it.

Is paying my (large) deposit and having a job secure not enough ?? Is this the norm over here? It's absolutely ridiculous. I'm completely stressed over this and really don't want to have to go over again looking at more places and going to a different agency - especially if I'll face the same problems again.

Any advice ? And what I really need to know is if this particular letting agency is taking the piss ?

jimmii

Not taking the piss unfortunately! Ran into the same thing in London pain the hole. From my experience it's a standard requirement over the whole UK in cities atleast. How big an agent is it? If it's one of the large ones then they probably won't budge but if it's a smaller one it's worth trying to chat to an actual decision maker see if there can be some flexibility.

ratedR

jimmii wrote: »

Not taking the piss unfortunately! Ran into the same thing in London. pain the hole. From my experience it's a standard requirement for the whole UK. How big an agent is it? If it's one of the large ones then they probably won't budge but if it's a smaller one it's worth trying to chat to an actual decision maker see if there can be some flexibility.

Hi,

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one ever in this position! HR in my new job said that they'd never heard of any of their other foreign employees having this hassle. Kinda made me feel like the stupid paddy..

They're relatively large I guess, they have 2 offices in Birmingham, 50 or so places to let on their site at the moment. The girl I've been dealing with is going to speak to both her manager and the landlord about it, so hopefully we can come to some sort of arrangement. I guess there has to be a point where they judge it on a person to person case.

Thanks for replying anyway! How did you resolve your issue ?

El_Duderino 09

We ran into similar problems. We were lucky that we could get a guarantor in the UK. Could you get a loan in Ireland for the first 6months rent?

ratedR

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Could you get a loan in Ireland for the first 6months rent?

As a last resort, maybe! Not ideal though

jimmii

ratedR wrote: »

Hi,

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one ever in this position! HR in my new job said that they'd never heard of any of their other foreign employees having this hassle. Kinda made me feel like the stupid paddy..

They're relatively large I guess, they have 2 offices in Birmingham, 50 or so places to let on their site at the moment. The girl I've been dealing with is going to speak to both her manager and the landlord about it, so hopefully we can come to some sort of arrangement. I guess there has to be a point where they judge it on a person to person case.

Thanks for replying anyway! How did you resolve your issue ?

That's a bit strange they haven't heard of it as I say it's fairly standard when a credit check can't be done. We were in a position to pay the 6 months luckily enough so it was pretty straight forward. Maybe email a few agents explain your situation and see if they can be more flexible. No point looking for other properties just to find its exactly the same with them.

YouTookMyName

Bite the bullet and look for a shared house until you're up and running properly?

ratedR

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Bite the bullet and look for a shared house until you're up and running properly?

Yeah, it's something I really really have no interest in doing, but it's also a last resort. Do the same checks still not apply though ?

Ficheall

Firstly, don't move to Birmingham.

Open a bank account. You only need an address for some places. Lloyd's did it for me. Give the address of somewhere you can get your credit card delivered to (I used the hotel I was in for a week), get your credit card, rent the house, change your address to your new house. BOOM.

catbear

Even easier than that is a monese account. I'm moving over in the next few months but have a monese debit card with uk sort code and acc number. They charge £4 a month for the account and withdrawals are free with NatWest ATM's.
I use currencyfair.ie to save on exchange rate fees.
I really hope i don't have to deal with all that reference stuff, I'm a home owner in Ireland so don't have renting references.

jimmii

You will if you intend to rent. Your history in Ireland is going to be pretty irrelevant.

Shelga

Hi OP, I lived in Birmingham for 3 years, moved over for a graduate scheme at 24. I had a house share on a 1 year lease with 2 others. However the main tenant was also Irish with no previous history in the UK, and I think he needed some sort of guarantor, now I hear you mention it. :-/ The other suggestions about a credit card are good.

Also, off topic, but if the rental is with Accord, run, run away as fast as you possibly can. Terrible experience, endless problems, and they tried to keep 95% of our massive deposit for no reason at all.

Meursault

Shelga wrote: »

Hi OP, I lived in Birmingham for 3 years, moved over for a graduate scheme at 24. I had a house share on a 1 year lease with 2 others. However the main tenant was also Irish with no previous history in the UK, and I think he needed some sort of guarantor, now I hear you mention it. :-/ The other suggestions about a credit card are good.

Also, off topic, but if the rental is with Accord, run, run away as fast as you possibly can. Terrible experience, endless problems, and they tried to keep 95% of our massive deposit for no reason at all.

Hi Shelga, off topic here, but given that you lived in Birmingham you might be able to help me. do you know what bus takes you from Birmingham International to Shrewsbury? Does the National Express operate this route?

Thanks