Tenant references required when renting a property

Tenant references required when renting a property

Tenant references are required when renting a property but what references should you ask for as a landlord.  In general a landlord will require 2 references from a prospective tenant. Depending on the tenant’s circumstances these are usually from an employer, a previous landlord and or bank.

On boards.ie recently a tenant did not wish to give an employer reference to a landlord.  Each tenant can decide if they wish to give a reference or not.  It can help to explain why you need a reference so the tenant understands the reasons behind the request.  A previous landlord reference is usually required where you have rented in the past. You want to check if the rent was paid and the property looked after. Some tenants will try to give a reference from their previous landlord which is really a friends name and phone number. It is important to check if the person is in fact a landlord and experienced agents have ways to confirm this

A new service to help landlords vet potential tenants, called www.tenantreference.ie has just received investment on Dragons’ Den. The company can access a list of all rented properties that have been registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB). They will be able to get in contact with the landlord in order to obtain a genuine landlord reference. This will be very helpful for landlords as past history is one of the best guides to how good a tenant might be in the future.  Of course a tenant who had problems renting a property previously may say that they have not rented before but the PRTB register includes tenants’ details.

Asking for a reference from an employer helps the landlord confirm that the tenant is employed and has the means to pay the rent.  Again a tenant should not have a problem in providing this reference. If a tenant does not want the landlord to know where he or she works, you would have to wonder if the tenant does not want you to be able to track them if there are any problems.  Unless the tenant is stating they are not working, there is no reasonable reason not to provide this reference.

In many cases the landlord or agent requests a copy of bank statements. This is to show that there is sufficient funds going through the bank account to pay the rent. I can understand in some cases a tenant reasonably might not want to provide this reference but usually we would only require this if only one of the landlord and employer references where available.

When renting a property you need to provide references and landlords should always confirm that the references are genuine.