Our Referencing Process

Lets Safe offer a comprehensive and rich solution for tenant referencing.

The following criteria define the rules and conditions upon which a reference is carried out. Ensuring that we work with valid, accurate and trusted information in order to process your references and generate a final advisory report for you, is paramount to us.

We offer two core products which offer the following features. Each product has its correct usage. You can view the products here.

Full Time, or Part Time Employment

The applicant must be employed for the duration of the tenancy or a future employment reference will be required either over the phone, via the Lets Safe email link. The applicant will be asked this during the process.

Applicants on low incomes (less than 2.4 times the annual rent) will require a guarantor. Guarantors must have an Income to Rent Ratio (IRR) greater than 2.5. Failure to meet these ratios will provide a warning and will send an email.

IRR will be calculated on the income via the employment reference or bank statements if required.

Commission will be included in in our IRR calculation if the employer confirms it. If the commission is not the same each month, average income for the past 90 days will be taken into consideration based on valid bank statement records. 

We require all completed employers’ references to be either taken over the phone or via our Lets Safe email link. References may, on occasion, be updated using the applicant’s payslips and employment contract if we cannot reach the employer.

We ask the following questions to the employer:

- Is the applicant currently employed by you?
- Is their salary at least £xxx per month?
- Is their employment expected to change in next 6 months?

If any of the referee responses do not pass, the grade for the report will be set to "Warning".

If the tenant has recently moved in to the UK (previous 60 days) but has a UK bank account, we will perform a bank account verification as they will not have a UK credit history.

Contractor, or Self Employed

We check self-employed individuals by checking the previous 3 months’ bank statements. We also will accept proof of the last year’s submitted tax returns.

If the applicant has an accountant, we will need to obtain a reference from them. We also need to confirm they do act as an accountant, how long for, and the last year’s net profit. This should be either over the phone, via our email web link, on company headed paper.

If the applicant self-assesses, we’ll accept the last year’s authenticated HMRC Self-Assessment forms.

Unemployed

Unemployed applicants will always require a guarantor to support their reference application to be processed by us.

UK students will require a guarantor.

International students will require a guarantor unless they can provide official evidence that they are sponsored by their Government, and the annual amount is at least 2.4 times the annual rent.

Retired

We require the last month’s UK bank statements, showing savings of at least three times the rent for the term of the tenancy.

Any other type of savings will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

We require a satisfactory reference from the applicant’s current landlord or managing/letting agent, either over the phone, or via our email link. We ask the following questions:

- Was the rent paid on time?
- Was there evidence of anyone smoking within the property?
- Were there any complaints from neighbours?
- Were there any other problems you would like to mention?
- Would you rent to the tenant again?

If the applicant’s accommodation is tied with their employment, and their employer confirms this, a landlord reference isn’t required. The applicant is able to add the employer in the landlord reference section of the form.

For more information, please contact us at enquiries@letssafe.com