Moving to a new home can be stressful. But a lot of people don’t realise that you might need a credit score for renting a house or apartment in the UK. What are landlord credit checks, what do they see, and what credit checks do landlords do? Loqbox looks at credit scores for renting and how you can give yourself the best possible chance.

Your credit score summarises your credit report, including:

• how you’ve managed borrowing in the past,
  
  
• your address history,
  
  
• whether you have any ‘financial connections’ like people you’re named on a bill with,
  
  
• or whether you’ve had any defaults or County Court Judgments (CCJs).

A credit check is where a lender, or in this case a landlord, looks at your credit report to decide whether they’re willing to offer you a tenancy based on your creditworthiness. If you don’t know your credit scores, it’s good to know that you actually have three (not one, like most people think). Check yours for free, and without affecting it, using these links:

• ClearScore (uses Equifax data)*
  
  
• Credit Club (uses Experian data)
  
  
• Intuit Credit Karma (uses TransUnion data)

*For transparency, we wanted to let you know that ClearScore pay us a small commission if you sign up using this link.

Why do landlords check your credit score for renting?

It may seem unnecessary as renting a flat or a house isn’t exactly like borrowing money like taking something out on finance, getting a loan or taking out a credit card. So why do landlords need to check your credit score when you apply for tenancy? 

Well the truth is landlords are permitting you to live at their property, so they want to check your reliability for the following reasons:

• Risk assessment: Landlords often want to check how financially risky you are as a potential tenant in their property. A credit check can help them to determine whether you're likely to pay your rent on time.
  
  
• Financial responsibility: Your credit history reflects your previous financial responsibilities and how you handled them. Landlords want tenants who are reliable and can manage their finances. So a credit check can give them an idea of what to expect.
  
  
• Legal requirement: In some cases, landlords are legally required to perform credit checks to comply with housing regulations. They may also need to check that you have the legal right to live in the UK. 

What credit checks do landlords do?

Landlords typically run credit checks with one of the UK's main credit reference agencies (CRAs) — Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. They are only able to do what are known as ‘soft’ credit checks and they must get your permission before they do it. 

Soft checks include only information that is already publicly available about you and they don’t affect your credit score when the checks are made. Hard credit checks can actually make your credit score dip temporarily. It’s also worth mentioning that landlords are not allowed to charge you for credit checks (that would be a breach of Trading Standards).

You can find out more about hard vs soft credit checks here. 

What do landlords look for in a credit check?

Landlords are mainly looking for what they would consider to be ‘red flags’. Anything that indicates to them that you could have trouble paying your rent on time and staying on top of your finances. However, as landlords only do soft searches on your credit report, they don’t get detailed information about your credit history. 

Firstly, landlords will confirm that you are actually who you say you are by comparing your name and address with your listed information. 

But they will also try to establish if you have a history of late payments or financial trouble by establishing if you have any bankruptcies, defaults or County Court Judgments (CCJs) against your name.

When landlords run credit checks, can they see my previous rent payments?

Until recently, your previous rental information wasn’t available on your credit report and didn’t affect your credit score. While that worked for people who didn’t pay their rent on time, it wasn’t great news for people who never missed rent payments but found that their responsible financial behaviour didn’t improve their chances of getting credit.

There are now rent reporting services that allow tenants’ credit scores to benefit from their timely rent payments. If you want your rent to count towards your creditworthiness, you could get started with Loqbox Rent for £2.50 per week. Just tell us how much your rent is and which date of the month you pay it on, and we’ll report your payments to Experian to boost your credit history.

You can learn more about how rent affects your credit score here. 

What is a good credit score for renting?

If you’re wondering what a good credit score for renting a house or a flat is, the answer is that there's no fixed number that will guarantee you will be accepted. In fact, landlords don’t see your credit score. That number’s just for you, to give you an idea of how creditworthy you appear to lenders. It’s the information in your credit report and your affordability that they use to make their lending decision. 

Different landlords may read your credit report differently, and vary their criteria. But, generally, a higher score will indicate your credit report is looking positive. It’s also possible to be accepted as a tenant with a bad credit score. 

If you’re declined because of your credit report, it’s not a dead end. It can take some time and patience, but for one of the fastest ways to give your credit score a boost, get started with Loqbox Grow. It’s super simple to use — for less than the price of a coffee per week (£2.50), you can build your score just by paying for your Loqbox membership and any optional add-ons you purchase within Loqbox. 

Improvements to your credit score are not guaranteed.