References

What do I need in terms of references for the purposes of renting a house/flat? My rental references are from the U.S. Should I just gather contact information or should I be gathering written references?

Thanks,
Z.A.

I feel like this probably varies a lot, but our recent experience renting a flat was that the agency we ended up going through wanted a written reference from our previous landlord, plus a written reference from each of our employers.  We almost took a flat through a private landlord, and he just wanted one written reference from our landlord.

Just put in paperwork through a letting agent for a new place and I needed references from my previous landlord, my bank and my employer.

When I first moved here, it was through a letting agent as well, but didn't have a bank account set up, so they took a long letter from my employer vouching for me and also from my previous rental in the states.

I had looked at a few private lets and the landlords basically wanted only confirmation from a previous landlord or from my employer. 

New here, so hopefully resurrecting an old, on-topic thread isn't a problem (as opposed to starting a new one).

I'm moving to the UK on a Tier 5 (Temp Worker/Gov't Authorised Exchange) visa for the next two years starting in late September. (Well, this is technically pending getting my visa, but it looks like everything's on track for that.)

Is there anything in particular a letter from a previous landlord should say as far as a reference goes? Should I get multiple originals of such a letter or will just one be enough? (I'm not sure at what stage in finding a flat to rent I'd need to provide such a letter.) I guess I'm concerned on this matter because I've had so much trouble getting my bank to provide a letter that will document the Tier 5 maintenance requirements of UKBA.

I see mention of letters from employers in this thread as well. I'm going to be in a bit of an interesting situation. My visa sponsor is the London School of Economics. However, they are not paying me (hence the issues with maintenance). Instead, I'm being supported by a fellowship from the Marshall Sherfield Fellowship Foundation. I have a letter from the foundation stating what my monthly personal allowance will be. Should that be sufficient, or would I want to get a letter from the LSE when I get over there, too?

Thanks for any advice.

We own our home in the U.S., so we wouldn't have landlord references - what then?

When I first moved to the UK I moved into DH's existing rental although we knew we'd have to move eventually since it was too small for us. The landlord abruptly decided to sell so we had to move much sooner than we'd anticipated. I owned in the US prior to moving and had my credit report showing I'd never been late and DH used his current landlord's very good reference letter and we tried to rent through an agent. They said my US info was useless since I wasn't currently employed in the UK (I was on fiance visa at the time so I couldn't work) and the new rent was more than DH paid previously so the fact he'd been paying on time meant very little to them. I even showed them bank statements that showed we had enough savings to cover the 6 months term under the lease and they still didn't care.

We ended up having to front the 6 months up front which was a huge pain in the backside although I suspect not all agents would have required this. We were in a bind and had to move quickly so we did as asked.

They gave us a glowing review after that rental and from then onwards we had no trouble renting in the UK whatsoever. We also found we could negotiate on the rental rate which surprised me but that UK rental reference was worth its weight in gold.

My UKC husband had never rented before we got our flat (he'd either lived in student housing, housing provided by his employer, with his parents, or abroad).  All they wanted was information about our jobs and where we had lived for the past three years.  No other references were required, and they didn't even call our bosses.  We paid the first month's rent and the deposit up front, then set up a direct debit for the rent payments.  I think the requirements are almost entirely dependent on the individual letting agency. 

I moved over and had references from my employer (was here on a work permit).  That helped a lot.