Yes it's a real shame especially as the original representative he had with the DAS was so lovely and helpfull, I feel it would only have been fair of them to point out that his point of contact would be changed when he changed to a trust deed and then he could have asked to meet this person first but he was never given this opportunity and now we are stuck with a rep who wont help and her boss who wont talk to my husband as he has to go through his rep for anything. Effectively he is getting no advice or help from them and most worrying is she seems to make up statements that just arent true like "he would get in realy big trouble" if he sold the house or repossesed voluntarily. She gives this info out with no back up or explanation and then when we push her to contact the trustee her statements usually get withdrawn i.e. she said the trustee would not allow him to repo or have the shortfall in the td and then we pushed her to ask the trustee and she came back and said it would be included but now she is saying that it wont if the house is sold outwith the td period but goodness knows if she has even asked the trustee this or if it's coming form only her. Worrying really that she is able to cause more stress than is needed.

Because these issues are so serious for you and you have no confidence in your rep's interest or competence, I would see no harm in summarising in writing every decision or reply you are given verbally. Write to the rep stating that you are summarising in writing for your own records eg
on.../../..(date), we asked...... and you advised...... and send a second copy to the boss.
If nothing else you will be able to track the sequence of discussions.
Be sure to include occasions when you have requested information be verified with someone else and the response given.

Regardless of whether the person has to relay a decision that you don't like, you should be able to expect courtesy and a degree of empathy.

The timing is really important for you re the housing because the owner may be pressurised to let quicker and have their rental income assured versus wait weeks for an assurance from the trustee. I normally credit check the guarantor if one is needed, (max 3 days) if the guarantor accepts, they are responsible for ensuring the rent is paid, I wouldn't see the benefit of further letters, it does seem a bit excessive to me. Hope you get it settled really soon.

Thanks for that Pamjo, yeah we thought that the letter is a bit much added to a guranetor and income protection insurance. I can see why they wan it though, extra security I guess. Can I just ask you something about renting (never done it before) the letting agent has said that they will credit check us even though they know that we will fail it and then credit check the guarentor too so as long as they are ok then it will be fine (my parents will pass a credit check no problem). Why would they credit check us though knowing that we will fail it? And as we have mortgage arrears and these will show on my husbands credit check will they just refuse us when they see this even though the guarentors check is ok? Im really worried about paying this £300 up front and then failing it as we wont get the money back and that will leave us less money to try and come to an arrangement with Northern Rock if we do need to stay here in the meanwhile. xx

Hi, the letter should not be a problem. It does not sound good if they need to do that much work prior to their monitoring visit, just to get through it!! The monitoring visit is like an inspection to make sure they are doing their job correctly,a and should not need that much extra work beforehand.

Hi Shona, well I can say she sounded stressed so that is a worrying sign then!

you seem to be getting the worst case scenario on all fronts!

I cannot fathom the £300 referencing fee at all!

I still do a credit check even when I know the history I've been given is likely to show issues around financial management. The other function of this is to eliminate criminality and to ensure the applicant is being upfront-more valuable than you can imagine. It does not, however warrant this level of fee, in my opinion. Given you seem to have few options to rent in the locale you need and this house seems to come with this agents' requests, you are, I guess having to go with it.

If your parents are ok'd and they are guaranteeing the rent, my view is that's enough. There is an element of taking a risk with every tenancy as most people do not have enough of a fall back financially to cover 2 months rent if they lose one or more incomes from the household. Sad but true. All Landlords are taking risks as'past performance is not a guarantee of future .....' when most people can only manage month to month. Unless the letter was committing the trustee to pay if theg uarantor failed, I can't see the extra security, it would just be another opinion.

Thanks so much Pamjo! Had a bit of better news this morning, the letting agent contacted the owner and they are happy to go ahead without the trustees letter. The letting agent said the tenancy is for 6mths at the outset and then it is either 6mths or a year but without the trustees letter before the first 6mths is up then they would only allow 6mths at a time but with the letter they would allow yearly. I said that this should be fine as I am really hoping they will do a letter for us in that time! If not then we will just have to stick at 6mths at a time which is also ok. I take it they dont actually credit check ect every 6mths and it's just a case of signing the tenancy agreement again? The trust deed actually officially ends in Sept but is being extended to collect car payments, meant to be for 2yrs but if we move to this house then we can increase payments to the trustee and estimate the extension would be less than a year so surely the trustee will be happier too in the long run.

The agent said that they prob wouldn't bother credit checking us as they know we will fail it so it's most likely they will only credit check my dad who I really can't see failing (no debt at all and owned his house for 45yrs outright)and they would do an employer check on my husbands work to check his wages, job security ect which will also be fine. So I am finally allowing myself to get slightly excited now!! The £300 is apparently made up of £200 holding fee which will be deducted from the deposit on day of moving in and £100 to do the checks (basically 1 credit check and an employers check!) BUT if we fail the checks then we lose the whole £300 which is very worrying.

The main thing I am a nervous wreck about now is the voluntary surrender of the house. I called a lawyer yest but they suggested we go to CAB as they would be able to deal with it for us and not cost us anything. I am scared that they wont accept voluntary repo as we will be counting on housing benefit to help with the rent and I believe if we still own the house then we wont be entitled to hosuing benefit and also dont want to have to wait months on end for NR to eventually take possesion themselves as my nerves are already shattered and dont think I could cope with months on end of more nerves and worrying. Im scared about notices being put on my windows aswell as I googled it and found it seems to be something that Northern Rock do and it basically states on the notices that the house is being repossessed, we live in a village and I really dont want the stigma 🙁

First time i've heard of anybody sticking notices in windows. I'm very sceptical to be honest - what would be the reason for doing it anyway?

Great news abnout the tenancy. I do hope everything else works out and you can get all of this stress behind you, gillianr2

Hi Kevin, i've read it's something that says on it that chattels must be removed within 7-14 days and a 7 day notice of repossession. It actually seems to be Northern Rock who do this the most from what I can gather, unfortunately it's them we are with. My husband is going to call them to ask what their procedure is for voluntary and ask them outright if they will post notices on the windows or not. We have heard they ask people to sign something that says the shortfall will be due to them at the end of bankrupcty or IVA ect so we wont be signing that so it seems that we moght end up handing in the keys and they will need to take repossession themselves if they dont accept voluntary. We will go see CAB before doing anything though. I so hope the rental goes through ok as we could be moved by the end of the month! Eek!!

I can't wait for some of this stress to be lifted! Thanks again.

Good news!
Glad at least one hurdle seems to be removed. Some agencies do charge for renewing a lease, my impression is that the Landlord is charged this. Depending on the type of lease-most commonly a Scottish SAT (Short Assured Tenancy) your lease will automatically continue on the same terms for the same duration on completion of first 6 months unless either party gives the appropriate notice to bring it to an end. Worth asking the agent in advance and making sure it's (renewal) referred to in the lease document when you get to that stage.

I think other lenders also post a 21 day notice of repossession and it is to do with notifying anyone with goods or possessions to remove them as locks will be changed and items removed on the expiry of the notice. Hopefully voluntarily giving back the keys should avoid that but, again, ask the question.

My husband has called NR this afternoon and he said the lady on the phone was actually really nice and sypathetic. She said that there are forms they need to send for him to sign and on receipt of the forms they set a date of between 4/6wks that suit both parties for someone to meet him at the house for him to give the keys back to and they will change the locks on that day. She said they would get the house in to order before selling it on the market and they would try to get the highest price for it. She wasn't sure about the shortfall going in to the trust deed but went off the phone and checked with her manager and came back and said that the shortfall would be included in the trust deed.

Just so hoping that it all goes as smoothly as she seemed to think it should, still worried that the paperwork will have something sneaky in it meaning we will be left with the debt if my husband signs it but we will take the forms to CAB and get them to check over it for us and direct the trustee and Northern Rock to talk to eachother about it all.

Than you so much for all the info Pamjo, would be really lost without this site and wonderful people like you to help ease my nerves a little!! xx

Glad to be able to contribute, I'm still owing way more in help than I've so far received here!

Things can only get better?

Hi Pamjo.

It is really useful having someone with your professionaly experience in these types of property issues contributing to the forum.

Thanks for taking time out to share your knowledge.

I'm glad to be able to. I don't like people getting a raw deal in letting or unnecessary complications created, it's bad for them and other landlords. Like trudt deed firms I suppose, it's worth highlighting and promoting good practice.

Totally agree with TD assistant, it's brilliant to have someone on the inside who knows what they are talking about offering help and advice. I've said it before and im sure I will say it again, but my husband and I would be lost without this forum and the wonderful people who have given us advice.