Affordability is not a times table

The rent has to fit the month you actually live

An agent can ask for a salary figure and multiply. That catches the obvious cases and misses the real ones. Two people can earn the same and have completely different spare money. One has a car on finance, childcare, and a credit card they are still paying down. The other has a quiet account and no dependants. A reference that only multiplies the wage will treat them as the same tenant. They are not.

We look at the income you can show, the rent on this property, and the commitments that already leave your account. The question is whether this rent is something you can keep paying after those, not whether you look impressive on a form. That is better for you if your wage is modest and your outgoings are modest too. It is stricter if the wage is high and the outgoings are higher.

What counts as income

A monthly salary is the easy case. So is a regular benefit that you can see arriving. Self employed income counts when it is real and repeated, not when it is one good invoice in March and nothing since. Money from a partner counts when they are part of the tenancy or they are standing behind it as a guarantor, and we can see that it is reliable. A hope that you will pick up extra shifts next month does not count, because the landlord cannot pay their mortgage with your hope.

If you share the rent, use your share. Putting the whole household income against your name, when you are the only person on the application, makes the maths look better than the tenancy. It also falls apart the moment someone reads the names.

Credit history is context, not a verdict

A mark on your credit file is looked at. It is not the whole decision. A problem you have since put right is different from a problem that is still growing. We would rather see what you are paying now, not only what a report says about three years ago.

If you already know there is something on the file, do not try to hide the income around it. Hidden gaps take longer and look worse. There is a plain account of the other checks on the what a reference includes page.

If the rent is a stretch

Connecting the account your wages go into is one option when we need to see the income. It sits inside this check. It is not its own service. If you would rather send payslips or other proof, say so and we will use those.

Sometimes the honest answer is that this particular rent is too high for this particular income. That is painful when you love the flat. It is also the point of the reference. Moving in and missing the second month helps nobody, including you. A guarantor with a steadier income can change the picture, if the agent is willing to take one. Talk to them about that. We report what we can see. We do not negotiate the rent.