What to have with you before you start

Your name, the real one

Use the name on your passport or driving licence, even if your friends use something shorter. If you have changed your name, we need the previous one as well, because address records and bank accounts sometimes still carry it. A middle name you never say out loud still counts if it is on the document. Date of birth too, the full one, not the year you vaguely remember from forms at work.

If your ID is in a married name and your bank is still in the old one, do not pick a favourite and hope. Put both down. Mismatched names are the most common reason a same day reference stops and waits for a person.

Every address, including the awkward ones

We ask for the places you have lived over the period on the form. That includes rooms in shared houses, a few months back with your parents, and student halls. Postcodes matter. “Near the station in Leeds” is not an address. If you genuinely cannot remember a postcode, look it up before you start rather than guessing a digit. A wrong postcode looks like a different building.

People who have moved a lot worry this makes them look unstable. It does not, as long as the dates join up. A gap is worse than a short stay. If you were travelling or between places, say that in plain words instead of inventing a flat you did not have.

One document you can photograph

Passport or driving licence, photographed on your phone in daylight, all four corners in the frame, nothing covering the photo. A National Insurance number is useful if you have it, from a payslip or a letter, not from memory if you are unsure. You do not need to print anything. You do not need a scanner. You do need the picture to be readable. A dark thumb over the date of birth means we ask again.

The income you can point at

Know roughly what arrives and how often. Monthly salary is easy. Weekly shifts, two jobs, freelance invoices, or a parent who will guarantee the rent all need to be described the way they work, not squeezed into a salary box. If we ask to see the account the money lands in, know which one it is. A payslip is enough if that is what you have.

Have the rent figure the agent gave you as well. Affordability is about that rent, not about rent in general. If you are sharing and you only pay half, know your half. There is a longer explanation on the affordability page.

A quiet ten minutes

The form is built for a phone, but it is still easier if you are not also paying for a bus ticket and holding a coffee. Start when you can look at the screen. If you get interrupted, come back through the same link or sign in. You should not have to begin at the first question again.