Skip to content

How we complete tenant referencing using Goodlord

Fri 23 Oct 2020

As an agent, one of the things we do when letting property is conduct referencing and tenant checks to ensure they’re suitable tenants for the property. This is a thorough process in order to protect both landlords and tenants, and as you might imagine takes quite a bit of time if you do it manually. We use Goodlord, to help us free up time spent on admin.

What is Goodlord?

Goodlord is a fantastic online system which allows us to complete tenant referencing and get rent agreements signed, and it benefits us, our landlords, and our tenants.

  • Landlords get notified throughout the referencing process, and then as soon as the contract is ready for them to sign, they can sign online easily – no messing about with paper forms!
  • With the documentation being online, tenants are also able to sign easily wherever they are without worrying about signing paper copies, making the move easy.
  • For us, we can focus on the needs of our customers as opposed to being bogged down by admin, and in the current climate of Covid-19, it also reduces the number of visits which need to be made to our office.

Open banking

One of the ways in which Goodlord can speed up the tenant referencing process, is by using open banking.

They’ve written a really good post on open banking here, but to summarise:

Open banking is the ability for highly regulated third parties to gain access to a bank account holder’s banking data such as transactions, credit cards, or loans. This of course, is only with their permission.

It’s a way for tenants and guarantors to verify their income, without having to worry about getting letters printed, photocopying bank statements, etc etc. It’s backed by the UK government, the EU, and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as part of an initiative to give people control over their financial data, and who they decide to share it with.

How does this help us?

Goodlord partner with Credit Kudos to provide this service, so if tenants or guarantors wish, they are able to verify their income at the click of a button speeding up the referencing process a huge amount. It’s secure, fast, and instant, and tenants being able to move in faster means happy tenants, and happy landlords – which is what we strive for!

So, if you’re looking to let out a property in the East Horsley or Ripley areas, you can be safe in the knowledge that we can complete thorough tenant referencing, whilst having the time to ensure you’re getting the great service that you’re expecting.

If you’d like to discuss our tenant onboarding process, or letting a property with us, please get in touch, a member of the team will be happy to help.