Finding a flat used to be so simple. Tenants viewed a few places, selected their dream home, paid money upfront, signed the agreement and behold – the place was theirs. These days it's much more complicated. Potential renters submit to rigorous vetting after completing reams of baffling forms.
Potential tenants must be perfect, and by perfect I mean possessing a pristine credit history without so much as one little red utility bill. They need references from previous landlords and current employers, guarantors (and tenants must pay over the odds for guarantors to be credit checked). Soon, guarantors will need guarantors, and so on ad infinitum.
This week's Montague report recommended building lots of lovely new homes, ultimately intended for individual private landlords and large companies to rent out. Little mention was made of rent levels or security, but even less was said about who will jump the growing amount of hurdles required to live in rented homes.
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