Suspected falsification of employment reference?

Suspected falsification of employment reference?

13:20 PM, 5th March 2019, About 5 years ago 15

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I have just let out two properties in the London area through 1 agent to 2 tenants. The agent provided us Veri Check reference check, employer reference, and passport IDs. However, after I received the tenant’s contact info, something looked odd so I went back to double check the reference by contacting both employers of the new tenants.

The employers denied knowledge of these tenants and the Veri Check report was verified by the agent themselves. At this point, I don’t even know if their passport IDs are genuine.

Can anyone help?

1) if the tenancy agreement can be revoked?

2) what recourse do I have against the agent?

Many thanks

Paul


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Comments

SimonR

10:01 AM, 12th March 2019, About 5 years ago

If you believe the tenants got the tenancy by way of misrepresentation then you can issue a section 8 using Ground 17: The landlord was induced to grant the tenancy by a false statement made knowingly or recklessly by either the tenant or a person acting at the tenant's instigation.
Obviously you will need proof when submitting the court application and the Judge will either grant the possession based on the info or not so it will need to be rock solid

Beaver

11:11 AM, 12th March 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by SimonR at 12/03/2019 - 10:01
That's one of the reasons why you need documentation. You need to get your ducks in a row. "Non mea culpa". If you have the documentation showing that the reference was fraudulent, if the tenant doesn't pay you should be able to bounce the problem back to the agent.

FTL

18:10 PM, 14th March 2019, About 5 years ago

Everyone is blaming the tenants. Is it possible the reference check agency have made the mistake? Many years ago I had a tenant who left my property with unpaid rent and in a mess. I was astounded when I learnt that he had found another tenancy in the same area of London with another reputable letting agency. When I investigated further I discovered that the referencing agent had claimed to have called me and that I had given a flawless reference. When they discovered that I was digging around they then phoned me and then tried to get me to give a reference retrospectively, which I wouldn't. They had clearly not done the work to check the references at all. Ever since then I have been very sceptical about professional referencing agencies and try to do as much referencing myself as I can.

Chris @ Possession Friend

19:13 PM, 14th March 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by FTL at 14/03/2019 - 18:10
Name & shame the reference company, so other Landlords can avoid them.

SimonR

12:32 PM, 16th March 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by JJ at 12/03/2019 - 11:11
Has nothing to do with paying rent, if false references were used to secure the tenancy and the landlord can show this then the issuing of a section 8 on grounds 17 is valid. I would probably serve this anyway as the tenant may just decide its not worth fighting and not go to the hearing in which case the judge would grant possession by default.

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