Parliament has just announced that it will debate if private tenants have a good history of paying their rent on time whether it should boost their Credit Score so they can eventually become home owners themselves. This could mean that tenants could have their rent payment history taken into account when applying for a mortgage.

The debate was announced after a petition on the issue gained 147,307 signatures, which is much higher than the mandatory 100,000 necessary to achieve a debate in Westminster.

Tenants trying to get on the property ladder have found it difficult to achieve the first step as credit rating agencies do not take into account a good rent payment history when issuing a credit score.

In a recent survey an industry body asked 3,000 landlords if they would want prospective tenant’s rental payment history being included in their credit score and 61% were in favour of this.

A spokesperson for the body said: “With many tenants wanting to buy a house of their own, it is absurd rent payment is not routinely included when undertaking credit checks for mortgage applications.

“Moving to such a scheme would help not just tenants, but also landlords by giving them a clearer sense of whether a prospective tenant has historically paid their rent in full and on time.”

Blog Post from PIMS.CO.UK

See details of our Guaranteed Rent Scheme here