Landlord requesting proof of salary

sashafierce

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amcalester

The landlord can ask, you don't have to supply it but that may mean you not getting the room.

sashafierce

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Pelvis

Ask them for a copy of their privacy policy in return.

cloneslad

I thought most would request some sort of proof of income. When I rented I offered to show proof of income and even provided a rough figure in the email to the landlord prior to viewing.

I found this the best way to get a foot in the door as it puts the landlord at ease that their tenant has the funds to pay the rent.

ELM327

He can request whatever he wants.
It's up to you whether you are comfortable giving that level of information to a stranger.

sashafierce

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amcalester

sashafierce wrote: »

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Sounds like a licensee relationship rather than a tenancy, but regardless the person who is making the decision has asked for this and you need to decide if the room is worth it.

Pelvis wrote: »

Ask them for a copy of their privacy policy in return.

No privacy policy needed unless the landlord/sister asks to keep a copy, just viewing the payslip should be enough to satisfy their requirement.

Bubbaclaus

I'd be wary of it in a licensee position. A few years back I was a licensee in a house and the landlord would coyly ask about salary in my role and when salary reviews were. It was clearly a clever way of seeing when he could up the rent and be most likely to not encounter any resistance.

kiffer

Don't supple your payslip.
Get a letter from work as proof of employment.
The exact amount of income you have is unimportant, only that you can afford to rent.

irelandrover

kiffer wrote: »

Don't supple your payslip.
Get a letter from work as proof of employment.
The exact amount of income you have is unimportant, only that you can afford to rent.

How does the landlord know you can afford the rent if you wont tell them what you earn?

Browney7

In this situation I personally wouldn't provide to the person I'm effectively renting a room off. As is said plenty on here "you're a licensee, you've no rights and the landlord can throw you out in the morning". If that truly is the case, they'll be down a week or two rent max if you can't pay it. The risk to the landlord here is you're a skobe who'll wreck the place or who is an awful person to live with.

I'd find somewhere else or provide proof that you have a job and specify you are uncomfortable sharing such specific information regarding salary and that you are a responsible adult and have assessed that you are more than able to pay the desired rate. If someone else is willing to provide, fine, walk away.

It's not like you are agreeing to rent a place and you can stay for a year without paying and needing court orders to remove you.

MrFinance

sashafierce wrote: »

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I certainly would not furnish any information to the sister of the landlord. However, it would be in your best interest to do one of the following;
1. Meet the landlord at the property or in private and show the information without furnishing it via a email.
2. Request a privacy policy from the Landlord whereby you clearly state that you do not wish for your private/confidential information to be shared with others.

It seems a bit fishy to me being honest. My line of reasoning would be similar to yours. By the sounds of it, if they think that you're earning more than they expected it would not surprise me if another potential candidate popped up offering more money (I do not know all the circumstances, so I am running to assumptions).

sashafierce

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burkey2k0

What I've always done is print out bank statements over the past 6 months and redact everything aside from the name of my employer showing up each month paying into my account with the amount paid also redacted. Along with proof of employment this should always be enough.

sashafierce

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kiffer

irelandrover wrote: »

How does the landlord know you can afford the rent if you wont tell them what you earn?

With proof of employment the landlord knows the tenant has an income, they don't need to know exactly what that income is.

Just like the tenant doesn't need to know what the landlord's mortgage is.

irelandrover

kiffer wrote: »

With proof of employment the landlord knows the tenant has an income, they don't need to know exactly what that income is.

Just like the tenant doesn't need to know what the landlord's mortgage is.

The landlord needs to know the tenant can afford to pay the rent. Proof of income does not show that to the landlord.

It is not at all the same as the tenant know the mortgage.

D12resident

irelandrover wrote: »

The landlord needs to know the tenant can afford to pay the rent. Proof of income does not show that to the landlord.

It is not at all the same as the tenant know the mortgage.

For the love of God... With that reasoning then you need to know all the outgoings of the tenant too.

I know people who earn a fraction of what I do who have more to put towards rent.

I'm a landlord and know that asking what someone's income is has no bearing on what they can afford, given they at least have full time employment (which is proven by proof of employment letter...which in turn is easily faked too but however).

It's justified as being for piece of mind by other landlords who are just bloody nosy.

Squatter

sashafierce wrote: »

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OP, your location suggests that you're based in Canada!

Maybe they do things differently over there!

DubCount

A landlord asking for bank statements is not just being nosy. Your ability to pay is important - if you have higher income you can reduce expenditure in other areas to pay your rent and if it all goes wrong and a tenant damages the property, a higher income is more worthwhile taking to court.

You can refuse/redact all you want, but if you were a landlord would you rent to anyone who refused to show you a bank statement to demonstrate their income, their ability to pay previous rent on a timely basis, and to show that they are in sound financial standing?

Samuel T. Cogley

To be honest in a licensee relationship, given the ease of eviction this is totally OTT. However the simple reality is they can request what they want and you can make that as easy or difficult for them as you like but there will be a queue of people willing to provide so.

listermint

DubCount wrote: »

A landlord asking for bank statements is not just being nosy. Your ability to pay is important - if you have higher income you can reduce expenditure in other areas to pay your rent and if it all goes wrong and a tenant damages the property, a higher income is more worthwhile taking to court.

You can refuse/redact all you want, but if you were a landlord would you rent to anyone who refused to show you a bank statement to demonstrate their income, their ability to pay previous rent on a timely basis, and to show that they are in sound financial standing?

A higher income meaning i ask more from them at renewal time.


Godswallop, The letter of employment and the regular salary payments should be enough.

If the landlord is happy with the company name then grand, but they have zero business prying into peoples financials.

I hope most of these cowboys start getting slapped with GDPR requests because frankly there is no business case for this information when renting a room out.

Oh and btw as a landlord you are now required to respect GDPR since last friday if you dont know what it is i suggest looking it up.

listermint

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

To be honest in a licensee relationship, given the ease of eviction this is totally OTT. However the simple reality is they can request what they want and you can make that as easy or difficult for them as you like but there will be a queue of people willing to provide so.

Perhaps under Irish data protection laws, but the EU has stepped in here now and landlords will need to start re-examining what they are asking for from new tenants.

ELM327

listermint wrote: »

Perhaps under Irish data protection laws, but the EU has stepped in here now and landlords will need to start re-examining what they are asking for from new tenants.

They can request to view what they want.
Under GDPR then they can't retain the data. Doesn't impact the fact they can freely request to view it, and you are free to comply (or not) with the request. If it's an "or not" then you may not get the property.

Ray Palmer

Landlord can simply say I would like to see your salary you can say no and he can decide to let the place or not. No regulation about it. There are regulations on them refusing if you were on a social welfare payment.
In the current market I think a landlord would be silly not to pick based on their own desires once not on any of the grounds for discrimination

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

kiffer wrote: »

With proof of employment the landlord knows the tenant has an income, they don't need to know exactly what that income is.

Just like the tenant doesn't need to know what the landlord's mortgage is.

That's not a fair analogy. The landlord is running a business and needs to know if the tenant has the capacity to pay. Having a job doesn't mean jack shít. The tenant could be working part time on minimum wage and think they are capable of affording the rent, when in reality it's not possible.

If you don't like sharing your data, find a landlord that doesn't ask for it.

I don't know why people get so worked up about this.

Samuel T. Cogley

listermint wrote: »

A higher income meaning i ask more from them at renewal time.

A room is going to be at the maximum the market in the area can sustain regardless of what someone earns. There isn't a renewal in RAR it's week to week or month to month. If the market can sustain asking the licensee for another €100 a month they can do that as soon as they move in.

listermint wrote: »

I hope most of these cowboys start getting slapped with GDPR requests because frankly there is no business case for this information when renting a room out.

Oh and btw as a landlord you are now required to respect GDPR since last friday if you dont know what it is i suggest looking it up.

How's that gonna work? Give me a payslip. No, I'm going to the data commissioner. Fine feck off.

Sleeper12

Landlords can ask for anything. It's up to you to decide if you want the place badly enough.

The landlord will have dozens of people looking for the property. He / she wants to pick the best out of the group & protect their investment.

You really do have to laugh at some of the responses. "None of the LLs business what a person earns", "they shouldn't ask", "quick quick call the GDPR police" :rolleyes:

On the other hand you have people looking for more professional LL and them to treat it as a business. Well guess what this is treating it like a business. Imagine expecting a bank to give giveback out a mortgage without knowing in depth details about a person income, there would be uproar from the very same people.

Renting a house involves handing over more per month than most mortgages, it's taking over an asset from the owner worth 100's of thousands and if they wish could stop paying, dig in their heels and take months or even years to be evicted while the LL is stuck with no money coming in and a big mortgage to cover etc. With all that in mind it's madness to suggest that a LL should not be asking for and be given the income of a potential tenant if wants to be very thorough when picking a tenant.

Pelvis

Asking for a payslip to me appears to be a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

If a person has proof of employment, a deposit and rent upfront along with good references then really I think that covers all bases.

In saying that a landlord can ask for whatever they want.