One account for life

Tenants will need a verified account to be able to rent via RenterBall RenterBall’s goal is to make it impossible for a tenant to have more than one verified account

Tenants are able to register an account, supply details and apply to your adverts but you will only see their application after the account has been manually verified, to not waste your time

It usually takes less than one business day for an account to be verified To have a verified account a tenant will need 1: UK National Insurance Number and 2: a Full or Provisional UK Driving Licence Unfortunately the Northern Ireland driver licence database is on a completely separate system and is incompatible

Guarantor

Even with a guarantor it doesn’t make a landlord totally safe Even though guarantors are one of the safest options there are still problems

Examples

The guarantor disappears or the guarantor loses their income Nothing says a guarantor cannot default in their duties and when they do what can be done? Take them to court and sue them, for the tenant’s debts and legal costs

Also, if the guarantor has sold up and moved away, good luck finding them A common outcome is the guarantor goes broke and it costs you more to sue them than what a bailiff can recover in assets

Guarantors regularly exaggerate their financial status So therefore we highly recommend you insist the guarantor also joins the tenant page on RenterBall and is a cosigner of the RenterBall agreement so you can leave feedback on them as wowell and they will also be affected by any bad feedback

iD Buddy

If a tenant does not have a UK Full or Provisional driving licence and they wish to use RenterBall to rent, then they are required to have a iD Buddy represent them

A iD Buddy is somebody who has a UK national insurance number UK Full or Provisional driving licence ( excluding Northern Ireland )

The iD Buddy is not a guarantor but in a lot of circumstances they will also be a guarantor as well

The RenterBall iD Buddy’s duties are Open a tenant page on behalf of who they are representing Apply on adverts on their behalf Meet the landlord along with the tenant Sign the RenterBall agreement But most importantly Receive all of the feedback left on the tenant, lodged forever on their account If you have debt feedback, you will not be able to use RenterBall again unless you clear it in full

You can only be a RenterBall iD Buddy of someone who has a UK National Insurance number

Those who do not have a NI number cannot use RenterBall.

RenterBall Agreement

A RenterBall agreement is not a tenancy agreement but works on similar principles

By a tenant (or their iD Buddy) agreeing and signing a RenterBall agreement, links the landlord and tenants (or their iD Buddy) accounts together

This will allow the landlord the ability to stop bad tenants reoffending by leaving lawful and accurate feedback The results will be saved on the landlord and tenants account for ever

Do not sign a RenterBall agreement lightly, as if you do, you will be expected to pay your rent in full, on time and not damage the property and if you do not stick to your tenancy agreement you cannot expect to rent again on RenterBall

Leave Feedback

When you send your Tenant a RenterBall agreement to sign, you are able to include time stamped photographs at the start and as part of the feedback you are able to leave photographs at the end of the let

An optional questionnaire form with the most frequently asked questions we believe a new landlord would like to know when considering letting to this person

EG did you ask the tenant to leave?

Next is a 10,000 word character limit where you are able to express the full experience of dealing with your tenant, however we do recommend you don’t use swear words too often in your comment.

Comments like

“I hope the tenant rots in hell”

We expect landlords to be slightly more elegant than this even though we will not remove this type of feedback. If you do however leave it we would prefer you to stick to what actually happened rather than how you felt

Debt Feedback

Tenants who owe rent or legal fees cannot expect to rent again on RenterBall unless they go on a payment plan

Has a tenant ever owed you money and not paid up? File a claim against them and they will have to cough up if they want to rent again on RenterBall

As a landlord you have a choice Be paid in full or go on a payment plan

Unfortunately damages is a debatable So therefore it does not restrict them

To leave this feedback you do not require to have a CCJ or any thing official from the court You are only required to declare to the best available knowledge How much the tenant owes you

Stop abandonment

If a landlord has a tenant on a RenterBall agreement they are restricted from signing a new renterball agreement without first receiving feedback within the last 14 days

This is to stop tenants just abandoning the property

Therefore we suggest landlords do not leave good feedback during the tenancy unless you are prepared for your tenant to be able to rent off another Renterball landlord for the following 14 days

If a landlord is unwilling/unable to leave feedback your tenant can use the Goodbye Notice form and if a landlord doesn't respond within 14 days an automatic no comment feedback is left

New Tenant

For new applicants (tenants)

Advertise as you normally do but ask applicants to apply on your RenterBall advert

RenterBall filters out those who owe debt and are not on a payment plan and shows you the best

You are able to browse the list of applicants, read their profiles at your convenience and once you have picked your shortlist you can phone them up and go from there

Don’t waste your time speaking to time wasters Never have applicants randomly phone you up again

Only contact those who you believe are suitable If somebody is not suitable and you never wish to see their applications again you can block them applying on any more of your adverts

Only those users who have got verified RenterBall accounts can apply on your RenterBall advert

Tenants who are unwilling to use RenterBall but still insist on a viewing with the excuse they will use RenterBall if they like the property are probably just time wasters

If a tenant doesn’t have a driving licence, it takes them about a week to apply for one and by then you probably have let the property so if they have the required documents it takes just five minutes to set up an account and if they don’t let to somebody else

Current Tenant

1. Update your privacy policy and send a letter to your current tenants with the update declaring you are now using RenterBall as a data processor
   ( read more in the privacy policy article click here )

2. File a claim that you are their landlord on RenterBall The claim consists of a pre-filled out RenterBall agreement

   Eg property address , start date, rent and so forth

3. As part of the privacy policy update when you contact your tenant we recommend you include this template click here

   This is a good explanation to tenants of what they need to do to use RenterBall

   If a tenant doesn’t have a driving licence they can order a provisional licence online, it takes about a week to come through

   If your tenant legally cannot have a driving licence then you will need to wait until the tenant leaves your property and then file a claim on your tenant declaring they were your tenant and they will be obliged to sign your RenterBall agreement if they wish to rent again on RenterBall

Ex-Tenants

Don't allow all of your past bad tenants to abscond into the night If a tenant still owes you money then you still have an active contract with them Even a hundred years after they’ve moved out

File a claim you were their landlord and they are obliged to sign your rental agreement if they wish to rent again and when they sign it declare they owe you money and they will have to pay you money if they wish to rent again

How it works

1. Send to the last contact details you have with your tenant a privacy policy update that says you are using RenterBall
   ( read more in the privacy policy article located click here )

2. File a claim you were their landlord

3. Sit back and wait for them to sign your RenterBall agreement

When they do RenterBall will immediately email you and you will have up to 2 months to be able to leave feedback on them, after that the agreement becomes historic and you will not be able to leave or edit feedback

However if you leave feedback showing they owe you money, you will always be able to lower any debt amount but not increase it on historic agreements

You will be unable to edit the comment section of the questionnaire and the photos on historic agreements