I recently applied for a joint tenancy through Symonds & Sampson, who use HomeLet (Barbon Insurance Group) for tenant referencing. My 31-year-old daughter and I,... I recently applied for a joint tenancy through Symonds & Sampson, who use HomeLet (Barbon Insurance Group) for tenant referencing. My 31-year-old daughter and I, 67, submitted a complete application. Her reference was approved within 48 hours. Mine was not. Within days, HomeLet flagged three CCJs against me. These were registered at a commercial address I have never lived at or had any connection with. The judgments were in a female name, for relatively small amounts (£169–£250). HomeLet themselves acknowledged in writing that the names and gender did not match mine. Despite this, they asked me to provide evidence that I was paying these debts, debts they had already admitted were not mine. I immediately disputed the errors in writing and pointed out that there was no way I was going to be paying debts not related to me and not in my name and at an address I’d never heard of. Communication was slow and unresponsive, they literally don’t respond to emails and ignore their portal. I only discovered they were using incorrect data against me when I telephoned. After several days of silence and uncertainty, we were forced to withdraw our application due to the delays. The very next morning, the system suddenly showed as “complete,” and the agent apologised and invited us to proceed. However, when we did, they then insisted on a guarantor due to the same erroneous flags. This was both embarrassing, grossly unfair and insulting. I submitted a Subject Access Request (SAR) to understand what data they held. HomeLet initially tried to narrow the scope of the request. My personal credit reports do not show CCJs in anyone else’s name, I don’t have any CCJ’s registered against my name, confirming this was a matching error on their part, yet they placed the full burden of proof on me rather than correcting their records promptly. They fed data back to the agent that meant they believed I was a risk! This experience has been deeply frustrating and has directly caused the collapse of our tenancy application. At no point did HomeLet demonstrate a balanced, or fair approach. Their systems appear heavily automated and risk-averse in favour of landlords and insurers, with inadequate manual oversight when obvious mismatches (such as gender and address type) arise. Tenants seem to be treated as potential risks by default rather than customers. They use a lot of ‘back door’ tools that they don’t openly disclose to people applying, they don’t simply check Experian and CFAS for example. Both my professional daughter’s credit reports and mine do not show any Experian soft searches which begs the question ‘what are they up to’? It’s worth noting this group of companies are insurers first and foremost and clearly employing any (potentially dubious) means to mitigate any risk to their own profit and genuinely do not care when mistakes like this cost a tenant a potential home. I strongly recommend that anyone who has used or is considering HomeLet submit a Subject Access Request to see exactly what data they hold and how it is being used. Greater transparency in this sector is badly needed. Prospective tenants should be aware that referencing errors like this can cause significant stress, delay, and lost opportunities, even for applicants with strong financial profiles and or over 40 years of successful renting as in my case. I’ve never missed a payment. Bluntly: 67 year old man’s tenancy application fails due to referencing company erroneously attributing someone else’s debts to him. Absolutely abhorrent. I will be escalating this matter formally with the ICO and relevant ombudsman schemes. Read more Read less

One week before our scheduled move-in date, we were informed by our estate agent that HomeLet had failed my housemate's reference. Upon contact with HomeLet... One week before our scheduled move-in date, we were informed by our estate agent that HomeLet had failed my housemate's reference. Upon contact with HomeLet as to the reason for this, the only information they would divulge was that it was for a "residential" reason, and they would only divulge this to the estate agent, not to us. We have rented many times before this where other referencing companies were used and this has never happened. Because of the failed reference, our offer fell through and we were left without a place to live. Moreover, we will be unable to rent any property in the future that uses HomeLet as a referencing company. Only once threatened with the financial ombudsman did HomeLet show any willingness to tell us what the issue was. And guess what? The issue was so minor that the current landlord (that the issue apparently affected) didn't think it was an issue at all. But still HomeLet refused to budge, even when we presented them with multiple possible solutions. It is disgusting that a company like HomeLet can hold such power over people's lives. Avoid at all costs. Read more Read less