If your referee has informed you that they cannot click the secure link in our email or access our website due to internal restrictions, you can keep your application moving forwards by choosing one of the alternative verification methods below.
Option 1: Opt into Open Banking
If we can fully verify your income using Open Banking, you can bypass the need for an employment reference.
- Our system uses Open Banking to connect to your bank account to verify your income automatically
- Applicants who opt into Open Banking are twice more likely to pass our affordability checks
- You can read more about this here
- To opt into Open Banking, please contact our team at info@openrent.co.uk
Option 2: Provide an alternative referee
If you're unable to opt into Open Banking, or we cannot fully verify your income using this method, you can change the referee details on your application.
- Provide the contact details of a different manager, supervisor or HR contact here: https://www.openrent.co.uk/reference/refereeamendment
- Ensure your new contact does not face the same IT restrictions
- Please note that we still require an official company email address
Option 3: Add a UK-based guarantor
If we cannot fully verify your income using Open Banking and you cannot provide a new referee, you can ask your landlord to add a suitable UK-based guarantor to your application.
- The guarantor will undergo referencing and must earn at least 3 times your share of the rent to pass the affordability check
- Because guarantor incomes can be combined, you are welcome to propose more than one guarantor to the landlord if needed
Option 4: Share documents directly with your landlord
Unfortunately, we can only formally verify your income via a completed reference form or Open Banking. We cannot manually process standard documents or letters provided by email, phone or post.
- If none of the above options are available, you can ask your referee to send the documents directly to you, so you can share them with your landlord
- Please be aware that documents shared this way will not form part of our official referencing checks
- This means we will not be able to formally verify your income, which may negatively affect the outcome of your report and the landlord’s eligibility for insurance policies