• A 10% deposit: With such a large deposit, some lenders will waive the genuine savings requirement, and you can still get a great deal on your home loan.
• An otherwise strong case: If you’re in a strong situation apart from meeting the genuine savings requirement, we can still help you borrow at 95%. Conditions apply, and your interest rate may be a bit higher depending on what lender we go with.
• A guarantor: If your parents are in a position to use their property as security for your home loan, you can borrow up to 105% of the purchase price without genuine savings.

You can contact your real estate agent and ask for both a rental reference letter and a rental ledger.

While a rental reference letter is more of a declaration from your property manager, the rental ledger will provide a clear rundown of the rent you’ve paid over a 12 month period.

This includes how much rent was paid and the date it was paid to the landlord. It’s sort of like a bank statement but for your rent.

It’s preferable that you provide a rental letter over a ledger purely because the ledger has more information on it that the banks can use against you when assessing your application.

For example, if you were late with the rent on just one or two occasions, a lender will be able to see this on the ledger, and it won’t look good for you as a borrower.

If you’re renting, but you didn’t go through a real estate agent (you’re just in an arrangement with the landlord), the following template will suffice.

However, you’ll need to provide it in conjunction with 12 months (some lenders will accept 6 months) bank statements showing the rent being deducted on a weekly basis:

Lenders will ask for a signed tenant rental history form if you can’t prove genuine savings.

The reason that this letter is a good indication of your capacity is that, when renting, a portion of your income is being deducted from your bank account on a regular basis to pay rent.

For some lenders, this is the same as saving that amount every week in a savings account.

Perfect rent over a 12 month period is also an indication that you’ll not miss or default on your mortgage repayments when you get a loan.

It’s important to note that in a low-interest rate environment and, depending on the property price, mortgage repayments can be about the same or less than paying weekly rent!

Having a good rental history isn’t always enough to get your home loan approved.

Most banks have complicated lending policies which exclude some tenants such as:

• Sub-tenants (not on the lease).
• Privately-rented properties (not via a real estate agent).
• If you do not have a 12-month history. There is an exception to this, with one of our lenders accepting 3 months rental history instead.
• If other people are on the lease with you (share accommodation).
• If you have moved house during the last 12 months.

In addition, lenders won’t accept the rental letter unless it contains the following information:

• Your full name.
• The property’s address.
• The commencement date of the lease.
• The current rent you pay per week.
• A declaration that you’ve been paying your rent on time for at least the last 12 months.
• Full name and signature of your real estate agent.

Let’s say that you’ve been living at your current address for the past 8 months.

That means you’ll only be able to provide an 8-month rental reference letter. This wouldn’t pass the test with most lenders.

However, if in the preceding 4 months you had been renting elsewhere, you can simply provide a landlord reference letter for this period.

Your rental reference letter doesn’t have to be with the same property, just as long as it’s 12 months of continuous history.

This means that multiple reference letters may need to be provided.

Most lenders won’t accept a rental history letter from a landlord because landlords can be anyone.

They’re not registered professionals like real estate agents/property managers.

Hypothetically, you could have a portion of your bank account funds deposited into your friend’s account, and they could then sign a rental reference letter. Don’t do this!

Although banks are quite strict with the rental letter coming from a real estate agent, some lenders will accept a letter from the landlord, if you can provide 12 months bank statements.

A bank won’t require a character reference in normal circumstances.

However, you may need to provide one if you’re renting for the first time and cannot provide a proof of rent payment letter.