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Hi
So I have a future guest that is asking if they can use my address to open a bank account with.
However I don’t really want my credit rating to be effected or my house to be used to pay off any debts!
They also want to use my address to register for a National Insurance number with the Job Center.
If it won’t effect my credit rating I don’t mind to much however does anyone else get asked this ?
What do you tell your guests?
Cheers
Paul
Hi,
How long is the guest booked with you? Have they got an internship or are they studying here? Also what nationality are they? With this information I will be able to help you further.
Cheers
Chris
Thanks for fast reply mate!
He is staying with me for 3 weeks and is from Portugal he is planning to work he implys he already has been offered a job but im trying to confirm that he does actually have a job.
Is what he is asking even legal ? I think not ! Please see the post about when guest use your address, there can be some very serious consequences depending on what the person is wanting your address for. I will never let anybody do it again, ive had fines turn up at my house due to one guest, who was also coersing a student of mine to deliver him the letters. If I hadn’t intersecpeted them i would have had a CJD registered to my addresss and the Bailiffs or police would have turned up at my house.
People who do this are trying to get round the legal system which is there to prevent fraudulant usese. If he manages to do this , he nmight then be eligible for social security benefits because he has an address. The repercussions could be very wide reaching. Just dont !
Your welcome Paul,
Three weeks is a short time to allow someone to use an address for a bank account, however.
If you were to allow him to use your address for a Bank Account then you will need to write a letter, for him to take to the bank. As that is the only way he can provide proof of address. Within the letter you need to stipulate that he is only staying with you for three weeks (dates beginning-end) and that this is a temporary location, sourced through Airbnb.
The contents should also state that the use of your address to open a bank account is to have a salary paid in only, with no overdraft or credit card facilities.
He does not need an NI number card to start working, he can secure one very soon after starting his job.
Cheers
Chris
I wonder what Air would advise
Thanks for your help and advise I made my concerns to my guest and he has greed to use his work address in stead.
So I am happy with that.
Seems a bit odd are they knew to the country? you cant get a NI and go straight to job centre (to get a benefit I assume). I don’t think it will effect you as nothing will be in your name.
Ozzies and kiwi’s do it all the time in London when they first arrive to the country - they use friends addresses and also hostels. Its quite hard to open a bank account without an address.
its not ideal as they’ll be paying a very higher tax rate.
True, although the process can taking anything from 2 weeks a few months to complete. So there is always an element of risk (paying a higher tax rate initially) when relocating to the UK to for work.
This is a relatively old thread but I’ll make a comment anyway. The Immigration Act 2014 imposes new obligations on landlords. How much these need concern AirBnB hosts remains to be seen. Also, given that only specially-trained Register Office clerks are allowed to approve marriage applications conditional on visa checks, I wonder how landlords can be expected to:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/22/contents/enacted
That said, when I first came to Britain as a diplomat I stayed in temporary housing (AirBnB didn’t exist, indeed the Internet didn’t exist; I got a list from somewhere). We stayed there a month or so; I’m sure my Embassy gave that address to the Foreign Office (if they gave any).
But to open a bank account one normally needs not only a passport (and proper visa status, the Immigration Act again) but a utility bill or council tax bill, etc. To get a National Insurance number one needs a contract of employment, and only certain Jobcentre Plus offices can handle applications from foreigners https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number
I recall that when my son-in-law first came to Britain from France, speaking little English, my daughter wasn’t allowed into the interview room to interpret for him. And that when my son and about-to-be daughter-in-law went to the Chelsea Register Office to get a marriage licence they were interviewed separately.
In both cases, temporary addresses were the least of the problem. They stayed in one of our rental flats. Various tenants still get post at our flats. So long as I have a forwarding address (these are mostly people who stayed until they found permanent housing) I’m happy to forward post. In one case a tenant moved to Dubai and continued to get post from a bank and from HMRC for a while. For a while I sent him the post but when I detected HMRC sending warning letters I wrote them, sent the unopened letter back, and explained he’d left the country permanent and moved to Dubai. (I knew the guy well, he’d rented a place from me for a year and hardly ever used it; I knew he’d paid a lawyer £10k to regularise his business visa. But in the end moved to Dubai to make (much) more money.
Yes they ought to pay the Post Office for mail redirection. But my tenants seem never to do that.
That is not true! We all got NI numbers before we started work here in the UK
UK practice has long been to send NI numbers to 16-year-olds automatically if a parent is claiming child benefit. As child benefit is not available if one parent is taxed at higher rates, more teenagers will be applying at DWP now. EU/EEA/Swiss (other than Irish) migrants are required to appear at a designated DWP office for an interview. My daughter was not allowed in the room to translate for her French husband and they did look at his letter of employment offer and examined his French passport. At least until Brexit is effective EU etc migrants have certain rights to search for work, start a business, etc so there must be an alternative to an employment letter for them. For other migrants and residents it would depend on the nature of their status. I recall my own daughter being queried why she hadn’t received her NI number automatically: they accepted her explanation even years ago that we hadn’t been eligible for child benefit.
I had to apply for my NI number / Tax number online when I arrived in the UK (as did my fellow working visa friends) as I was not living in the UK when I was 16. You have to have a UK address to apply for one as they send it via the post. The same goes for bank account. I wouldn’t mind a guest asking for these purposes - but a NI numbers takes about a month and I don’t allow guests to stay that long. @Paul_Sheraton @Chelsea
No. Just no. Once they start doing that, you have no real idea what they might do with it. We as hosts don’t really know these folks at all. I just had someone who asked me if they could get mail hrlere and I gently said no. But I did point them to a local mail place where they can rent a mailbox. Here in the US, mail addressed to your guest at your house can create tenancy rights. I suppose they could do it without permission if they have the…chutzpah.
This is in the UK though so things are a lot different here
I definitely understand that. I would just check and make sure it won’t give them any tenancy rights.
Applying for a NI number could not give “tenancy rights”. AirBnB actually have very good “Terms of Service” that bind the guest, who in England & Wales is a “licensee” and not a “tenant”. Overstaying makes the tenant a squatter and a claim for possession (eviction) while not cheap (£355) must be heard by the County Court (Hammersmith, in the case of London) in three days.
Here’s the text of the relevant AirBnB T&C:
“Overstaying without the Host’s Consent
"Guests agree that a confirmed booking is merely a license granted by the Host to the Guest to enter and use the Listing for the limited duration of the confirmed booking and in accordance with the Guest’s agreement with the Host. Guests further agree to leave the Accommodation no later than the checkout time that the Host specifies in the Listing or such other time as mutually agreed upon between the Host and Guest. If a Guest stays past the agreed upon checkout time without the Host’s consent, they no longer have a license to stay in the Listing and the Host is entitled to make the Guest leave. In addition, Guests agree that the Host can charge the Guest, for each 24 hour period that the Guest stays over the agreed period without the Host’s consent, an additional nightly fee of two times the average nightly Accommodation Fee originally paid by the Guest to cover the inconvenience suffered by the Host, plus all applicable Service Fees, Taxes, and any legal expenses incurred by the Host to make the Guest leave (collectively, “Additional Sums”). Airbnb Payments will collect Additional Sums from Guests pursuant to the Payments Terms.” https://www.airbnb.co.uk/terms