FAQs: RentPassport™

Canopy RentPassport™ is your digital rental history.

Letting agents and Landlords need to verify a Tenant's suitability for the property they have applied for. This includes verifying tenants' employment, income and ensuring that the tenant is able to meet their rental payments. Instant tenant verification will speed up the rental application process for Renters, Lettings Agents and Landlords

As part of the instant validation, Renters are also able to access a range of affordable, ethical and fair financial wellness products such as Canopy RentTracking™ or DepositFree™. 

For more information please see What is a RentPassport™?

We use Experian and Open Banking to help renters build their portable rental history.

Experian based checks (Processing time: 1min-5min)

• Identity
• 3 Years Address history
• Soft credit check
• Adverse Financial History (CCJs, IVA and Bankruptcy)
• KYC (Know-Your-Customer)
• AML (Anti-Money Laundering)

Open Banking (Processing time: 5mins, subject to successfully connecting with tenants bank)

• Income Verification
• Rental Affordability (How much a Renter can spend on rent based on annual gross income)
• Rental Payments Verification, if previously renting in the U.K

Manual Income verification (Processing time: max 48hrs)

• Tenants provide proof of income (3 months payslips, bank statements, employment contract)
• Self-employed (tax returns, bank statements)

For more information please see What is Open Banking? and RentPassport™: Credit Check

There is no cost to the Tenant.

Our Open Banking and Experian digital referencing checks are FREE for Letting Agents and Landlords. Canopy charges £3 plus VAT for comprehensive Employment and Landlord references.

When a Renter checks their credit score for with Canopy, they are performing what is called a soft credit check. This credit inquiry will not impact a Renters credit, no matter how frequently a Renter views their credit score.

For more information please see RentPassport™: Credit Check

For Renters

The approach by incumbent Tenant Screening companies is - "Tenants are guilty until proven otherwise"" -The whole process is invasive asking Tenants to upload payslips and bank statements and then only sharing screening results with the Letting Agent or Landlord.

‍Canopy's RentPassport™ aims to build TRUST between renters, lettings agents and landlords. We are putting renters digital rental history at their fingertips - akin to LinkedIn for Renters.

RentPassport™ encourages greater renter mobility whilst rewarding Renters who pay their rent and bills on-time through an improved Experian credit history. ‍

Simply provide one of the following

1. Reference Letter on company letterhead 

2. Contact details for HR (please be aware this may cause delays as they require need written/verbal consent from you to provide a reference)

3. Three months most recent payslips (we can only verify your income with this, you will still need to provide a reference to confirm all employment details)

If you are Self employed, please see the list of documents we can accept:

1. Most recent Tax Return

2. Signed Accountants Reference on company letterhead

3. SA302

For more information please see Verifying income: PAYE Employee , Verifying income: Self employment , Verifying Income Pension , Verifying Income: Benefits

Your name is entered as it is on your passport.

1. Your date of birth is inputted correctly.

2. Address history, start with you most recent address going backwards. Please do not enter any international addresses as Experian cannot valid this information.

Useful tips:

• Do not put commas (,) or spaces in the free text address fields.
• We recommend attempting variations of the address such as entered the building number and removing the flat number.
• Check the address against Royal Mail find a postcode/address service.
• If the postcode is not working on Experian systems, the address may be new or the post code may have changed.
• If you have not registered on the electoral role and have no bills or banks registered at your current address, this may be hard for Experian to locate your information.

For more information please see RentPassport™: Credit Check

Tenant screening applications might flag CCJs or Insolvencies. A CCJ can remain on a Tenants credit report for up to 6 years after it is satisfied. We reflect the information held by Experian and unfortunately we cannot change this data.

Letting Agents and or Landlords may not accept Tenants with an active or satisfied CCJs, or declared bankruptcy.