What actually happened was rather different to what has been described by the prospective tenant(s). Phil and a friend were proposing to rent an apartment in Maidenhead and as such both needed to complete reference applications as you would normally do for any rental property. Phil's friend failed the reference on the grounds of a very poor credit history and as such the reference for him was duly declined by an independent reference company. We take the reference side very seriously indeed and it is our responsibility to any owner/landlord to place people in their property with a positive reference report. If a reference declines, the standard protocol within the industry would be to offer the prospective tenants a guarantor option whereby they find a suitable individual to act as a guarantor due to the declined reference, or depending how long the tenancy agreement is, offer the other option of paying either 6 months rental in advance or indeed 12 months rental in advance depending on the length of the tenancy agreement. This is all standard practice and detailed within our terms of business which any prospective tenant signs at the outset (and see and read) before they put down any holding deposit to secure the property. Due to the declined reference, I also gave the two gents the choice of a third option which was 3 months rental in advance (not six) and an 8 week security deposit (rather than a 6 week security deposit which is the industry norm). Whirlybird Property were doing this to try and help the two gents out due to their failed reference due to a very poor credit history. Any of the options were declined by the two gentlemen which was very strange indeed and this happened on more than one occasion. Obviously, it is our responsibility to place people with a positive credit and reference report in any property otherwise there is little point in carrying out a reference check. This is our responsibility to any owner/landlord. As such, due to the two prospective tenants declining the options of an alternative which is very much standard practice within the industry, our hands were tied. Obviously, we cant place people with a declined reference into any property. I never understood why they did not get a guarantor which would have been the most sensible cost effective option for them and as a result we seem to think there must have been some other reason as to why which was not disclosed to Whirlybird Property. Very odd indeed if you seriously want to move into a particular property that you say is right for you.