Good idea, a function worth using.
I agree with your sentiments. I have not had to look for a tenant for 3-4 years as they tend to stay with me for a long time. I am now looking for a new tenant and I am shocked at the number of people looking for a place and the incredulious statments they come out with (not saying they are lying but some of them are very hard to believe). Rental market has really changed and become very precarious.
I try to be careful and scrutinise everything they say and also take a lot of notice of their behaviour too ---- take note of all the small things they do or say. I take the meeting with the tenant as if it was an interview. Responsible tenants will take these meetings seriously and will present themselves in a good light. I too try and do the same as I want them to think I am a good landlord and someone they can do business with.
I dont have time to go through their documentation myself as I work as well but is very shocking Rentguard are not doing their checks properly. When you claimed for the missing rent did Rentguard pay out?
I am very careful with some-one who claims they have a business/self employed. I would want to see a number of years of trading (at least 3 years). Is the business believeable. With businesses, figures can be âfudgedâ. I look for alternative income streams with other tenants and see if the business failed can the other tenant still pay the rent.
My questions are based around requirements of Rentguard. Go to Rentguards website and see what they require. If tenants responses are in line then you know you will get insurance. Also need other questions in line with legilsation e.g. âhow many tenants will live there and relationship to each otherâ â more than 5 and from more than 2 families then you will need to register as a HMO.
I suppose, if not fitting rentguards criteria then go with instinctâ but have to be v v carfeul if you do this. If things go wrong you can still serve section 21 at this moment. Only do a tenancy for 6 months. Taking 6 months rent upfront is red herring in my view, because what happens after 6 months.
Where do you put your screening questions?
Openrent allows you to put screening questions but when the tenant sees them they have already applied and count as one enquiry out of the 100 as so does not stop them from applying until its too late.
Hi Kuljit,
Thank you for getting back to me. I am looking for a property around Wokingham. I hope, you find the best tenant ever. Take care 
Agreed and Section 8 for non-payment will still exist.
In the end willingness to pay, IE honesty is the more mportant than supposed ability
Thank you. That is so kind of you if you.
Likewise, hope you find a lovely home. 
Hi, there is a pre-screening option that you can enable on your listing, if thatâs what youâre asking? Iâm including the link below which says how to activate it on your listing. The tenant must answer these questions (about income, etc) before they are able to enquire. While it puts off those who are mindlessly enquiring about every property, it does still allow people to enquire who donât meet your criteria, and these would still count against the 100 limit. However itâs a lot easier to filter the unsuitable tenants out quickly as you then have a lot of the essential information upfront. So itâs not fool-proof but it does help.
You have confirmed I have set my questions up correctly ie clicking on â+tenants screeningâ and pasting my questions. However numerous applicants are not even answering the questions and still applying, hence adding to my enquiry numbers.
tell them they will not be considered if they do not answer all the questions
Yes unfortunately I have redone by advert, starting with a very negative message, saying who I will not consider, then answer all these questions , then saying if donât answer the application will not get a reply and will be closed. Then right at the bottom described the positive points of the house.
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I think Openrent could improve the process by the following:
- Improve their screening questions, they are not very precise so we have to add more questions of our own and this confuses people to go through two layers of screening questions. A lot of people, maybe 40% of my applicants, donât answer the second layer of questions - which are the ones I care most about - but these count towards the 100 limit
- Openrentâs screening questions could have some sense checks added - I have a lot of people saying they have ridiculous monthly incomes, from ÂŁ20/month to ÂŁ75,000/month. A simple sense check could reject them and not count them towards the 100 limit
- There should be a way that e.g. people who donât show up for viewings get penalised and not count to the 100
Thanks Graham, you are having the same experience as myself. Even when they dont fit the first set of questions tenants still get through and then dont answer the second lot of questions.
You make a good point in that the IT can be set up to delete people who respond in line with the prferences you set.
Really frustrating!!!
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