House is on market for rent for last 24 hours and I’ve had a number of enquiries.
I’ve sent them all an initial ‘pre-screen’ set of questions e.g. how many people/ employment status etc
Some have replied and I really can’t imagine they would be suitable tenants e.g. too many children for a small house; vague references to who will actually be living there; won’t answer questions about employment status etc
How do I basically say ‘no thank you’ and ‘you can’t come and see the property’?
Do I just not reply at first and then say it’s gone to someone else?
What if it’s still advertised though?
I don’t want to waste time on viewings for no-hopers!
absolutely before ,if you dont like their answers there is no point in them viewing, this will save a lot of time Once you press reject they cannot get back in touch. Unless you have given your phone number
I would say that I was looking for tenants with higher income - or sorry, I would need full details of who would be livinging in the premises before I could arrange a viewing etc…
Or, phone them…
Hi @Di_S, It is definitely better to reply negatively than to ignore the messages. Giving tenants a definite answer is much more useful than simply not hearing anything back for days and the enquiry automatically timing out.
I’d also encourage you to be upfront about your reasons for rejecting the enquiry, as it can be incredibly frustrating for tenants if they are rejected without any reason. If you let them know why their initial answers put you off, then they can learn to include more information next time, or at least have a better understanding of what landlords are looking for and find ways to demonstrate they can meet those requirements.
It is a tricky situation. Perhaps a kind reply might be, you don’t think the property will be the right fit for them and wish them well for finding their next home.
I always try to be polite, but formal and businesslike. Something like;
“Thank you for your interest in the property at… I have had a large number of enquiries and will not be able to invite you to a viewing. I wish you good luck in finding a suitable property.”
These are very helpful suggestions. I recently used OpenRent to find tenants for the first time, and had vastly more enquiries and viewing requests than I could have imagined. I tried to arrange a viewing for virtually everyone who wanted one, but ended up exhausting myself. Yes, it is tricky to reject people without letting them see the property, but it is much better than letting people view who aren’t suitable, or who you just don’t have any information on. Next time round I will know better.