I went for a viewing today and absolutely loved the property so I completed the “rent now” application, to hopefully boost my chances, but it was returned instantly and the landlord replied that he “Hasn’t chosen an applicant yet” and closed the application! Have I ruined my chances by appearing overzealous and does this mean that my whole application has been rejected?
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Opinion is split on this, some landlords hate it and others don’t. Maybe you got one of the former. I personally don’t like it and may even have reacted the same way.
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We’ve had this issue on here before. OR pushes RentNow on applicants by not making it explicitly clear that you should not hit that button unless a LL asks you to do so.
I would write to the LL via the messaging system and apologise for any inconvenience caused and say that you hope that this won’t prevent you from applying for the property.
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that will not boost your chances I would not like that
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I would advise against this. The LL may well have other viewings lined up.
Why give them a problem or decision to make that they dont need to.
The moment they accept your application the listing gets pulled and they have to cancel any viewings including ones already booked, which may include people who on paper were more promising than you.
If you are keen following a viewing, and want to offer to put down a holding deposit, best speak to the LL first.
Good LLs value good communication. Try picking up a 'phone and speaking.
In the words of Bob Hoskins in a BT ad “It’s good to talk”
Good luck
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I only had the viewing today, so I do not have a number or I would contact him to apologise, but the feature kind of makes it appear as if it’s just a boost in your application so I wasn’t aware of the listing being pulled, as it says the LL can just hold the payments until he’s made a decision then simply return it.
If I’d have known then I wouldn’t have pressed that button because, as I’ve said, it instantly made me feel as though I’d seemed arrogant when the payment was rejected.
I’ll follow your advice in the future and thank you!
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It won’t allow me to reply to him because the chat is instantly closed when it’s rejected so I guess I’ll just learn from this and never press that button again
Thank you for your advice
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Thank you for all of the replies.
I’ve definitely learnt a lesson today!
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Then get a friend to help, they should join OR and apply for the same property and explain the situation, it probably won’t help, but it might.
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would seriously advise against that as being another waste of time. If the LL has closed the application and effectively blocked the chat, that’s a clear sign that they are not considering you as an applicant.
@Terri3 well done for learning from this and seeing it as a positive and moving on.
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I make it clear in our adverts that any applicant using the rent first payment before they have been selected to view and then selected as the tenant will not be even considered for a viewing. This at least gives both clarity and fairness to the situation. For our last advert (over 120 applications to view in the first 24 hours) only one applicant did this - which demonstrated that they had not even read all the advert. Needless to say they were not selected. Why would any landlord accept this unless they were really desperate?
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Well done - can you share the text you use?
Think @Terri3 case is a bit different as @Terri3 had actually had a viewing and was very keen. Think OR may sometimes prompt tenants to send in the application/holding deposit without telling them may be better to ask the LL first.
Best
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Yes, this is true, and OR actually sent an email this morning asking if I liked the property and encouraging me to press the rent first button!
I really do think that they should make it very clear that many LLs would not like this, and that it could greatly effect their applications, because it’s advertised as more of a boost and also encouraged even after rejection!
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I do like this, although I don’t believe you should have to do it, and wouldn’t need to, if OR provided more clarity to both renters and LLs.
Thank you for your advice
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Thank you and I completely agree! I already feel bad enough for putting it on the LL in the first place so wouldn’t push the issue any further because it isn’t fair on him!
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I wrote a detailed post some months ago explaining how placing your business over your actual customers leads to them being penalised. This thread is a perfect example of what I was trying to bring to your attention.
Please be aware that the way you market your products has a serious impact on the lives of people like @Terri3.
You’re not advertising shampoo.
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At the end of the advert (after we set out the “viewing morning” arrangements - where we let the applicants know that only 6 people will be offered a viewing, with timed slots on a Saturday morning) we state
“Please do not use the “Rent Now” option before you have viewed the property and have been selected to proceed to Referencing - any applicant who does so will not be selected for viewing”
Hope this helps.
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At the end of the advert (after we set out the “viewing morning” arrangements - where we let the applicants know that only 6 people will be offered a viewing, with timed slots on a Saturday morning) we state
“Please do not use the “Rent Now” option before you have viewed the property and have been selected to proceed to Referencing - any applicant who does so will not be selected for viewing”
Hope this helps.
The issue about OR
The issue raised about OR encouraging applicants to press the Rent Now button is becoming much more serious with such a shortage of available properties to rent - and the ensuing desperation of prospective tenants. To be fair to OR next to the Rent Now button there is some drop down text which says
“Press the Rent Now button when you are ready to place an offer on the property. Ensure that you have agreed to do this with the landlord first.”
but this may well not be seen as one needs to click on the Information symbol. What really makes matters worse is that after we had selected 6 applicants for viewing OR sent a message to all the applicants who we had not selected telling them that the property was “still available” and inviting them to reserve it by pressing the Rent Now button. They really must sort this out urgently and I plan to discuss it with them.
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that was exactly my point when I made my original post about RentNow. The info is there, but masked. There should at least be a confirmation popup that asks the applicant to confirm that the LL has instructed them to hit RentNow before proceeding.
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