I’ve been approached by potential lodgers through OpenRent, but there appears to be no ability to screen potential applicants prior to a viewing.
Personal chemistry in a house share, rather than a standard HMO or full property let, is even more important than physical or financial considerations.
Sparerooms is excellent at this but OpenRent, excellent in other areas, doesn’t appear to cater for housesharers, am I missing something?
Thank you in advance for any advice.
Hi @Edward28,
What kind of screening tools would you find useful for house sharers specifically?
Information such as age, gender, profession or any one of a number of basic criteria would be useful, from dietary requirements, sexual orientation, to quiet mouse or party animal.
a brief biography with a validated photo ID is desirable.
a ride hailing app provides more details than openrent demands of someone visiting a client’s home.
Desirably a house share applicant needs to share information more in line with a dating app than buying on eBay.
currently it is just a first name wants to view the property.
Would you go for a date on that basis? So why waste both party’s time showing someone around one’s home with a view to living a few years with you?
I just see this as a flaw in the Open rent system
Sexual orientation ?? Really ??
You need to create your own default automated screening reply to ask the questions you wish. but I do hope you don’t ask some of those questions suggested above.
Cos if you do ask those questions , a smack in the face really hurts
The point the two replies appear to make is Sparerooms where all my earlier examples are discussed in an open, balanced and mature manner is the better web site for seeking housemates.
Diversity and differences are positives and seeking commonality in a house share is essential for harmonious living.
From smoking to allergies, single gender homes, to vegan homes we all have a preference to how we prefer to live. Asking these questions prior to showing the property, as happens on other web sites, is common sense and saves everyone time.
This doesn’t appear to happen on OpenRent, or is there something I’m missing?
Surely sexual orientation could lead to a discrimination claim if that was the reason they were rejected and a photo why does it matter what someone looks like?
You’re absolutely correct Gary. There will, sadly, always be bigotry, prejudice and discrimination and when it comes to house sharing who would wish to live with such people?
I assure you these types of filters work on Sparerooms.
My perception from the comments, and apologies Gary this is not aimed at you, is there’s a generational mind shift. Younger renters being more tolerant, open minded and non discriminatory than older property owners. It is obvious many are unaware these filters already exist and work successfully on other sites.
I return to my original question as to how landlords on this forum deal with the issue of knowing nothing about an applicant prior to showing a room, potentially wasting both parties time?
Thank you to all three who have commented
Thanks for responding to my question. Having used Spareroom myself I understand the type of information you’re wanting to know from applicants.
As @Karl11 mentions you can use our pre-screening feature to ask these kinds of questions currently. I’ll have a look into what we can do on our side to make this easier though.
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