Hi everyone, looking for some practical advice on how you are managing your OpenRent listings at the moment.I’ve just had 18 viewings for a property listed at £1,350/month (plus bills). Every single person who has viewed or applied so far is currently unemployed and relying entirely on state benefits without a guarantor.
While I have absolutely nothing against people on benefits, the pure math doesn’t work for this specific rental bracket.
A rent of £1,350 requires a baseline affordability income of over £40k, which basic Universal Credit caps nowhere near cover.
It’s wasting a massive amount of my time running physical viewings for applicants who cannot mathematically clear the automated referencing stage.
For those of you letting similar mid-to-high tier properties on OpenRent
What exact wording are you putting in your description to clearly define your referencing and affordability thresholds before people click “request viewing”?
How are you utilizing OpenRent’s pre-screening questions to filter these out automatically so you don’t end up on back-to-back viewings that can’t progress?
Any advice or template screening responses would be hugely appreciated!
Just ask their income before you do any viewings and politely say you are not offering them a viewing.
Under RRA you cant legally discriminate because someone is on benefits but you can take account of affordability
Just put 'Viewings will not be offered before potential tenants have provided details of the number of planned occupants, their total income and the source, and their circumstances. Any individuals applying for viewings before providing this will be refused."
I dont offer viewing until and unless the prospects answer all my questions properly and without ambiguity. Otherwise I am just wasting my time and theirs when they cannot provide suitable answers. There is Tenant verification on OR that can provide a crumb of validity and a credit reference check once tenant paid for £10? and completed. (at least it shows a modacome of committment and effort).
There is a pre-application questionaire that OR provide as a templete and you can add suitable additional if needed.
I want chapter and verse about their situation and financial standing before I entertain further contact. many times prospects are no shows at viewings and are ‘chancers’ anyway.
Harsh but true, I want to minimise my viewing time and hassle as much as possible.
@David240 has a good point of defining your affordability requirements in description. That should weed out the unsuitable.
You’re allowing ineligble people to view a property they can’t afford.
For me, an autoreply with my phone number asks them to call me. If they call (and many can’t even follow this instruction), the first question I ask is how much is your income. If they can’t afford it, I’m done in 30 seconds.
There is another risk to landlords of benefits tenants that hasn’t really been discussed, which is that the large increase in the number of people receiving benefits since Covid may at some point have their claim reduced or cancelled and not then be able to afford their rent. I dont expect this to happen under the current administration, but…
You need to be strict and add a sentence to the advert to say something like “Only prospective tenants with an income of at least £40,500 per year need apply” which is 2.5x the annual rent. You need some hard number for people to understand what they are taking on.
It is now illegal to exclude for consideration enquiries from tenants receiving benefits. You need to tread carefully here because they could make a discrimination complaint against you.
My understanding is that the maximum Local Housing Allowance a benefit claimant can receive for a property is based on the postcode of the rental property. This is shown on your listing if you click the ‘i’ button next to ‘DSS/LHA covers rent’ field.
Affordability is the criteria that needs to be considered with such enquiries. A common guide is the net income of the tenant needs to be 2.5x the rental. Note the LHA they receive is reduced if they have an income so the amount they receive will be lower. So bottom line is do they have income coming into their bank account that is 2.5x the rent? If not then reject on affordability grounds.
“A common guide is the net income of the tenant needs to be 2.5x the rental.”
actually the common guides ive seen are all about gross income- (which make it more complicated to compare because benefits arent taxed…). Can you quote a source indicating its 2.5x NET income?
technically it’s not a discrimination complaint, it’s a local authority fine. So they’d have to take something material to the LA for them to act on. You therefore don’t want to say anything over a phone call that could be recorded or in an ad or response to an enquiry that explicitly says you don’t rent to anyone on benefits.
As I’ve said on another thread of a similar nature, you don’t need to say anything at all if an applicant doesn’t meet your criteria. If you do feel you have to respond, just say that you are proceeding with someone else’s application.
When they apply they automatically get a message saying
*First, I want to say thank you for your interest in renting this house.
I need to ask for some further information before we move things forward.
Please let me know the occupation and the monthly salary of each of the people who will be living there. Will they all be able to provide proof of income?
Will they be able to let me have a reference from their current employers?
Can they get a reference from their previous landlord?
Do any of them have any unspent CCJs as far as they know?
We will need all this information for the credit check.
Also, would you please let me know when you are hoping to move.*
If they don’t answer all the questions they don’t get a viewing. So basically the ones with insufficient income get rejected.
The way I deal with this is I ask 5 basic questions that go out as an automatic response to anybody requesting a viewing. One of the questions is; Who do you work for and what is your combined income. This information clearly tells me what their income is and where their money comes from. About 25% of applicants don’t answer my questions so I don’t offer them a viewing.