Actually the reason given is that the Tory government decided that claimants should learn to be more responsible with money, so they changed housing benefit payments and also the rates at which benefits are paid. Which is fine for people like me who can be responsible with money, but not for those who can’t manage that for whatever reason. It’s all rather a mess, both for tenants and landlords who, as you say, have to take a risk or end up having to discriminate.
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Jay14 You are exactly right ,that was the reason given. That is why SOME of these claiments have bigger TV S than me
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Some good ideas Nicholas.
I need to stop viewing requests’ from people on very low income or low benefits. This is important to keep below Open Rents 100 maximum. Perhaps I should say in the advert, anyone with an income below a certain amount will automatically be rejected?
When someone requests a viewing they receive an automated reply requesting additional information - income, employment, occupation etc. Many don’t reply so their application is not progressed. Those on too low an income are rejected. Unfortunately all these applications count towards the arbitrary 100.
you will always get the chancers , but how can you word it so that it is not discriminatory ?
Colin3. Would it be discrimination to say combined income would need to be above a certain amount? is to check on affordability
i am not sure about that we have to be so careful in how we word our listings. It would ,I feel ,be ok to say a combined income needs to be £££ times the monthly rent
Hi Stephen, I pop up with this point from time to time on the Community
Discrimination generally is just choosing between things. Landlords can discriminate between insurance providers, investment properties and which tenants to let to. What matters legally is whether the discrimination is based on protected characteristics or not.
There’s more info on those characteristics here.
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Hi Sam
I am a Chartered Personnel Officer and have worked against discrimination all my career whether it be the law, company policy or just good practice. However, I hope your link will be of help to anyone following the discussion.
The purpose of my original post was to get Open Rent to reconsider their 100 policy or seek suggestions on how I could reduce applications from people without sufficient funds etc.
We have had no response from Open Rent and therefore I need to reluctantly seek ways of reducing the number of applicants, hopefully without an unreasonable increase in rent.
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Hi Sam
I’ve just noticed that you are from Open Rent. Hopefully you can address the key point of the 100 limit?
Another member suggested it could be amended to 100 that have not been rejected. This suggestion could work.
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Hi Stephen, apologies for not seeing your initial post here.
I have passed on your point about how our enquiry filter interacts with the 100 enquiry limit. I know that my friends in the product team are already working on the way that enquiries are filtered, and I have made sure they are aware of the points raised in this thread.
I’m sure you know this already, but for any one else reading my reply, you can activate pre-screening which reduces the number of unsuitable enquiries substantially, by asking tenants who enquire to confirm that they meet the criteria of your advert and warning them that they may not be likely to proceed if they do not meet those criteria.
Sam
Hi Sam
Thank you for passing on my and many others, concern about the 100 limit.
Because I got the 100 limit before the first viewings, tenants thought that the property was no longer available causing some not to attend the viewing.
The filters offered are not appropriate for my properties. I don’t discriminate against DSS and I find tenants are not always honest with the others - pets, smoking etc.
I hope you can quickly resolve this as I would like to work with Open Rent again soon.
Kind regards
Stephen
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Hi Sam
Has the 100 limit been resolved yet?
Hi Sam
Has the 100 limit been resolved yet, as one of my properties may becoming empty soon?
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your question.
On average, listings advertised with OpenRent are let with fewer than 10 enquiries (even taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns); so, it is very rare for a listing to be affected by our fair use policy. We also have a number of tools available to landlords to help manage their listings and ensure that they only receive enquiries that meet their requirements. We also ensure that we proactively reach out to any landlord who is receiving an unusually high volume of interest so that we can offer further support and guidance in managing their enquiries.
I hope that this helps to reassure you that our fair use policy should not interfere with any legitimate listing, it’s there only to help prevent misuse of our services.
Good luck in finding your next set of tenants and if you have any further questions you are welcome to reach out to our customer support team here.
Very disappointed with your response.
My first advert attracted over 100 enquiries before the first viewing.
It was a legitimate listing. The filters you offer are not suitable.
The only filter that may work would be to exclude those on low income and or low benefits, but this is not available.
Apart from increasing the rent, which I don’t want to do, I don’t know how to deter applicants?
Could the 100 policy be amended to a lower number where landlords have not responded to tenants?
Previously I was informed that the 100 policy was under review. Has this happened yet?
I do hope you take my concerns seriously, as it also affects others.
Kind regards
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@Stephen45 I agree with you.
Maybe the postcode affects outcome.
I have noticed renting through this portal there are more unsuitable enquiries ( drug dealers wanting to grow, rent to rent etc…).
Even when the tenants are told in writing before viewing they require references and a guarantor or there will be additional charges for pets they get to viewing and try to negate your T&C’s.
I have had 70 enquiries on the last property which I have eventually let through the estate agent.
I am at 30 enquiries and still no success.
I have had success with this portal but my average time to find a tenant is at least six weeks
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Thank you.
The 100 limit is too low. I was offended at the Open Rent suggestion that I might be ‘harvesting enquiries for other properties’ and ‘breach their fair use policy’. I hope they will sort it soon
The last time I used a traditional estate agent for a similar house they received 84 viewing requests in less than two weeks. All, but one, totally unsuitable. Estate agents using Right Move may have the same issues.
Come on Open Rent. Let’s find a solution to this!
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I wasn’t aware that they had a limit, but I requested to pause listing around 95.
This didn’t work and then they took the property off and said it was let the next day.
I had over 100 - but many were from the same group of renters.
I have used open rent for years. This made me think maybe I should think again before using in the future.
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I agree with you.
Open Rent closed down my advert, assuming it was let, before I had the first viewing!
I had to email those booked in for a viewing, letting them know it was still available. Even so three did not turn up due to the confusion.
Open Rent have agreed to look at their policy but have not let me know of any changes.
I have not used them since, other than for referencing a tenant found elsewhere.
Come on Open Rent. Sort this out and let everyone know. I want to come back to you.
Stephen
My advert has also just been closed down due to the 100 limit!
with the same response of “this measure combats against harvesting of tenant details”
and i still havent found a tenant!
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