Its not Openrent. If you used a agent, likely they would be experiencing this on your behalf. This is sadly, a risk of self management, in the discourteous world in which we live.
I wonder how quickly you arrange the viewings. Landlords tend to forget that tenants also have a long list of properties they are considering, and you might be number 20 on their list. If there is too long a gap between arranging and doing a viewing then you reduce the chance of getting a tenant. Normally for me it is 2-5 days, anyone above 5 days often ends up as a no-show or some other form of time waster (from my perspective) as they have in the meantime found a place and grabbed it. Basically everything needs to move super fast.
I give them my phone number and ask them to call me an hour before viewing to confirm they are coming. I’ve had one confirm an hour before and still no show and then try a week later …
So I blocked her
I also ask filter questions before they arrive so the unsuitable are not even entertained
No call saves me the trip
I try and avoid weekends at all cost and push it to Sunday afternoon
The worst thing is losing a Saturday to no shows as you can’t go anywhere
I don’t arrange viewings until I’ve seen that the T will be suitable for a property and for us. My autoresponse asks them to call me. I go through a checklist of questions with them and if no bad vibe then I send them a data form and ask for soft copies of 6 months bank statements, payslips, references (which I follow up) and ID. If all that checks out, I arrange a viewing which 99% of people turn up to because, by then, they’ve demonstrated that they are serious.
I’m not going to waste time on viewings when something as simple as affordability can be checked remotely relatively quickly.
After my last experience giving someone my phone number who was insistent ‘the app is bad’ I would not give it out again so quickly! Got pestered a lot and ended up blocking the number.
I scheduled last viewings on two days in half hour blocks so if someone doesn’t show it wasn’t so bad.
I find it all very stressful however it goes… but rather that than pay 7% ongoing agents fees.
Yes, I’ve tried making phone contact as early as possible, but last week I had a guy who failed referencing blame me for that and call 30 times within an hour. He withheld his number so I’ve had to block all withheld numbers for now (which includes the NHS unfortunately). Might be worth putting up with this sort of thing occasionally for the time saved though.
I can see why you do that. It feels harsh asking for it before they have even viewed, but I guess it would save me a lot of time. I always ask for bank statements before offering a tenancy, but only 3 months - do you find it’s worth asking for 6? Three seems to be what lenders ask for.
I’ve not dealt with a lender for a very long time so wasn’t aware of that. Quite often, people give me up to the current month so in real terms it’s five and a bit months. If that was 2 and a bit months, I’d find that not a lot to go on. Six months allows for a really good stretch of spending habits to be visible. You can also see how the overall balance changes e.g. are they saving month on month or do they have months where they have virtually no or negative balances. Harder to hide that kind of behaviour over a longer stretch of time.
I send 5-6 brief questions to the applicant via Openrent messaging .
If he answers most of them, and I feel comfortable, I suggest a brief phone call.
At the end of the phone call if I am still comfortable I give him a half hour slot on the viewing day on either Saturday or Sunday. I then email and confirm the appointment, attach the “How to Rent” Government publication, tell him to be prepared to show bank statements on his phone or in paper form, proof of emplyment and ID at the viewing if he likes the property. I ask him to email me and confirm the appointment.
When he replies I then send the Openrent confirmation of viewing.
I find this approach works as you “separate the wheat from the chaff.”
i have used an agent a few times and they do a block of about 5 views at a time . , Inevitable one will have cancelled They have already filtered out dozens for me
Nice tip. Consider that added to my workflow