Viewings - no shows

May I ask what are your rules ?

How do I dm on here?

I’m interested in knowing your rules too. Would you consider posting them here? If not, simply click on the username. That’ll take you to their profile page and you can click the Message button there to DM someone.

I completely understand what you are going through. I have been using Open Rent for few years now and even now I get a lot of people booking a viewing and then not showing up. I do call them before attending and 90% of them do not even answer and their phones go onto voicemail. Last year, I called some of the numbers couple of weeks later and out of 5, 3 of them were agencies (blocked my time with fake viewings). Recently, I booked 25 potential tenants on first come - first served basis. Only 7 genuine showed up and suitable tenant found. I will bear in mind one of the comments to ask for 6 months bank statements but not sure anyone would be happy to hand those at the viewing stage.

Block viewings of 5 or 6 within the hour. Then if 2 do not turn up ,there are still 4 to view is what I do

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I experienced the same. 4 out of 5 were no show, the remaining one was actually an estate agent. Prior to the viewing day, I asked about 10 questions, mainly to test if the prospective tenants were genuinely looking for my flat. They all responded but just no show.

I made a complaint to the Openrent but it was useless. I really like the Openrent platform, the way to offer opportunity to interact with prospective tenants and hope that it can improve such distressful experiences. E.g. I will suggest Openrent to create a positive list showing that the viewer in the appointment has no no-show record. This will definitely help all the landlord users to continue to use the Openrent platform.

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that sadly is the way people are in all walks of life. I sell a certain building product and 25% of the people who say " I will get back to you" , never do

Great if you’re local but my properties are London & Southampton- I live in Gloucestershire :woman_facepalming:t2: hence I am very picky and very direct with my questions. Or depending on timeframes I cut my loses and pay an agent that I’ve developed a good relationship with. Months rent gone but so has the monotony of disappointments.

not sure which of my posts in this thread you’re replying to @Karina5 , but all the advice I’ve given would also apply to letting from a distance. When I was overseas I used a various agents to get things done, but I would always request and go over any paperwork myself before approving a tenant. I didn’t care if they wasted their own time on viewings, but if they recommended someone I would always ring the agent to get a debrief over the phone as to the vibe they got from the tenant at the viewing. I never relied on email for that. If I was to rely on an agent again, I would want to actually chat with the applicants they recommend over the phone.

Personally, I think LLs employing agents to do it all for them are making a serious mistake. Way too much risk there. I think working closely in partnership with an agent is the best approach.

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GM ))

John, we always give our t. number, once viewing has been arranged and ask them to reciprocate. Just a few days ago we weeded out one person who didn’t reply for three days.

It also helps to call them on the viewing day. If they don’t reply, we leave a message, saying that if they don’t get back to us at least two hours prior to viewing, it will be canceled. We message the same text through OR msg system.

From our experience, TT always show how things stand on the viewing day.

Ignoring = cancel. Not giving their phone nr when we volunteered with ours = cancel.

One last thing. We always make them answer our custom questionnaire (short, takes a couple of minutes). If they won’t, they’re blocked for “T not cooperating” reason. Maybe, for this reason we don’t usually have the problem that you do. ))

Hope that helps.

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I endorse what Mark10 and Tim.ira are saying.
1: auto response questionnaire check, including request tel number and best time to call
2: chat to likely candidates
3; Block book , I do 3 an hour, 4 max. expect one in three no shows
4 process application for favoured tenants actually take the 5 week deposit (and bond it obviously) taking a retainer is just buttons and they can walk away fro it
5 currently we take 2 months up front maybe a little less tho they may be limiting this sum now
Misc: I doubt I will use OpenRent again unless they start listing on right move again. I rarely get decent applicants from gumtree
6 if its just one viewing have a telephone conversation an hour ahead to reconfirm

They only came off for a week or so due to uproar, they are on RM

This sound like you are taking a 5 week holding deposit. ie you are taking whilst you are considering a tenant. This sounds illegal under the Tenant Fees Act, which limits a holding deposit to 1 week.

No Karl, as you rightly say that would be wrong. To clarify I dont mess around with a small holding deposit I will take the full deposit and put it in one of the schemes, if it doesn’t come off they get it all back. it just shows commitment thats all. The 1 week holding deposit is a waste of time for me

@Sidney1 I think you might be wrong in what you are doing.

My understanding is that legally this would be classed as a holding deposit, regardless of what you call it.

Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 any money taken prior to the signing of an agreement is treated as a holding deposit. Holding deposits are limited to one week’s rent.

I can’t see any way that this is justified legally. There is no tenancy associated with the deposit you are taking and it is therefore defined as a holding deposit.

I think you’d be in hot water if anyone decided to challenge it… which they might do if it didn’t “come off” and they were bitter about it.

There is no point in taking a security deposit that early as it, (or part of it) cant be later defined as a holding deposit. There is therefore no penalty for the tenant pulling out as if that happened, the full amount would have to be refunded. This might then be difficult because you cant take the money back from a custodial deposit scheme within the first 90 days.

Have they changed it ?
It used to be 30 days

I would seriously reconsider taking 5 week’s rent prior to a tenancy being agreed and sticking it in the DPS/TDS or similar. You are taking a holding deposit and protected deposits held at DPS will not be paid back within the first 28 calendar days as default. You can try calling them to do it earlier but it will become clear under questioning that you have taken 400% extra maximum holding deposit. A savvy tenant will have you over barrel. Expect trouble.

Apologies, I meant 30 days.