I am a landlord and send prospective tenants a brief set of questions before I arrange a viewing so that they don’t waste anyone’s time. Most tenants respond but not provide the information I have requested and instead provide just part of them or talk about other things. Obviously some do not respond as they are the suspicious types with trust issues (kind of people I definitely want to avoid), but what can be other reasons you might have not responded to something as basic /bullet pointed as this, after you express an interest in viewing it?
age
profession, annual salary, nature of employment (self employed, employed in a company), part time/full time
Not everyone wants to discuss this stuff on a form and be judged, some people want to make their case face to face or speak to you by phone. Remember there are crims and the potential tenants have absolutely no reason to know you are trustworthy. Others may have had email hacked or ID stolen or credit card fraud making them cautious.
Also
-people do get discriminated against based on age, or prejudices about different sorts of employment (inc whether part of their income is benefits)
-exact salary/income is intrinsically sensitive they may think it’s intrusive as all you really need to know is reassurance they can afford and if needed later a report saying they can afford. So you could ask instead “is (rent £pcm) less than 30% of gross income? YES/NO” instead.
-some people moving to a different area may not be sure how long they want to rent for , might think on seeing it that it’s OK for now but they want a bigger place long term/when they can afford.
-explaining that a previous LL evicted you may look bad but it could simply be LL selling up and tenant doesn’t even know (I have a relative who received a s21 on 30 april out of the blue after a seemingly good relationship with the LL who’d always replaced or fixed stuff quickly etc)
Desperation. Things have cooled a bit recently, but before that landlords were commonly receiving 100 applications for each vacancy. Tenants then tend to apply quickly for multiple properties thinking its just a numbers game. They often dont read any of the text.
Ps Except for whether they can afford and maybe their intentions, how are any of these questions relevant to whether you would rent to someone or let them have a viewing?
- would you not rent based on age? Why? (This may be illegal discrimination actually @David122 may be able to advise)
- what profession or pattern/nature of employment would you not rent to? Except for people doing shift work (who might disturb neighbours if coming and going at unusual hours, I’m not sure why a LL should care what their occupation is or if they work 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 days a week. )
-nobody is going to admit a bad reason for moving out, they might face to face say there were issues with LL or LL is selling up, but they aren’t going to say anything that might stop them getting a viewing- so how does that help you rule anyone in/out for viewings.
It may also come across as a bit presumptuous to ask these things so formally before they’ve even met or seen your property - they may not like it anyway…