Key takeaways
- Set written criteria before you advertise, then apply them identically to everyone.
- Call the previous landlord rather than accepting a written reference.
- Income of roughly three times rent remains the most reliable single indicator.
- Document every step; consistency is your defence if a decision is challenged.
The most expensive tenancy decisions are made quickly, on instinct, in week three of a vacancy. A vacant property costs money every day, and that pressure pushes otherwise careful landlords into accepting an applicant they would have declined a fortnight earlier. A written, consistent process is what protects you from your own impatience.
Set your criteria before you advertise
Write down the standard before you meet anyone: minimum income multiple, acceptable credit profile, required references, deposit terms and pet or smoking policy. Criteria decided in advance are defensible. Criteria decided after seeing an applicant are not.
The six-step process
- Verify identity against government-issued photo identification.
- Verify income against pay stubs and bank statements — approximately three times the monthly rent is the usual threshold.
- Verify employment directly with the employer, not only through a supplied letter.
- Call the previous landlord, and where possible the one before that.
- Run a credit and background check with written consent.
- Record the decision and the reason, whatever the outcome.
Step four is the one most often skipped and the one that most often saves money. Written references are supplied by the applicant; a phone call is not. Ask two questions in particular: was rent paid on time, and would you let to them again?
Red flags worth pausing on
- Reluctance to supply a previous landlord's direct contact details.
- Income documentation that does not reconcile with bank deposits.
- Unexplained gaps in address history.
- Pressure to move in immediately, before checks are complete.
- Offers of several months' rent in advance in place of any verification.
None of these is disqualifying on its own; each deserves a question. Two or more together deserve a slower decision.
The lines you cannot cross
Fair housing rules prohibit decisions based on protected characteristics, and inconsistency is how landlords end up on the wrong side of them without intending to. Apply identical criteria to every applicant, keep your notes factual and tied to those criteria, and never record impressions of a person rather than of their file. If you are uncertain whether a criterion is lawful, take advice before you advertise, not after you decline someone.
Consistency is not only fairer. It is the only screening record that holds up when a decision is questioned.
After approval
Screening does not end at the signature. Complete a dated, photographic condition report before handover, confirm the payment method and date in writing, and schedule the first inspection for around three months in. Problems identified at month three are usually solvable; the same problems found at month eleven rarely are.
If you would rather not run it yourself
Our management service applies exactly this process on every application and provides the documentation to you in full — including on the applications we decline.