to not get why I'm being turned down for rental properties?

[Fpbww]

In our town (don't know if this is common in other areas) the process for renting is - view house you are interested in, submit a detailed application form (the longest has been 8 pages long) confirming employers, income, bank details, addresses and so on. Sometimes providing ID, bank statements, wage slips, you name it.

The landlord then has a look at the applications and decides who he/ she likes the look of best. And if you get to that stage, THEN they do any referencing, credit checks etc.

We've applied for 5 houses in the last month. We were offered one (having passed stage 1 we were invited to agree referencing/ checks), but decided due to some concerns over maintenance (a couple of damp patches which the LL tried to say were not actually damp!) we decided not to proceed.

With the other 4, we've been rejected at the first stage.

All different estate agents (there are about 20 locally) so it's not that

I can't see why on paper we are not attractive to a LL?
We're both in our 40s, no children at home, non smokers, no pets. We both work from home. We're looking to rent for up to 2 years.
Our joint salary is 3x the affordability criteria. DP is a director of his own small business, which I know is not always attractive to landlords, but his earnings are 50% of mine, so even if you didn't include his salary I could more than afford the place on my own.

Am I missing something? We needed to give notice this week but now are holding off as there doesn't seem much chance of finding something else quickly.

@LittleDandelionClock

Maybe if you earn 3 X more than the renting criteria, and your DH is a 'director of a business' they think you can afford to buy, and are letting people rent who don't earn such humungous salaries as you and your DH.

They are probably mystified as to why you want to rent for 2 years or more with such an ample income, and as I said, they are letting people who genuinely cannot afford to buy rent the properties.

That sounds very bitter.

@Viviennemary

I agree your high earnings could be working against you here. If you earn three times whats required the agents might be suspicious that not all is what it seems.

I don't get this mindset that if you can on paper afford to buy a property, you SHOULD, and something is amiss if you don't. People have reasons for renting other than not having enough money.

I'd check your credit reports in case something is amiss (eg identity theft hitting your credit rating)

Then don't declare that you WFH if its avoidable (can you give your head office's address as your place of work?)

Re your husbands work: does he need to register it to your home, or can it be registered elsewhere (eg family) - if that is legally ok?

TBH - I think some people MIGHT shy away from WFH people due to wear and tear if there are lots of other applicants, even though its unfair (as when yoiu are sitting down working you are not walking on carpets, taking baths etc) - I'm sitting at my own desk now & only wear and tear is on my office chair!

It's not a question of you not 'passing' the stage - rather someone else being chosen over you. Rather than there being an issue with you personally there was something better about them.

What kind of property are you renting? Do they know you want to rent for up to 2 years?

They may be looking for long-term tenants if you want a family home

If you've got savings, could you offer to prepay the rent, say a full year's upfront? That may make you more attractive to landlords.

DP's business has a registered office. He does also have (separate) business premises - which are not the reg office - but at the moment he and his employees mostly WFH. The house would not be the registered office.

Thinking about it, we've not been asked on the forms if we work from home. We did mention it to one of the agents who showed us round a property but other than that it hasn't come up.

I own a house in another part of the country. DP's money is invested in his business. This is our first home together so we don't want to rush into buying somewhere until we've lived together properly, and because DP wont be in a position to afford to for another 2-3 years. I should have said up to 3 years in my OP, sorry.

On all the forms there's either been a tick box of are you looking to rent for up to 12 months or 12 months + (and we've ticked the latter) or on one there was a box that said 2 years or more and we ticked that. It could be up to 3 years. Maybe more depending on DP's business.

In terms of what we do, I'm a legal professional. DP's work is all computer based, there's no production aspect or anything (and of course he still has business premises).

Btw I’m not a greedy landlord, I didn’t ask for a bidding war and didn’t just go with the highest bid

I don't get this mindset that if you can on paper afford to buy a property, you SHOULD, and something is amiss if you don't.
People have reasons for renting other than not having enough money

@IntermittentParps Yes, absolutely, people have many valid reasons for choosing to rent. But, if the landlord doesn't know those reasons, then they may speculate and assume that there's a problem

We rented out our house for a couple of years (I am not, and never wanted to be, a landlord, but we moved for work and knew we were coming back). I asked the estate agent to take the very first applicant who met eligibility criteria and passed their checks because I didn't want to even subconsciously discriminate against the applicants for any reason. Maybe this is what is happening to you - it might be (as it should be) first come-first served and you need to be quicker on the draw.

@Fpbww

DP's business has a registered office. He does also have (separate) business premises - which are not the reg office - but at the moment he and his employees mostly WFH. The house would not be the registered office.

Thinking about it, we've not been asked on the forms if we work from home. We did mention it to one of the agents who showed us round a property but other than that it hasn't come up.

I own a house in another part of the country. DP's money is invested in his business. This is our first home together so we don't want to rush into buying somewhere until we've lived together properly, and because DP wont be in a position to afford to for another 2-3 years. I should have said up to 3 years in my OP, sorry.

On all the forms there's either been a tick box of are you looking to rent for up to 12 months or 12 months + (and we've ticked the latter) or on one there was a box that said 2 years or more and we ticked that. It could be up to 3 years. Maybe more depending on DP's business.

In terms of what we do, I'm a legal professional. DP's work is all computer based, there's no production aspect or anything (and of course he still has business premises).

Have you been the first to view? I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't be suitable tenants based on what you've said. It could simply be a numbers game.

When DP and I were looking to rent (mid-Covid) we had similar issues but it wasn't that something was wrong with us. The good properties were already gone! Eventually we managed to get our current place but we literally set up alerts, got agents to email us first etc etc.

Have you tried asking your agents for their opinion

We have offered to pay up to 6 months rent up front, not all agents seem keen on this as apparently it can be seen as a sign of money laundering. So where there's been an option on the form we've said we could do it - where there's been no option to indicate an upfront payment we've not said anything.

Most of the properties we've viewed the tenants have been in for 12-18 months, one of them for only 6 months (I know because we saw it 6 months ago when we'd just started looking but just missed the viewing window, and then it was let). Leases are only for 12 months I think, so saying you plan to stay for longer than that is surely pretty arbitrary?

@user1497207191

If you've got savings, could you offer to prepay the rent, say a full year's upfront? That may make you more attractive to landlords.

I've seen landlords on here say several times that this is viewed as suspicious and they avoid potential tennants who offer this.

@Helloise exactly.
Our current property is frankly a little too big for our needs but it was the best at that time, and with a lowered rent due to Covid.
Everything else was snapped up, people even filled and sent forms out on the spot.

Also OP what kind of houses are you looking at?
What kindsa re you not?
You might have to settle for something not quite ideal

@notanothertakeaway

*I don't get this mindset that if you can on paper afford to buy a property, you SHOULD, and something is amiss if you don't. People have reasons for renting other than not having enough money*

@IntermittentParps Yes, absolutely, people have many valid reasons for choosing to rent. But, if the landlord doesn't know those reasons, then they may speculate and assume that there's a problem

They might be losing a very good potential tenant. It's a bit short-sighted/hard of thinking as an approach, IMO.

The only wanting to rent for two years would put me off personally. I would want to rent to someone who wanted it long term.

I'm a landlord and can't see anything in what you've said that would put me off at all. Are you sure it's not just a case of there being lots of applicants and luck of the draw you haven't got your application early enough? Otherwise, can you ask the agents if there is something specific that is flagged up as a concern? WFH may be an issue for insurance/mortgage reasons as there are usually clauses about the use of the property as a home only.

For what it's worth, I don't care what jobs my tenants have and I've had tenants in a range of jobs from baristas to nursery staff and cooks.

The agents all say that their process is viewings on X day or days (we've often attended and seen 1 viewer leaving, and then another arriving as we leave) and then application forms are collated together in the next day or two and sent en masse to the landlord.

This may not be correct, but it's what we've been told.

Last week we viewed 2, applied within 24 hours (and certainly before the 'closing date' ) were told on Friday the applications were all being sent to landlords, and then yesterday rejected by both.

The applications themselves take some time to complete, they're up to 8 handwritten pages each application (and 2 applications because there are 2 of us!). And then we have to scan and email them back.

We did apply to one agent which was an entire online form with DocuSign at the end, did that one in about 20 mins. Sadly they're not all like that!

I'm a landlord , I can't see a problem with your situation it must be a supply issue . Any problems with your references?

The agents wont discuss our applications at all - some agents do a pre vetting on their viewing list (Because they only let 5 people view to limit numbers of applications), when I asked why we'd not made a viewing list they said oh we don't know - keep trying.

Which is basically the same response we get when we ask about rejected applications.

We've not even got to the referencing stage, that comes after the application has been accepted. Indeed, on 3 of the 4 we've been rejected from, we weren't even asked for referees.

My first thought was your husbands business might be an issue, but now you have clarified that he has a registered office elsewhere it’s unlikely to be that.
It has never occurred to me to question prospective tenants who appear to be able to afford to buy. People choose to rent for all sorts of reasons, and normally at least a 5% deposit is required to buy, so it’s not always easy.
You have been offered one of the five properties you applied to rent. I would assume that more than 5 people applied for each property as the market is just crazy at the moment.
It is probably the case that several people are rejected for each property and you are one of the unlucky ones, rather than there being anything off putting in your case.

You don’t know how many others might have applied, you’ve been offered one so I’d say you’re not doing anything wrong, perhaps there are just three or four other people just as attractive as you each time you apply.

In my personal experience, I think the fact that you work from home is the issue since I know that some Landlord insurances and even tenancies specify the property not be used for business purposes. Also the fact that you are self employed is a slight disadvantage since it is harder to prove actual income compared to other tenants who have employers. I know it's not fair but that's just how it can be plus as the others have said, it's demand outstripping supply currently.

It might be because you are not currently living together, if your application shows two different addresses then it's obvious this is your first time living together. Some LLs might see that as less of a sure bet than a couple that's been together forever, has kids etc. (Not saying they should think that way, but they might)