How to say no to prospective tenants?

[Learningtosayno]

Got a BTL flat. I advertised it yesterday and I've had lots of interest so far. I have four separate viewings tomorrow and they all seem keen.

It looks like I may need to turn some of the tenants down. How do I do this tactfully?

I have autism btw.

Is there one you like and want to take forward, or are you still looking for an even more suitable tenant?

We use a 'pre-screening' questionnaire which helps to filter out those who are high risk, disorganised, uninsurable etc.

You just need to let anyone you're not interested in know with some suitable line like:

"thanks for your interest but we've decided to progress the tenancy with another interested party. I'll let you know if that falls though"

What's hard is if you have several people interested, but don't feel comfortable with any of them and want to keep looking for alternatives. In that situation I will say that I offer a 'fair access' policy which allows all interested parties to view over a specific time frame e.g. a week, before making a decision.

From a land lord perspective I agree with PP
"thanks for your interest but we've decided to progress the tenancy with another interested party. I'll let you know if that falls though"
or we are considering our options and will get back to you in xx time to let you know if we would like to take it to the next stage

From a renters point of view ( ime) when I have seen a place come on the market and asked about it to be told its already been rented then see it still on the market a few days weeks and even months later I always ( perhaps wrongly ) us to think it was due to the LL been unreasonable with the rules / request / deposit /or the house was not as described / had lots of faults etc .

So which ever approach you take , make it clear why and honest why it is no longer available , if you are still struggling to give a reason , you could always use the 1st come 1st served rule

Sorry that last bit may not be clear So which ever approach you take , make it clear why and honest why it is no longer available ,if you are still struggling to give a reason , you could always use the 1st come 1st served rule

The person you are telling they can not have the house / flat doesnt know that they were / were not the first person to ask about it so you can say it was rented to the person that asked before them

E mail. “Thank you so much for your interest and coming to view. We had a lot of interest and we have let it to another applicant. Sorry if this is bad news, best of luck finding somewhere.”

I send an email to say:

"The property has now been let, subject to checks and references. Thank you very much for your interest, and I wish you the best of luck with your search. Would you like me to contact you if the current applicant is no longer proceedable?"

Most of them won't reply but a few will and say that yes please they'd like to know if it becomes available again - only once has it happened where the checks failed ànd it went to the next person but I do keep notes!