Rental References & applicant unsuccessful

That is kind of you to call. What is your dialogue like? Do you find people are understanding and appreciate a phone call back? Why do you call and not just email? I'm interested to understand the mentality, that's why I ask.

 

Honestly, sometimes I've been blasted and I just decide I've dodged a bullet. There's no need to be rude and if you are, you will never rent a property through me.

Most people though just say "no worries, thank you so much for getting back to me" this is because most don't call or don't even advise them they've been unsuccessful. Some ask for feedback too, if I believe they'd make good tenants and just need some help presenting their application I give them the advice I can. If they've applied for a popular property I say just that. If their application is awful they will get the generic "no reason".

I usually just call and say "Hi it's Samantha from XXX, I was calling in regards to your application on XXX. I wanted to let you know that unfortunately at this stage your application has been unsuccessful, however should anything change I will be in touch." If it's a good app and I have a similar property I refer on, or provide feedback as above.

 

That's a fear of mine = getting blasted. Think I would be beside myself to be honest. I can see where you are coming from regarding the application representation and how it could be better but could be considered discrimination as you did not accept them on the basis of their application not being so great? Would it just be wise to just say, no reason at all given times.

 

I think if you're in any industry dealing with any other person you're always going to have the risk of being blasted. You get pretty thick skin quickly, but sometimes it does hurt.

It's not discriminatory if you're telling them to provide more information. I often say things like attach a cover letter, make sure you attach all your photo ID, proof of income etc. The feedback I give is either common sense or a way of going above and beyond to stand out - not anything to do with their ethnicity, income, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, what they ate yesterday etc.

Again, I only give this feedback to people I believe would make good tenants. Often these are people moving out of home for the first time or moving interstate, both groups of people don't know how the system works and are eager for the feedback.

The ones that were rude at the inspection, over the phone or have poor rental history will always get a generic "sorry".

If you do want to be overly cautious you could run with a generic response regardless, but I find a lot of people appreciate the extra touch (especially when they're new to it) and I would probably recommend to anyone just starting out to roll with the generic response until you have a reasonable gut feeling towards people.

I've been threatened discriminatory action before, both times they were given the generic response. Both times the only common factor was that they had poor rental history which is their own damn fault.

 

At first I didn't like getting blasted, but now I actually get a little kick from it. It affirms that we made the right decision by not picking them- ESPECIALLY the ones that were nice as pie when they applied!