How to stand out on your rental application

Finding a rental property can be exciting but also stressful and exhausting! Nailing your rental application will make the process a little bit less stressful and allow you to enjoy looking for your perfect place. Once you’ve found the place for you, you’ll want to put your best foot forward to impress the agent and make the property yours.

Here are 5 easy steps to assist you with your application

Be organised!

Ensure everyone who will be living in the rental are organised before you head to the inspections. Many other couples inspecting the property will have perfect applications with excellent references and their bond ready to go.

To help the agent, you should have copies of all the required documents ready to give to them when inspecting the property. You can often request an application form from the agent before inspecting the property, have this filled out ready to go; it not only shows that your organised but that you are super keen to rent the property.

The documents you will mostly need to submit with your application are:

• Primary photo ID: Driver’s licence, Passport, Keypass, Proof of Age
• Secondary ID: Birth Certificate, Student ID Card, Medicare Card, Vehicle Registration, Health Care Card
• Rental history/ proof of address: Rental Receipts, Signed Lease, Utility Bill, Bank Statements, Rental Reference
• Employment/ Proof of Income: Payslips, Letter of Employment, Employment Reference.

References

Ensure you have checked with your current references, both personal and professional, before submitting your application with their personal contact details. Give them the heads up and make sure they are comfortable receiving a call from the agent.

Make an excellent first impression through your enthusiasm.

If you are really interested in a property, make sure you show that you are keen. To make an excellent first impression, be organised with all the relevant documents, be on time for the inspection and introduce yourself. Ask any questions that weren’t on the listing; this will show them that you are interested in every aspect of the property. Make it clear to the agent that you are interested by telling them what you like about the property and when you can move in. You want to stand out to the agent if they receive lots of applications, they will remember your enthusiasm and conversations with you. This will boost your application to the top of their pile.

Offer more

Another way to stand out is to offer to pay two or three months’ rent in advance. This shows the landlord and agent that you are reliable with your financial position and that you’re smart with money. If you are set on a place and want to win over the landlord, offer to pay more rent each month, it doesn’t have to be a large amount, it could be $25- $50 more each month.

If you have previous rent history, attaching a reference letter from your previous landlord are a highly rated document to agents. This shows that you are reliable, trustworthy, and consistent with paying rent.

Chase up your application

To show you are interested in following up with your application’s progress, you can do this through email or phone call. Ask them if they need any further information or documents and see if they have any questions regarding your application. Doing this puts you at the front of the agent’s mind and shows that you are genuinely interested.

Once your application is successful, make sure you have the bond and first months’ rent ready to go when you sign the lease.