Landlord makes bombshell renting revelation

An Australian landlord has revealed the surprising and discriminatory reasons renters aren’t considered for a property.

A new landlord has shed light on the surprising — and sometimes discriminatory — biases that mean some renters aren’t even considered for a property.

The landlord in Melbourne revealed that 18 prospective tenants had applied to rent out their newly available apartment, but only two had been short-listed for consideration.

“None had offered more than asking (price),” they wrote on Reddit, meaning other factors had been used to determine which applicant would be an ideal tenant — all without the landlord’s knowledge.

Have a similar story? Get in touch — [e-mail]

Apartment owner revealed 18 applicants had applied to rent out their place and only two were short-listed because “none had offered more than asking”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“That means 16 didn’t even get put in front of us,” the landlord wrote.

“To me this is very unsettling for renters to not even be shown to prospective landlords and that REAs (real estate agents) have a lot of power.

“We picked one of two without asking for the others — my SO (significant other) isn’t one to push here and it’s their apartment.

“I would have but even then, we would have had 17 unlucky applicants.”

The new landlord said they wanted to share their experience after reading many stories about the difficulty of finding a rental, as some Aussies face homelessness due to a record tight market.

The national rental vacancy was at its lowest on record in August last year, at just 0.9 per cent.

A long line of people waiting to inspect rental accommodation. Picture: Chris Pavlich/The Australian

Laurence Troy, a lecturer in urbanism at the University of Sydney, said data was limited on the topic, but renters could expect that their applications would be whittled down “every single time”.

“At least of a few applications — probably most of them — will be axed based on any kind of metric the estate agent has cooked up to determine whether the tenant passes a certain threshold,” Dr Troy told news.com.au.

“They probably see it as part of their job to filter out what they think are the best applications … Of course, what they decide is best may not align with what the property owner wants.”

The decision of who would be axed could come down to obvious factors such as income and rental history, but less obvious factors were also at play — including pet ownership, family size and marital status, Dr Troy said.

Renters are having to offer above the asking price to secure properties. Picture: iStock

In some cases, he added, race could play a role. A slew of Australian studies have found that, though racial discrimination is illegal, applicants with ethnic-sounding names are often less likely to be considered for a property.

Sophia Maalsen, secretary of Shelter NSW, said real estate agents often have a preference for single women, believing them to be “less risky in terms of damage to a property, compared with single men”.

It was the “only area” in which women had an advantage, she said.

“Single parents with children have a particularly hard time,” Dr Maalsen told news.com.au.

“Women who have been victims of domestic violence — which can be inferred due to a rocky rental history, periods living in a shelter, or living at addresses where there have been domestic disputes — are also frequently rejected.”

Single parents and domestic violence survivors may also be less likely to be considered. Picture: iStock.

Some agents, Dr Maalsen said, even tapped data such as utility payment history and social media activity. One Queensland firm even asks prospective tenants to fill out personality questionnaires.

“A lot of this bias is unconscious, so it’s extremely difficult to legislate against,” Dr Maalsen added.

“I’m quite cynical, because it’s just so difficult to find a rental right now. There’s very little tenants can do beyond fitting these hyper-specific criteria.”

The landlord who took to Reddit admitted they still didn’t know what factors caused their own applications list to be whittled down so dramatically.

“Maybe it’s more money, maybe it’s a sparkling personality,” they wrote.

“Maybe it’s calling after an application to see what they can do in future and therefore maybe get offered something else.

“Good luck to everyone looking! I really hope we find a solution to this problem quick smart.”

Many tenants offer more money just to get ahead. Picture: iStock.

Several users responded with stories of how they managed to get ahead.

“We had made an offer on a place once when the agent called us up to tell us that someone else had made another offer, and would we like to re-offer,” one user wrote.

“Asked, do you mean start bidding? No thanks. Congrats to the landlord and the new tenants.”

Rent bidding is illegal in many Australian jurisdictions, but only if it is solicited by an agent or landlord. Prospective tenants are still welcome to offer to pay more of their own volition.

“Wife and I have had to do it (rent bid) several times when trying to secure a rental to stand out, and on the previous two places pretty sure it’s what got us over the line,” another user replied.

“It’s c**p that we even have to think about doing it, but when you see 20-odd families going through that inspection, it’s every family for themselves and we’ll do whatever we can to ensure we keep a roof over our kid’s heads.

Pet owners, parents and people with ethnic-sounding names can also be knocked out of the running due to bias. Picture: Sarah Matray

“We just moved again and were actually told by REA that they wouldn’t accept more than the offering, but that landlords were looking for very specific kind of tenant (which thankfully turned out to be us in this instance — i.e. large family, young kids).”

“Same over here. I felt like such an a**e, like ‘we are part of the problem,’ but we were desperate,” added a third.

Dr Troy recommended that renters who find themselves repeatedly rejected ask real estate agents for feedback.

“Talk to the listing agent and be very frank. Ask exactly what you’re doing that could mean you’re being overlooked,” he said.

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t address the underlying problem — that hundreds of people are showing up to these viewings in the first place. But it does mean you have a better shot at housing yourself in the meantime.”

Have a similar story? Get in touch — [e-mail]