Organizing a flat viewing: What you need to know

Whether you are a landlord yourself or are looking for a next tenant in your landlord’s place – the worst-case scenario is choosing an unreliable person. That’s why it’s important to take your time when looking for a new tenant. During a flat viewing, the landlord and the potential tenant get a first personal impression of each other. We compiled some tips for you on how to organize a flat viewing and avoid mistakes, so you can find your new tenant stress-free.

Planning a flat viewing 

Before you even advertise your flat online, you should already think about the viewing and decide on a date and time. If the property is still occupied at that time, make sure to coordinate the viewing appointments with your current tenant. When you agreed upon several appointments with your current tenant, state the date and the approximate time, like afternoon or evening, in the ad text. When contacting you, interested parties can already indicate on which of these appointments they are available for a viewing.

After advertising your property, you will get numerous applications. At this point it is already important to ask yourself: “Which type of tenant am I looking for?” Sort out the applications. This means: Not every applicant will be invited to a flat viewing. Your goal is to find a suitable tenant, not just any tenant. You wish for an unproblematic tenancy and you are looking for a person you can trust. Someone who takes good care of the flat and possible furniture. You can already derive first indications from the cover letter. Is your name spelled correctly? Is the application written in a polite way and did the writer make an effort when formulating it?

When you’ve decided which applicants you want to get to know better, the next step is inviting them to the viewing. Formulate a short, friendly template in which you thank the applicant for his or her message. Make specific appointment suggestions in your email and state an exact time, and plan a time window of approximately 30 minutes for each applicant. Ask for a reply along with an appointment confirmation. Also make sure to only invite one prospective tenant per viewing. It is important to take enough time for your own questions as well as theirs and to also schedule a short tour through the flat.

The flat has to be clean and tidy for the viewing. If the property is still rented, ask the current tenant to clean up the flat. This completes the planning of your flat viewing.

Procedure of a flat viewing 

After welcoming the applicant, start with a short tour through the flat. Make the applicant aware of the flat’s specific features. Be open to his or her interposed questions. After the tour you can explain the things that are important to you as a landlord. Ask your applicant to briefly introduce herself/himself in a bit more detail. What else do you want to know? Interesting points would be, for example, the intended rental period or the reason of moving. If you have a good relationship with your current tenant, then he or she can manage the flat viewing as well and make a preliminary decision. So you yourself only need to meet the best three applicants and decide who will get the commitment.

Ask the applicant to give you a callback during the following days on whether they are still interested (or not). If the interested party answers immediately the next day, you can be sure that they really are interested in the flat and don’t see your property as a second or third choice. Otherwise, there is a risk that the applicant may bail if they get an acceptance from their desired object. At this point you may already have rejected the other interested parties and you’re back at the beginning, looking for a trustworthy tenant again.

Making the right decision 

After getting to know each other personally and exchanging a lot of information, you surely won’t find it difficult to decide. Which candidate did you like the best? Who did you keep in mind? With whom did you connect immediately? Even though sympathy plays an important role, please do not forget to check their financial background before concluding the contract – like asking them to show you their employment contract or the last three pay slips. In general, you should get to know the prospective tenant very well. For example you can contact their former landlord and ask him about his experiences with the tenant. When you’ve come to a decision, remember to inform all applicants.

You don’t want to rent out a flat but you’re living in a flatshare and are currently looking for a new flatmate? We’ve compiled some information for you on how to organize a flatshare viewing in another article.