The difficulty of finding rental housing is aggravated by the increase in the cost of mortgage credit, which leads many citizens to give up on being owners, and the departure of thousands of properties from the long-term rental market. In the last year, according to a recent report from the Appraisal Society, access to housing has plummeted by 25%, which is turning the process of searching for a rental apartment into a crossroads, especially in large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona and their surroundings.
The main obstacle in large cities and their metropolitan areas is the price, although there are others, such as the lack of supply, which nearly 40% of applicants claim to encounter. The group that suffers the most is the vulnerable, comments María Matos, Director of Studies at Fotocasa, since "they find themselves in a very compact market in which there is little turnover of tenants, where the search process is lengthened and where each time It's harder to access."
Another obstacle to overcome are the requirements imposed by the homeowners, which according to the real estate portal complicates the search for 38% of tenants. The feeling of lack of supply materializes, for example, when several people are summoned at the same time to visit a property. A type of housing marketing "that causes conditions to be accepted that in other circumstances would not be accepted" and that are sometimes abusive and even illegal - such as the collection of agency fees -, comments Enric Aragonès, spokesperson for the Sindicat. by Llogateres. In these cases, although there is little room for negotiation, it is advisable to accumulate documentary evidence that will allow you to claim later.
Added to this is the duration of the contracts - a minimum of five years - which, according to Aragonés, causes the tenant to sometimes give up asking for a repair in the home - for example, a broken boiler - in case the landlord He gets angry and doesn't renew the contract. "The analogy with the labor market is perfectly understood," he adds, since "if you have a temporary contract you will claim fewer labor rights" for fear of losing your job.
For all these reasons, looking for a rental apartment, the sources consulted acknowledge, has become for many a company similar to that of aspiring for a job, in which the candidate must display his charms and boast a good resume to have more chances of end up being the one who ultimately wins the day. But what are the requirements most valued by owners when selecting their tenant? Above all, they are quantitative, although objective criteria are not always applied.
Logically, the first requirement is to have sufficient income to be able to cover the rent. For this reason, Antonio Carroza, president of Safe Rental, advises tenants to aspire to homes whose rents are in line with their economic situation. Specifically, no more than 35% of income should be used to pay rent.
In addition, the tenant must have savings to cover the initial outlay of accessing an apartment through rent. It is estimated that 37% of plaintiffs have difficulty meeting this expense, which normally includes the deposit and one month's rent. Thus, for an apartment of 700 euros per month, 1,400 euros would be needed. Amount that may be higher when a company specialized in rental management is involved. For example, Rental Insurance explains that they charge an additional security deposit to the deposit held by the company itself.
Real estate agencies and companies specialized in rental management are increasingly using the “scoring” system to rate the solvency of housing seekers. This is where the importance of having a good credit reputation lies. Appearing in a delinquency file will have a high probability of being eliminated from the selection process, so it is recommended to resolve this problem as soon as possible, or to justify in a documented manner the reason why it is included in this type of file, since which can sometimes be due, Carroza clarifies, to "conflicts with a company" due to non-payment, for example, of an improper invoice.
Professionals specialized in selecting tenants usually require the following documentation: employment contract, payroll – the last three – and sometimes also guarantees and bank transactions, which according to the Sindicat de Llogateres would violate the privacy of the tenant.
Rental Insurance argues, however, that "personal data is not analyzed, but rather a summary of the account activity that the tenant provides." The computer tool, they continue, would detect "extraordinary income that the plaintiff has overlooked, financing that erodes financial solvency, refunds of receipts, as well as the ability to save, among other factors."
“It depends on the profession. There are certain professionals who have a lot of job stability without having a permanent contract. If you are a telecommunications engineer and you are not yet permanent, it is very likely that the scoring will give you a better score than if you are an administrator with a permanent contract and earn a very low salary,” answers Carroza. Therefore, employment temporality is taken into account but is not decisive.
On the other hand, the professionals involved in the selection process usually make sure that no falsified data is provided. Another aspect that is usually assessed is whether the income declared is similar each month or if there are large fluctuations in the amounts received.
Going well dressed when visiting an apartment for rent does not give you more points to establish yourself as the perfect candidate. "It is not considered objective data," Carroza asserts, while reasoning that many selection processes are done electronically and the visit to the home is in charge of a salesperson who belongs to a department other than the one that makes the selection of the properties. candidates. In this regard, it reiterates that physical appearance is not a reliable requirement for choosing a good tenant, as demonstrated by the phenomenon of "inquiokupación", a modus vivendi in which the tenant often poses as a businessman or great professional. , and to be convincing he may even provide falsified documents, for example, letters of recommendation from other owners, who are really his cronies.
Some individuals may require letters of recommendation from former landlords, "but not specialized companies," answers Carroza. The reason is that they do not consider it a very reliable document, especially considering that sometimes there is a reason behind signing the letter that has nothing to do with a selfless act. “There have been cases in which the landlord has signed the letter for the tenant to leave,” she explains.
Remember, also, that individuals often use their “sixth sense” and allow themselves to be carried away by subjective assessments, such as physical appearance, when selecting a tenant, since they do not have tools that analyze "objective" data. and contrastable".
In this sense, the spokesperson for the Llogateres Union Enric Aragonès recalls that there are also implicit conditions when offering an apartment for rent, "such as racist discrimination or being a single-parent family", as a study revealed two years ago. sociology of Barcelona City Council, which concluded that 62% of the real estate agents consulted agreed to discriminate against tenants based on their origin or ethnicity.
