In a tight rental market with scarce availability and high rents, getting approved for your dream apartment can be as hard as actually finding one that fits your budget.
If you keep finding yourself scouring rental listing and filling out applications only to get denied again and again, it might be time to change your strategy. Landlords establish tenant screening criteria to find themselves a qualified renter who will pay rent on time and take care of the property.
Here are the top 10 reasons your rental application is getting denied.
1. You didn’t act fast enough
While it might seem advantageous to look at as many available properties as possible, make a list of pros and cons and then submit an application to only your favorite, this strategy can waste valuable time. In a competitive rental market, an apartment may only be available for a couple hours. Renters should be ready to submit an application as soon as they find a place they like and are qualified for. Once you find a suitable rental property be ready to submit your application and have all the move-in fees available that day.
2. You didn’t act professional
It is important to remember that your landlord is running a business and your interactions with him should be professional. Even before you submit a rental application, your future landlord or property manager will treat all interactions with you as a pre-screening process, from emails, phone calls, and appointments. Always act courteous, professional and show up on time. If you are late, rude or sloppy, the landlord may choose not to rent to you because he has reason to believe you will not treat the property appropriately or your rental relationship with respect.
3. You didn’t follow directions
Did the rental advertisement ask you to call to set up an appointment, but instead you knocked on the door and disturbed the current tenants? Did the landlord ask for a copy of your driver’s license but didn’t submit one?
If you can’t follow the directions on a rental advertisement, your landlord has reason to believe that you will not follow the directions or rules outlined in a lease agreement. For this reason, your landlord can legally deny your rental application. Make sure to read directions carefully and show your respect for the landlord’s requests right away to set yourself up for a great landlord-tenant relationship.
4. You lied on your application
Never lie to your landlord about income, references, or your criminal background. Landlords and property managers have access to tools to check your employment, credit and criminal history. If you lie about anything on your rental application, a property manager or landlord will find out and deny you. Some lease agreements even state that a landlord has grounds to terminate a lease and move forward with an eviction if they discover that any information on a rental application was untrue after you were approved and moved in.
If you are worried that your criminal background or credit score will not get you approved for a rental house, you should be upfront with the landlord before they waste their time processing an application that will get denied. They may allow you to have a co-signer and still live in the rental home, but if they find out you lied, you are bound to get denied.
5. Your credit score is bad
Rental housing providers use your credit score as a major part of their tenant screening process to determine your financial responsibility and evaluate whether you will pay your rent on time. They look at your debt-to income ratio and if you have any outstanding bills. To a landlord, if you did not pay your power bill and it went to collections, that could mean you won’t pay your rent in the future.
If you credit score is bad, start taking steps to improve it now. You can also ask any future landlords if they will approve a co-signer or accept a higher security deposit.
6. You were convicted of a dangerous crime
It is illegal for a property manager or landlord to deny you rental housing for having a criminal record or simply for being arrested. However, you can be denied rental housing if you have been convicted of a dangerous crime that would put the property, community or other tenants at risk.
7. Your references didn’t check out
Landlords and property managers rely on references to verify your employment and rental background. If you provide your landlord with your employer’s name and phone number, they may Google the company and call the number listed online to double check the validity of the information you provided. If it turns out that you or the “reference” you listed to do not work, it will be a red flag that you lied and you will get denied.
Your future landlord will also call your past landlords or property managers to find out what you were like to rent to. They are looking for information on whether you paid rent on time, if you damaged or maintained the property, and if you ever caused any problems in general. If your past landlord give less than stellar references, there is a chance you will get your rental application denied.
8. You don’t make enough money
This requirements seems pretty straightforward, however, some renters still find themselves stretching a paycheck and applying for properties they cannot afford. While some landlords will list the income requirements on the rental advertisement, others just assume that renters will not apply for properties out of their price range.
The industry standard for income requirements is typically that a tenant needs to make 3x the asking rental price. While you may think your $3,000/monthly paycheck can completely cover your $1,200/monthly rent, your landlord will not and you will most likely get denied. To figure out how much you should be spending on rent, divide your monthly take-home paycheck by 3. Don’t forget to include utilities in this figure.
9. You have pets
Despite the fact that over 70% of renters have pets, the majority of rental properties do not allow pets in the property. If you have a pet, you rental application may get denied. Savvy landlords will look at your clothes to see if their is any pet hair on it or even request a home inspection of your current rental to double check that you do not have any pets. Never try to sneak in a pet, because you will get discovered and face an eviction.
Save pet ownership for when you own your own home, or only apply to properties that have a pet-friendly policy.
10. Your car is messy
Taking a casual peek in your car is a trick that some landlords employ to see how messy you are. If your car is full of clothes, fast food containers, toys, etc. it will tip off the landlord that you might be a very messy tenant and cause potential damage to the property, whether from excessive wear and tear, or an unintentional infestation from garbage accumulation. Remember to always present yourself in the best and most professional light possible and clean up your car before heading to an apartment showing.
Landlords want to get their property rented fast so they can start collecting rental income right away. But they will not do so at the risk of approving an unqualified renter. Make sure you stand out to your future landlord or property manager by taking steps to avoid all the rental application denial reasons above.
To learn more about how your landlord decides if you will be a qualified tenant check out this article on tenant screening red flags.
Looking in your vehicle? Surely this isn’t a common practise. If it is, my children and I will be living on the streets within the next month. I wonder how you imagine that???
Agreed. If you have kids, in general your car will not be as clean as a professional. I think this person who wrote has obtained information from perhaps a select few who would only rent to professionals. I can understand it, but I was a landlord and my dad is, I have never heard of that.
This writer is a complete Sharon. Sounds like a finicky landlord that absolutely no one would want to rent from. It’s ridiculous they let her write this. See if we have pet hair? check our apartments currently? She sounds psychotic, I rent in NYC and absolutely someone would sure anyone for these types of assumptions. ASSUMPTIONS. Shes dealing with small landlords who own a home and are unprofessional and very over judgey over their one property. I was about to rent thi beautiful apartment from a finicky landlord who said I spoke loudly and she has strict noise level rules after 9 pm(letting me know). No way and i saw that rental open for months! It was near where I was living. All these
rules sound like someone that is as presumptive to make these judgements that have nothing to do with references, or credit and income, like the same type that wouldnt rent illegaly over race gender or sexuality. YOU need a life Kaycee. Get the log unlodged and write a more honest and real piece.
“8. You don’t make enough money” Seriously, as if the amount you make every 2 weeks CURRENTLY is the only factor! What about all the money you have saved up! How long you’ve been at your job and a part of the workforce should carry more weight than this! Someone can make a lot less that THREE TIMES the monthly rent and still totally afford to live there! That rule sounds like it started off with some snobby landlord trying to keep out certain types if people unlike themselves. And then everyone started copying it. Ridiculous!!!!!!!!!
I completely agree with this comment. I make a bit more than what the numbers given in that example, and I could very well afford rent that’s half of the monthly income. If everyone went by monthly income divided by 3, then we’d all be homeless in NYC.
Hi Janet,
I wanted to provide some clarification on the income threshold used for rental applications. The income=3x monthly rent is for untaxed income, other wise, a landlord or property manager will use rent=50% of take home pay.
Kaycee, the wording in your article doesn’t reflect what you say here. It reads as 1/3 of your “take-home paycheck”, that implies post-tax, not pre-tax.
Tom, I re-read the information after seeing your comment. she actually said 3 times take home pay. I quote from the story:
“To figure out how much you should be spending on rent, divide your monthly take-home paycheck by 3. Don’t forget to include utilities in this figure.”
Kaycee provided clear information.
But there is no such law demanding 3x rent. Understandable at what a landlord’s perspective is, wants to ensure a tenant will be able to pay rent on time every month. However! What about all the people that are very good tenants, clean and pay rent on time no matter what? We are denied a rental unit and that leaves quite a few people either homeless, or what. Been searching and passed over due to this so called 3x’s the rent rule.
hi
Depends on the price of the rental. 3xs a $500 rent does not leave much for groceries or other living expenses, where as you could easily afford $1200 in rent and not have $3600 in wages if you have no car payments. It’s just one part of a larger puzzle.
my apartment complex had that rule it was 3x the rent for the month grossed. luckily i look for places that are 1/4 of my take home for the month just because i rather have more money in the end
That is a smart way to go about your housing budget. Good job!
The acceptable regulation that Estate agents use now is 3x the amount of rent. This may work in Malaysia or some other parts of the world, or even up North of England, however I think as usual, what the government has done is to use statistics nationally and incorporate them as standard throughout the Country. Which is nonsense as the gross median annual wage in inner London is £34-35k. As a whole in the UK it is £22-23k. It means that the average person can only afford to share working in London. The fact is and as it has been stated, the wage to living ratio in the UK is grossly in-balanced.
Income is the MOST important factor in renting an apartment… Income first credit score second. If you do not make enough money monthly to pay the rent it is a no brainer that you cannot afford the unit… If you have a bundle of cash you could possible get the apartment by paying the entire lease in one lump sum.. Otherwise you need to keep looking.
As a landlord, I would be hesitant to accept rent for an entire year. What if the tenant ends up violating the lease agreement. It would be harder to get them to legally move out since they have already prepaid to live there.
exactly i totally agree..that # 8 is bias.. like really
You could also have your bank or financial adviser provide a verification letter based on your net worth, etc.
I think my boyfriend and I potentially sound bad (or at least less than ideal for sure) on paper, so I’ve been trying to get someone to actually meet us so they can see we aren’t weird or slobs or something. Having bad luck so far, feels like people are just too lazy lol… On one hand I like lockboxes because I can really eyeball stuff if I’m alone in a house but it’s so impersonal, I feel like I’d be done already if I could just meet one of these people!
Bf’s my boss, but all of my old bosses are still good references if you just call them. I have a 60lb dog, but she’s really good, and quiet, and I have videos of her. Not cutesy ones (well aren’t they all though) but like laying on the porch with sirens type stuff. And I’m far from her first home. She’s a fence jumper so we have never even tried offleash and I don’t think we live AT ALL the way a landlord would envision lol. I actually think the dog’s my biggest trouble and no one has asked me further questions even though I’ve offered it up, like I’m a heckin strict dog mom, she gets spoiled but has to be good ya know. My credit might not be great but the only debt I have is <3k on a student loan- I've paid rent on time for 7yrs straight in an apartment where they give you a 10 day eviction notice for nonpayment on day 6 of being late, like some other stuff might not be okay BECAUSE I'ma make sure I have a roof over my head with my ac on and hot water before I care about a student loan that won't even garnish me or a phone bill. And my 2nd ever landlord from when I was 19-22 is also still a reference. I moved out at 18 and at 29 I only have two landlords so I feel like that's pretty good! <— No application can tell all of this, and it's not really stuff that necessarily comes out right in emails or quick texts. It's not even necessarily stuff that you always have an opportunity to share at all, for whatever reason, I'm just commenting here because I'm frustrated after 1mo of searching with another month left before things get panicky haha.
If they could see me- not covered in dog hair- then it's clearer that I probably won't destroy a home. My car looks a little beat up from the outside (it's an 03 and it's seen things) but to my horror my coworkers have already checked the inside and told me how shocked they were that it's all clean inside, so I guess that's good to go too. One or two face to face showings and I bet we'd have a place, especially if bf came because people love his annoying butt. Northern Arizona is killing my freakin sanity right now
I would suggest creating a renter resume. You can really highlight your strengths and come off super responsible to a landlord. Here are some tips: https://www.rentecdirect.com/blog/rental-resume-how-to-make-a-landlord-want-you/
I just don’t understand the INCOME RESTRICTED nonsense. I saw an apartment for $900 in a nice area. I was DENIED because I make OVER the 3x’s requirement! WHAT?! I can more than afford the rent. I pay ON TIME in my rental history where I pay $1300 a month. I have been at my place of employment for over 20+ years. I have NO arrest record. My credit score is 700+. But I make too much to be a renter because lower income wage earner(s) are given preference?! How, HOW can this be?! This is grossly unfair. I want to live comfortably and NOT struggle to pay ever increasing rental places I am expected to rent as I do have other financial obligations. A lower rental place would be better, but I can’t get it because I earn more than enough to afford the rent. How is this even allowed?!
That doesn’t make any sense to me either.
All of the above tips sound silly, but No.9 and No.10 really stand out!
They simply prove how superficial, slimy and unprofessional real estate agents are. But what makes me furious is that we rely on incompetent and, usually, impolite people for our housing.
I’m sorry but inspecting people’s clothing??? Seems beyond ridiculous. If you were my potential landlord and asked to inspect my clothes I’d be furious, I think you landlords forget renters have rights too and inspecting my clothes for fur would be one sure fire way to not get my business.
One question I have is this. I keep seeing places with rent of (for example) $925 a month but security deposit is $1900. Why is the deposit 2 times the rent? I don’t understand.
Hi Sarah, what a great question. The security deposit creates a buffer for the loss of rent if a tenant breaks a lease and moves out early without notice as well as for any cleaning and damages. Some states allow landlords to set their own deposit amount as well as collect the last month’s rent up front, and other states have limits.
3 tenants already rent the property my credit is better then them I was added to contract and they did a new contract and had us pay additional deposit told us I was approved on march 2nd I moved in the 7th. Then the 18th suddenly we are all not approved we even already paid the rent and were approved for 16 days. how can they play games like this. and no we have no complaints or anything against us. the other tenants have been here years and never missed a payment to them. I do not believe they can justify this. this is in michigan
Denying someone after they move-in seems odd. Housing providers are required to provide an adverse action letter to rental applicants whose applications were denied during the tenant screening process. However, now that you’ve moved in, your lease agreement (contract) should indicate reasons for revoking that approval such as a lease violation or falsifying information on the application. From there, each state has different regulations for how a landlord should move forward to revoke the approval and void the new contract — so, I would highly suggest you contact your local housing authority to learn about your tenant rights in this circumstance.
What does it mean in an apartment complex give you a maybe
So my landlord and I had an argument because he didn’t like where I parked and I tired many times that I have nowhere else to park so he in turn would plow big piles of snow next to my vehicle and have his maintenance clowns come by with leaf blowers and blow dirt, sand , salt and ice at my vehicle when it hadn’t snowed for a week . I yelled at one of his workers for doing so and the landlord called me saying that I hit this kid and called the police on me . Really ? I am not a violent person and know I see he was just setting me up because the cop gave me a citation for disorderly conduct which I am going fight in court. Then I received a 28 day notice to vacate my apartment . And of course having the disorderly show when a possible landlord looks up my record they won’t want me to rent from them . Is any of this eve. Legal. I suffer from deep depression , anxiety and ptsd and I haven’t had any piece and quiet since I moved into this place because they always rent the apartment above me to the biggest low life’s they can find !!! This landlord needs to be behind bars as far as I’m concerned!!!! What cab I do ?‽
what about being denied if my previous apartment had a history of sliight uncleanness
The application process includes contacting former landlords to ask about how the applicant maintained the home and abided by the rental agreement and rules. If it was untidy enough for the previous landlord to call attention to it during the application process or if they had given you notices or lease violations on that issue, than it could be a cause for concern and subject to the application being denied.
I submitted rental application online on the website when it is available, Apartment managment took more than 30 days by holiding the application and not giving me proper reasons for delay, finaly they came and said that , the apartment unit i applied for still need maintanance and they offred me one more unit which i am not interested. can i take any legal action ?
Vera, I can only speak to my opinion and experience and not to any legal concerns you may have so I suggest you contact your local housing authority or research laws in your state regarding landlord regulations for processing applications as those vary by state.
But from my experience, it can take some time to process background checks and hear back from employment and rental references so that might account for the delay. Or, perhaps they anticipated the maintenance on the original unit to be completed sooner but ran into supply or labor delays that were unavoidable. As the unit is unavailable, it seems fair they offer another unit for your consideration. I believe applications are for residency approval but not necessarily a guarantee of a specific unit. Perhaps you can counter and ask if you can wait until the original unit is ready? I hope that is helpful.
This post exemplifies exactly how horrible landlords are. Every shady, sneaky thing about it.