Pretty much just the title. I keep getting rejected for flats I can comfortably afford. I have a feeling it’s because I’m a first year student despite being in my late 20s, having worked since school to accumulate plenty of savings and having rented for years already. Now I’m starting to wonder if it’s something else, but I’m concerned I’ll sour my relationship with the agencies if I start pestering them about this. Obviously I get it when they say the landlord’s gone with someone else, but when the properties still up on rightmove with an availability date that’s been and gone, getting a rejection stings.
8 comments
You don’t really have to consider their feelings or that you’re pestering them, they are there to make money off of you.
You are only speaking to them to find somewhere that means you can pay them loads of dosh.
Emotions shouldn’t come into it.
Chances are you’ve nailed it already – they don’t want to let to a student as it creates extra headaches.
They’ve already declined you so you’ve got nothing to lose by asking. They’ll probably ignore you though because rental agencies suck even at the best of times. If you can offer 6 months of rent up front I’d think you’d have a better chance than going monthly as a mature student.
There’s a difference between pestering and asking, there’s no harm in asking but you might annoy people if you repeatedly keep arguing once you have your answer.
I think being a student is likely to be off-putting if you’re not applying to specific student accommodation. If you have enough savings to rent then you might want to suggest paying your rent up front, which should help.
Lots of agencies will never put a student in their own flat, because they also have student properties or house shares, where they can make 3x normal rent on the building while giving you little more than a room.
It’s acceptable, but I think it’s pointless. In all likelihood, you are a perfectly acceptable prospect, and would get the tenancy if you were the only candidate. However most rentals are getting multiple applications right now, so landlords are going with people who appear a better prospect, perhaps because they’re not students, perhaps for some other reason. An easy way to make yourself more appealing is to offer to pay a few months upfront, since you can afford this.
I would ignore what you’re seeing on Rightmove – rentals can stay up on there for a while for all sorts of reasons, intentional and unintentional.
You can ask, but given how bad they are at replying even under the best circumstances not sure that you’ll get a reply.
The way the market is at the moment most flats in Rightmove have already gone by the time you see them, and there’s no urgency for the agents to remove them.
You can ask if you failed the credit check – that’s a factual thing they might tell yku
Because the market for student rentals is independent from the rest of the rental market.
You’re likely applying for flats where landlords specify no students or will only rent to full-time workers.
It’s perfectly acceptable to ask the agency though.