Let’s face it, finding a good rental in today’s market often feels like a tiring game of musical chairs, where properties are snatched up faster than you can blink. As a renter myself in Sydney for the last six years, I can honestly say the house hunt lately is pretty much a nightmare.
From tracking down listings and keeping up with inspections, it’s like a part-time job you’re not being paid for. Research even suggests the average person spends around eight hours per week looking for a property, with one in two renters needing to attend at least four inspections (!!) before finding a suitable home.
So, with the end of my own lease approaching this month (sob), I decided to get on the front foot and find out — why do applications really get rejected? And is there anything I could be doing better in this hot mess of a market?
What are ‘red flags’ in my application?
The path to securing a rental can feel like a minefield and rejections seem arbitrary, more often than not. But, speaking to property experts about what TF is going on here, there’s a couple of common themes that come up.
Missing paperwork
One of the biggest mistakes — and this probably feels like a no-brainer — is simply not presenting a complete and organised application. This means not waiting to add documents like payslips, references, and rental history, and making sure all people on the application turn in their paperwork asap.
Put it this way: you don’t want to be the one an agent has to follow-up for documents, by which time someone else probably already got the green light. (Side note: it’s the reason I always try to apply the very evening after the inspection, not that that’s always guaranteed success.)
“The most common mistakes property managers see are incomplete applications and missing supporting documents. This makes it difficult to process the application and may cause delays,” Nikoletta Pal, property management business development executive at Ray White NSW/ACT, told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
Not the right ‘fit’
Another common reason you might get rejected is plain old suitability — stuff like whether the place is the right size, in the right spot, or accessible enough. According to Pal, suitability is actually one of the top three things landlords care about, right up there with whether you can afford it and what your references say.
“While we would presume that applicants only apply for properties that suit their needs, in reality that’s not always the case. For example, a studio apartment may not be a good fit for a larger family, a property without a backyard may not be suitable for someone with large animals,” she explained.
“The reason landlords would want to find a good fit is to encourage longer tenancies and avoid the stress having to move more frequently.”
So, if you haven’t already, it could actually help to explain when you apply why the property suits you — is it closer to your workplace? Do you have connections in the area, like your friends or your gym? Have you lived in the area before? Why would this property make sense for you?
Alice Stolz, national property editor at Domain, agreed applications that tend to do well are the ones that have an understanding or respect for the area.
“That might sound really silly, but we do see people say things like ‘I lived in a neighboring area and I’ve long loved the suburb’ or ‘I’ve just started a new job working in a city and I want to be near a train station’. When you add a bit of flavour to it, add a bit of detail about what sort of person you are, that will definitely put you in good stead,” she observed.
Stretching your budget
Affordability is a big one too, because property managers want to see that you can actually cover the rent, without living off instant noodles. )Which is a miracle given the bonkers prices in this market).
So that means showing proof of income, like pay slips, Stolz said, and sticking (roughly) to spending no more than 30 per cent of your income on rent.
“An agency doesn’t want someone to be experiencing rental stress. They don’t want it on behalf of the property owner and they also have a responsibility not to be putting people in situations where they’re going to experience [it],” explained Stolz. “No one wants a situation where there has to be an eviction based on the fact that someone’s not paying rent.”
She added: “Sometimes people will say ‘perhaps I’ll rent out that room in the front area if I needed to’ or ‘I might be lucky enough to have my parents kick in a bit of rent’. However, what the agent wants to see is reliable income, all the funds there and now, not hypotheticals that may not actually eventuate.”
Around 45 per cent of renters have reported increased financial stress in the last two years, according to the Real Property Report 2025. And with all the increases we’ve been seeing, it’s no wonder almost half of renters have now seen a reduction in their savings.
Unfortunately — and this is a pretty bitter pill to swallow — it means an application for that property out of your price range isn’t likely to get approved.
“I do think now, often people who are earning that little bit more are often the preferred tenant because of that reliability of income there, and we know that Australian wages have not kept pace with rents, mortgages, or even house prices for that matter. It’s unfortunate that many people have been penalised because of that,” Stolz said.
How can I improve my rental application?
For those of us not expecting to get a raise or a flashy new job any time soon, there are a couple of little things we could be doing better, according to the experts. And if that means not having to attend one more crowded inspection, I’m so in.
Flexing your ‘About Me’ section
First things first: don’t sleep on that awkward little ‘about me’ section. It might feel like a pointless “tell us about yourself” to restate the obvious from all your paperwork, but most people aren’t using it to their advantage.
“We don’t want to necessarily have a novel, but something more than a sentence or two, to summarise the person, the friendship, whatever [the household] might look like. Maybe why this property is going to be really suitable for you, why you’re moving out, really trying to answer any questions that landlords might have,” explained Jay Jacob-Green, new business manager at Buxton Real Estate Group.
Why does that matter? Because, as he puts it, it’s a reasonably fast-moving market “so the more information I give my clients on one phone call, that’s going to empower them to make a much faster decision.”
And if the reason you’re moving out is a rent increase (been there!), Jacob-Green believes this doesn’t have to feel like a petty detail to disclose. “There’s obviously a bit of diplomacy to have in that conversation, but I actually wouldn’t look at it as a negative thing. For me, it shows that somebody is smart enough to balance their finances, which is a green flag.”
Really highlight your reliability
So, what are landlords actually looking for? Two things, mostly: tenants who pay rent on time and don’t trash the place. “Trying to clearly demonstrate your reliability in an application is obviously going to be your strong suit there,” Jacob-Green said.
That could be as simple as making your application straightforward easy to verify, like using official company email addresses and giving references a heads up to expect a call. For those of us coming from overseas, it could also mean attaching your visa or work rights documentation, to streamline any questions later.
While not mandatory, adding more references, from say teachers, mentors, or organisations that you’re a part of, could help an application, according to Ray White’s Pal.
“Personal and character reference can help in two ways. It can be a great addition to the application, strengthening it by demonstrating that the applicant will likely be a responsible tenant, and it can be very helpful when someone doesn’t have rental references but still wants to provide evidence about their character and the likelihood that they will make a good tenant,” she explained.
“Questions are usually how long the person knew the applicant for, their personal attributes. Generally speaking, landlords would most likely favour applicants with references which indicates reliability and a responsible character.”
She added: “It’s favourable when an applicant has a history of either looking after a property in the past or in lieu of rental history, the applicant is known to be someone who is responsible and likely to care for their surroundings.”
Make an impression at inspections
Even with a rock-solid application and great references, sometimes what could get you over the line is simply how you show up in person. (And no, we’re not talking about awkward chit-chat or overdoing it.)
“Whether that’s on the application or just an open-for-inspection… just being genuine and memorable helps, when all those applications come through,” Jacob-Green said.
At a typical inspection, most people might not get beyond providing their name and number, and that’s so fair given the 20 other people lining up to check out the home.
But according to Jacob-Green, the tiniest bit of friendly small talk can stick in an agent’s memory for later on.
“You do remember it,” he said. “I might not even be able to reciprocate as much if there’s so much going on, but you do remember it.”
Add a personal touch
Another way to stand out? Adding some colour and details about yourself in the application, Domain’s Stolz observed.
“I don’t believe in overloading your application because they’re getting lots of applications, you don’t want to make it tiresome for them to go through all that,” she told P.TV. But if you’ve got additional considerations, like maybe a cute lil’ pet, it could help to show rather than tell.
“For example, say you’ve got a particularly big dog, we’ve seen people add a picture and they’ll say, ‘this is my dog, Harry, and he might look big but he’s actually really well behaved just likes to sleep by the front door’. People try to get ahead of what they may encounter as obstacles, I think those things can help, particularly on properties where you’re asking for a bit above what a competitor might be asking for,” Stolz said.
Personally, I would never say no to pics of cute dogs, so I totally get it.
Anecdotally, I’ve also had friends swear that talking about their interests, weekly book nights, flexing any volunteer work or interesting things about themselves, has only helped their application and gotten them approved. But no, I have no empirical research to back this up.
Bottom line — it really shouldn’t be this hard
Let’s not sugarcoat it, renting in this market can feel like a relentless battle for most young people, and rental affordability is sitting at its worst level on record since the Global Financial Crisis, according to the PropTrack Rental Affordability Index.
The experts’ tips here aren’t necessarily a magic fix for the larger issues, buuut hopefully they offer some new perspectives to be strategic and organised in this cooked market.
Finding a good rental shouldn’t be this hard, but until things change, fingers crossed we can navigate the house hunt just a little bit better.
Godspeed on your next search, fellow renters!!
The post In This Hot Mess Of A Rental Market, What Are Red Flags In Applications? I Asked The Experts appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
