[dbetteridge]

Both Australia and the UK ,the most I've needed is a proof of having a job (first page of a work contract).

Yes it takes a while to evict people and agents have a shared blacklist of tenants who didn't pay their bills but it is expected that the house owner has insurance to cover damages and loss of income, just a part of being a landlord.

Australia has a specific magistrates court for dealing with those issues and unscrupulous landlords or tenants for example

[crazygringo]

Very interesting, thanks!

I'm actually quite curious then -- if a landlord has, say, 5 different prospective tenants then how do choose?

Because in NYC the landlord will take offers from those 5 tenants, run checks, and then pick the one who seems least likely to default.

In Australia and the UK is it the same, but they just go with more of their gut feeling or something, rather than hard data? Or is it primarily income listed on the work contract but they can't find out about debts?

[jpmoral]

In Australia you may also be asked to provide a copy of your rent payment history.

Edit:

>It's pretty standard to require a year or two of the first couple pages of your tax returns, and 2-3 months of bank statements, to prove your income as well, since standard background/credit checks don't have that.

That sounds insane to me.

[aendruk]

In Seattle hand-picking like this is explicitly illegal; selection criteria have to be published beforehand and the first qualifying applicant accepted.

[dbetteridge]

They ask questions about your income in applications to make sure you can afford the rent.

I obviously can't speak for how they pick, but I think it's usually a case of first application that meets the affordability criteria and has rental history or reference s.

They take offers on higher rent in a hot market.

Or maybe Ive just been very lucky and had kind agents