[sidewndr46]

you're saying people look at gross income to determine if someone can rent a place rather than net ?

[randywaterhouse]

This is common practice across the US and the rule-of-thumb 40x generally tries to take most cases into account. i.e., 40x after taxes and other typical debt levels is "risk appropriate" for landlords... Though don't get me started on how this reduces landlord risk to a level where they should not see profits...

It does seem odd though when you consider one person with 40x may have a completely different net than another.

[sidewndr46]

Just off the top off my head I can think of

1. student loans 2. alimony 3. child support 4. back taxes to one or more governments

that can cut the net income of someone in half quite quickly

[NovemberWhiskey]

It's just a heuristic to determine basic qualification: it's up to the renter to determine what they can afford once they're basically qualified.

[Gunnerhead]

Yup!

[buzzy_hacker]

Yes