Create tenant application — compare applicants in a structured way

Tenant applications touch several particularly sensitive data categories: income proofs, bank details, SCHUFA self-disclosures and possibly information on marital status or profession. For all these fields the strict purpose limitation of the GDPR applies — you may only ask what is actually necessary for pre-qualification. With the self-disclosure, the tenants association already established in a model form in 1995 which questions are permissible, and this list has hardly changed.

Therefore only ask about income and SCHUFA when the applicant is fundamentally interested in the apartment and the apartment is still available. A two-stage query — first short initial inquiry, then on invitation the detailed application — is GDPR-compliant and considerate of the applicants. Do not store the data of those not considered longer than necessary; usually three to six months are sufficient to clarify any legal disputes. After that everything should be deleted — including the uploaded PDFs.

The standard attachments of a tenant application are salary statements of the last three months, a SCHUFA credit report and optionally an ID card. Build a separate upload field for each of these attachments with clear labeling — "salary statement month 1, 2, 3" separates applicants who throw everything into one file from those who deliver cleanly. Define a limit of about 10 MB per file and accept only PDF and common image formats.

Actively point out that sensitive data such as bank account numbers or social security numbers may be redacted on the uploaded documents. This protects both the applicant and you as the processor. Store the attachments encrypted and ensure that only the responsible employees have access. Assign meaningful file names with applicant ID and document type so that the application can later be easily assigned. Via webhook the documents can be automatically transferred into the property management system once the application is completed.

For sought-after apartments, a hundred or more applications quickly arrive. Going through manually is not scalable. A simple scoring model helps to filter out the top candidates. Three dimensions are common: income in relation to cold rent (at least factor 3 is often required), SCHUFA credit rating and matching profile for apartment size — such as singles for 1-room, small families for 4-room.

The calculation engine in the form calculates this score automatically from the inputs of the applicant. Internal transparency is important: the landlord should be able to understand how the score comes about and, if necessary, manually upgrade individual applicants. Pay attention to the General Equal Treatment Act: certain criteria such as origin, religion or family status may not flow into pre-qualification. Limit the scoring model to objectively rent-relevant factors and document the reasoning. This way you avoid later discrimination accusations and at the same time keep efficiency in the selection process.

After pre-qualification, the actual rental process begins: top applicants get an invitation to the viewing, the others a polite rejection. Automate this step. From the score and the apartment availability, a webhook triggers either the invitation workflow or the rejection workflow. Both contain clear content: on invitation date, time, address and contact person; on rejection a short, friendly text without lengthy reasoning.

For scheduling coordination, a downstream booking form is suitable: the top 5 get access to three suggested slots and book themselves in. This saves phone calls on both sides. After the viewing, the final decision follows — here too a short internal evaluation form helps in which the viewer records impressions. These notes are the basis for the final selection and protect you in later queries why you decided for or against an applicant. Only document factual, comprehensible criteria.