One application form, asked the same way every time

Three people have viewed the flat and each has told you something different about themselves. One mentioned a job, one mentioned a previous landlord, none of them mentioned a referee. This form fixes that. It is a blank application form you hand to every applicant, with the same sections in the same order, so what comes back can actually be compared.

What this form is

A printable form, not a service. The finished document is headed with the property address, your name and company, and the monthly rent if you choose to show it. Under that is a short line explaining that the applicant should complete all applicable sections and that the information will be used to assess their application and may be shared with referencing agencies.

Then come the sections, each one a set of labelled blank lines for the applicant to fill in by hand or on screen. It ends with a declaration and a signature block.

Build yours in minutes

Pick the sections you want. There are eight, all on by default: personal details, current and previous address, employment and income, rental history, references, identification, pets and smoking, and the declaration and signature. Untick any that do not apply to how you let.

Add your own questions if you have them. Each one prints as a numbered question with two ruled lines under it for the answer, which is enough space for a real reply and not so much that the form runs to six pages.

Decide whether to show the rent. If you enter it, it appears in the header block as the monthly rent, which saves the conversation where somebody applies for a property at a figure they had misremembered.

That is the whole form. Previewing is free and unlimited, with no account and no card. £9 buys this document type at this property permanently, with free regeneration, and Pro is £9.99 a month or £89 a year for every document at every property.

When you need one

Before a viewing shortlist. Handing the form out at the viewing, or emailing it the same evening, gets the comparable information back while interest is still warm.

Before any reference is taken. You cannot ask a previous landlord about somebody until you know who the previous landlord was. The rental history and references sections exist to collect exactly that, in the applicant's own hand, before you contact anybody.

Whenever more than one person is interested. Two applicants described in two different formats are hard to choose between and harder to explain choosing between. Two applicants on the same form are not.

What the form asks

Personal details. Full name, date of birth, email, phone, National Insurance number.

Current and previous address. The current address with postcode and time at the address, and a previous address block for anyone who has been at their current address less than three years.

Employment and income. Employment status, employer name and address, job title, length of employment, annual income and an employer phone number.

Rental history. The current landlord or agent, their contact details, the rent currently paid, the tenancy duration and the reason for leaving.

References. Two referees, each with a name, relationship, address, phone and email, introduced by a line suggesting an employer, a previous landlord or a character referee.

Identification. Space to list two documents the applicant can provide, with passport, driving licence and bank statement given as examples.

Pets and smoking. Two questions, with room for details.

Declaration. The applicant confirms the information is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge, acknowledges that false or misleading information may mean the application is rejected or a resulting tenancy terminated, and consents to the landlord or their agent contacting the referees and carrying out credit and referencing checks. Then a signature, a printed name and a date.

Why the same questions matter

Two reasons, and the second one is the one people underrate.

Comparable answers make the choice easier to make. If every form has income in the same place and a previous landlord in the same place, you are comparing like with like instead of reconstructing three different stories.

And comparable answers make the choice easier to explain. A decision taken on the same information, collected the same way from everybody who applied, is one you can account for afterwards. A decision taken on whatever each person happened to mention is not.

England and Scotland

The form works in both. It asks the same questions of an applicant for a flat in Edinburgh as it does for a house in Bristol, and nothing in it turns on the tenancy regime.

It is a form, not a screening service. DocuTenant does not carry out referencing, credit checks or identity checks, and the form does not satisfy any separate check you are required to carry out. It is the sheet of paper that collects the information you then act on. Once you have an applicant you want, the guarantor agreement is often the next document. See all 47 templates and what £9 per document type per property buys.

The same form in England and in Scotland. It collects information about an applicant, so nothing in it depends on whether the tenancy that follows will be an assured periodic tenancy or a private residential tenancy. There is one version.

It is a form, not a screening service. DocuTenant does not carry out referencing, credit checks, identity verification or any check on your behalf, and this document does not discharge any separate duty you may have. What it does is collect, in one consistent layout, the information you need before you can do any of that yourself or instruct somebody who does.

Ask everyone the same things. That is the whole argument for a printed form over an email exchange. The value is not in any single question but in the fact that every applicant answered the same set, in the same order, on the same page.

The declaration is doing real work. It records that the applicant confirmed the information is accurate, understood that false information may cost them the tenancy, and consented to the landlord or their agent contacting the referees and carrying out credit and referencing checks. Collect that at the start rather than asking for it later.