Running the viewings without losing all your evenings

This is the part of the process that wears people out. Not because it is difficult, but because it is badly organised: appointments one at a time, no-shows, candidates finding out on the doorstep that the rent is out of reach.

Screen before you invite anyone

A viewing costs an hour of your life. Before granting one, check the move-in date, the number of occupants and the ability to provide an application. Those three things are enough to rule out most enquiries that will lead nowhere.

Group the slots

Two or three one-hour windows in the week, with several candidates fifteen to twenty minutes apart, beat ten appointments scattered over twelve days. You travel there once, the apartment is tidied once, and candidates can feel that the place is in demand.

• Plan one slot at the end of the day and one on Saturday morning: those are the easiest to make.
• Leave enough space between them that people do not cross in the hallway.
• Keep one catch-up slot for no-shows and latecomers.

Confirm the day before

A short message the day before (exact address, floor, door code, time) cuts no-shows sharply. It is also the moment to remind people to bring their application.

What to say during the viewing

• The net rent, the charges, and exactly what they cover.
• Your move-out date, and the possible move-in date.
• What stays and what goes: fitted kitchen, light fittings, curtains, furniture.
• The apartment's real drawbacks: noise, overlooked windows, heating, damp.
• The fact that the final decision rests with the managing agency or the owner, not with you.

On the drawbacks, being transparent is a calculation as much as a courtesy. A candidate who discovers the street noise afterwards pulls out, and you start again from scratch at the worst possible moment.

Collect the applications on the spot

Ask for the application to be brought to the viewing, or sent within twenty-four hours. A genuinely interested candidate does it. Those who promise to send it “soon” rarely do.

Showing is not allocating

You show the apartment, you gather the applications, you present them. You do not allocate the apartment. Saying so plainly during the viewing avoids misunderstandings, and disappointment aimed at the wrong person.

Preparing the check-out inspection and the handover

• Set the date of the check-out inspection as soon as your departure is fixed, without waiting for the outcome of the transfer.
• Deal with the small repairs that are yours to make beforehand, not on the day.
• Gather every key, including those for the cellar, the letterbox and the bike store.
• Photograph the empty apartment, dated, before the handover.
• Keep the signed check-out report.