What? They don't check your credit score where I live (west-eu). They check your pay slip to see how much you make monthly and if it your rent is less than half your paycheck they can decide to let you rent. After that is a two or three month downpayment that is locked in a seperate bank account specifically for this use and is released at the end of the lease. If there is no damage to the rental unit you get back your full amount, depending on what damage is found, the downpayment is used to fix that.

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mr_toad 9 days ago | parent | next [-]

In the UK they’ll do background checks, and check your salary. They’d ask for six months rent in advance if it wasn’t illegal. And even though it is illegal.

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jlokier 9 days ago | parent [-]

In my experience, in the UK, the rental agency required 12 months rent in advance (plus another 2 months rent as deposit) when I was self-employed. They would have accepted monthly rent if I had 5x the annual rent in cash savings, but I didn't.

And then every year after that they required another 12 months rent up front, when it came to the annual tenancy renewal. Track record of paying the rent wasn't good enough to prove that I could keep paying the rent.

	▲	FirmwareBurner 8 days ago \| parent [-]
		That's crazy

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account42 9 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They absolutely do ask for a SCHUFA report in Germany. You might eventually find an apartment without one but it's going to limit your options.

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mrweasel 9 days ago | parent | prev [-]

What? They are in no way entitled to see your pay slip, or know how much you make. Whether or not you can pay rent is entirely your problem (North EU).

You have a deposit, typically three months rent, that's typically enough to indicate whether or not you're able to pay rent.

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FirmwareBurner 9 days ago | parent | next [-]

>They are in no way entitled to see your pay slip

They absolutely do in Germany and Austria. Renting is almost impossible without pay slips from LOCAL employers. Pay slips from your previous EU country don't count. So relocating is a huge bitch.

>Whether or not you can pay rent is entirely your problem (North EU).

It immediately becomes the landlord's problem here when they're legally not allowed to evict you once you stop paying rent. So they're trying to be 110% sure you're the ideal tenant who always pays on time. Especially since for many private landlords the rent you pay them is also their mortgage payment to the bank.

>You have a deposit, typically three months rent, that's typically enough to indicate whether or not you're able to pay rent.

Deposits don't mean you're able to keep paying rent since that deposit might be borrowed money or from illicit activities. Landlords want to see stable employment (well known employer, that you're past probation period, etc), not that you have a lot of random money in your pocket when you sign the contract.

I don't support this status quo, but it is what it is because it's a sellers' market and governments don't want to change that.

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FirmwareBurner 8 days ago | parent | prev [-]

>Whether or not you can pay rent is entirely your problem (North EU).

This doesn't sound right. In which "North EU" country sis this BTW?

	▲	mrweasel 8 days ago \| parent [-]
		Denmark. To be fair I haven't rented an apartment in 15 years. My understanding is that the rule still are: If you don't pay, you get a 14 day warning, if you don't pay within those 14 days, your lease can be terminated the next day. Assuming that you then refuse to move, the landlord can have the bailiff (not sure if that's the right word) kick you out.