Save Money & Time with Pre-Screening

Stop Wasting £25: Why ProperLet Must Come First (The Pre-Screening Protocol)

It's natural to assume that the best way to screen a tenant is to pay a traditional referencing agency (like OpenRent, HomeLet, or Goodlord) their standard £25-£35 fee and wait for the report.

However, this method is slow, expensive, and fundamentally inefficient when used as your primary filter. The true cost of the "Standard Referencing First" approach isn't just the fee; it's the time, wasted effort, and risk of losing a perfect tenant. ProperLet is designed to save you all three by acting as the essential pre-screening layer.

1. The Hidden Cost of Waiting (Time & Opportunity)

The speed of the lettings market demands instant action. Your goal is not just to find a safe tenant, but to find the safe tenant first.

• The Flaw: Traditional referencing often takes 3–5 working days. You risk losing good applicants while waiting for slow bureaucratic reports.
• The Solution: ProperLet provides an instant, automated Pass/Fail based on document integrity. You secure the tenant by quickly verifying them without losing days to bureaucracy.

2. The High Cost of the Wrong Filter (Wasted Fees)

The cost of traditional referencing is the biggest trap. You are paying £25 for a report that might immediately fail due to fraud.

• The Flaw: Landlords pay £25 for a report on an applicant who used a Photoshopped bank statement. They waste money and time on a fraudulent case.
• The Solution: ProperLet instantly filters out fraud, poor liquidity, and unverified income at the document level for free. You only proceed to pay the £25 legacy fee for the handful of applicants who have passed the digital forensic audit, saving significant wasted fees.

3. The ProperLet Pre-Screening Protocol

The most cost-effective and secure way to process applications is to separate the Digital Audit (speed, fraud check) from the Historical Audit (credit check).

1. Filter (ProperLet): Run all serious applications through ProperLet first. Instantly reject anyone flagged for metadata manipulation, ghost deposits, or critical affordability failure.
2. Verify (Affordability): Use the ProperLet Decision Engine to confirm the salary is adequate for the Applicant's Share of Rent and that they have the cash on hand for the deposit.
3. Finalize (Legacy Check): Pay the £25 legacy fee only for your final, top-rated candidate to confirm their credit history and run the necessary Right-to-Rent background checks.

By using ProperLet as your primary filter, you save money, save time, and dramatically increase your defense against the fraud that standard referencing is simply not equipped to handle. Don't pay to vet fraudsters. Pay to verify the best.