How to Find a Good Tenant
Short answer: Assess applicants on what matters for the tenancy: a stable income, a previous landlord's reference and your impression from the viewing. As a private landlord, you can't look someone up in the RKI debtor register yourself – instead, ask the applicant to download their own record for free with MitID at dininfo.dk. LejLet.nu doesn't screen tenants for you.
You've listed your home, and within 24 hours you've got fifteen messages from interested people. Some reply thoroughly and quickly. Others write a single word: "Available?" How do you pick the right one – without either trusting your gut blindly or asking questions you're not actually allowed to ask?
What Tells You Most About an Applicant?
A good tenant is, first and foremost, someone who can pay the rent on time and take care of the home. That's something you can look into directly: ask about their employment situation – a permanent position, a fixed-term contract, a student on SU (the Danish state education grant) or something else – and feel free to ask for documentation, such as a payslip or an employment contract. Also ask how long they've lived at their current address, and why they're moving.
Only ask for the information you actually need, and delete the papers from the applicants you don't choose.
Why Is a Reference From a Previous Landlord So Valuable?
It's one of the most overlooked, yet most effective things you can do. A previous landlord who can confirm that the rent always arrived on time, and that the home was handed back in good condition, tells you far more than a good first impression. If the applicant is new to the housing market – for example, someone who previously lived with their parents or has just moved here from abroad – that reference obviously won't exist, and you'll need to rely more on their finances and your impression from a conversation or viewing.
How Do You Check Their Finances – and What About RKI?
LejLet.nu checks neither a tenant's finances nor their identity for you. As a private landlord, you can't look another person up in RKI (Denmark's main register of bad debtors) yourself – only businesses that are Experian customers can do that. Instead, ask the applicant to download their own record – it's free with MitID (Denmark's national digital ID) at dininfo.dk – and show you the printout.
Treat the printout as one data point among several, not the sole deciding factor. A clean RKI record doesn't tell you whether their income can cover the rent – the payslips do.
Which Red Flags Should You Take Seriously?
- The person won't view the home – either in person or on video – before something needs to be signed
- The story about why they need to move quickly changes between messages
- No willingness to share their employment situation or provide a reference
- Pressure to bypass the normal process – for example, paying a "deposit" to "reserve" the home before you've even met
None of these signs prove anything on their own, but several of them together should make you more cautious.
What Aren't You Allowed to Weigh?
The Danish Rent Act (lejeloven) doesn't directly regulate who you rent to – but other Danish laws do. If you rent to the public, for example through a listing, you generally may not reject or discriminate against an applicant on grounds such as sex, race, ethnic origin or disability. This follows from separate equal-treatment laws, not from the Rent Act, and Ligebehandlingsnævnet (the Danish Board of Equal Treatment) can award the wronged party compensation. Keep your assessment to what actually matters for the tenancy: finances, references and an ordinary, concrete conversation.
How Do You Keep Track of Applicants on LejLet.nu?
Use LejLet.nu's own messaging feature throughout the process, right up until the lease is signed. It gives you a complete, dated record if a disagreement about what was agreed ever comes up later. If a message feels off, or you experience harassment or pressure, you can block or report the sender directly from the conversation.
Once you've chosen a tenant, click "Hide" next to the listing under "My listings" and choose "Rented out". The listing then disappears from search, and you stop getting inquiries. It's good form to send the other applicants a short reply. The next step is the lease – see Lease Contracts for Landlords.