One of the most common questions we get from landlords is how they can find quality tenants faster. With liv.rent‘s new Suggested Tenants feature, we make it easy. For each new listing you post, you’ll be shown an automatically generated list of prospective tenants whose search filters align with your listing. This makes generating leads easier as you essentially start off with a pre-made list of potentially interested renters that you can get in touch with. 

So how do you find and contact your curated list of Suggested Tenants? Read on for our step-by-step guide on how to make full use of this new feature.

1. Select your property

Navigate to your Listings tab in the app or web platform and click on the listing you would like to rent out.

2. From the menu, select “Suggested Tenants”

All tenants whose search preferences match your listings will automatically appear in your list. From here, you’ll be able to see a basic profile view of their Renter Resume, which includes their name, job, salary range, and rental budget.

3. Review them carefully

‘Like’ the ones that interest you the most to curate your list of viable tenants. Make note of how complete their profiles are, and also pay attention to see if they have a verified badge next to their name. If their profile includes a badge, that means they have submitted a government issued ID and have verified their profile.

4. Start the conversation

Initiate a ‘chat’ with your curated list of candidates. You can invite them to book a showing,  

Pro Tip: When renters apply to your listing, you will get a full view of their Renter Resume including their Trust Score, which includes information like credit and payment history. Read more about the Trust Score™ and how it helps landlords find and screen tenants here.

5. Tips on how to reach out to your suggested tenants

Typically, tenants get in contact with landlords whose listing they are interesting in renting. With the Suggested Tenants feature though, we’ve made it easy for landlords to initiate contact and be proactive about renting out their listing.

If there’s a suggested tenant with an especially high Trust Score, or who aligns well with your values, don’t hesitate to reach out! Here are a few tips for getting in touch with your Suggested Tenants.

• Ask them if they’re still looking for a place — Similar to renters asking landlords if the suite is still available, landlords can also gauge potential tenants interest. From there, you can ask:
• See if they’d like to book a showing — Since you already know they’re looking for something similar to your listing, why not see if they’d like to book a showing? It’s nice to add that you saw them in your Suggested Tenants and loved their profile. 
• Give them more details on your listing — Since you’re messaging them first, be sure to let them know a bit more about your listing and and how it aligns with what they’re looking for. 

And, just like that, you’ve found and hopefully engaged a selection of tenants looking for a listing just like yours! The Suggested Tenants feature gives landlords quick access to leads who are already interested in what they’re offering — another way we’re making the rental process easier for everyone.. 

Check out our post on Landlord Web Features and learn how easy it is to manage your properties, applications and agreements online, or in the liv.rent app!

Have some feedback for us? Any other features you want to learn more about? Contact us via Live Chat during business hours or email us anytime!

Rethink The Way You Rent

Not on liv.rent yet? Experience the ease of digital applications & contracts, verified tenants & landlords, virtual tours and more – all on one platform. Sign up for free or download the app.

Subscribe to receive the latest tenant & landlord tips and get notified about changes in the Canadian rental market.

>> Stay up-to-date on the average rent in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal: Rent Reports.

The post What Are Suggested Tenants? appeared first on liv.rent blog.

What is rental verification?

Rental verification is a safety and security measure designed to confirm the validity of listings and user profiles in order to protect users.

This is typically done by checking landlords and renters’ identification documents such as passports, drivers’ licenses, or other types of government-issued photo ID. For property managers, identity and professional status are typically confirmed by checking their license.

In the past, this is something that landlords and tenants would have had to do themselves if they were wary about engaging with the other party. Now, liv.rent has made rental verification process simple and easy by manually verifying profiles and listings and displaying this with a convenient verified badge.

Why does liv.rent ask for verification?

At liv.rent, we are dedicated to building a trusted rental community and protecting both renters and landlords from rental scams through strict verification measures. To achieve this, landlords and property managers on liv.rent can verify their identity by uploading the required documents. Renters can also verify their profile through the Trust Score, by providing proof of their income and verifying their social media profiles.

Our team manually validates information from external sources (government-issued IDs, land titles, or other official documents) to confirm the identity of users and to check the validity of listings. When verifying profiles, we also ask for a user-uploaded selfie in order to corroborate users’ identities.

Rental scams in Canada have become all-too-common, with rental scams increasing in frequency by 160% since 2021. Renters losing cash deposits to fraudulent listings and landlords’ homes being listed without their consent are just two of the many common rental scams that exist today. To safeguard our rental community and reduce the risk of scams, we have made it our mission to eliminate identity and financial theft in the rental scene with strict rent verification.

These verification measures help prevent rental scams and fraud, so that our community can rely on the safety and integrity of our platform to find reliable rentals and leverage all the other benefits and features available within the liv.rent app to rent stress-free. Renters — you can browse for verified listings near you to rent safely and easily, and landlords — liv.rent’s rental verification process ensures you find the right tenant the first time.

What does it mean to be verified on the liv.rent platform?

Being verified on liv.rent means heightened credibility either as a landlord or a renter. For landlords, it also means that your listing is more likely to receive applications and get rented faster, with over 70% of liv.rent users clicking into verified listings as opposed to unverified ones. 

Once the rental verification process is complete, the user or listing will receive a verified badge. This helps our community identify the verified users and listings on our platform with ease. 

Why should you be verified on liv.rent?

Not only does getting verified help keep your fellow members of the rental community safe, but there are also more practical benefits to verifying your profile and listings as well. Verified renters are 77% more likely to secure a rental as they are more likely to be deemed reliable and desirable, thus increasing their chances of securing the perfect rental. 

Verified landlords are more likely to attract good tenants as they receive 3X the inquiries than unverified landlords, and verified listings receive 5X the engagements compared to unverified listings.

How are renters verified on liv.rent?

Here’s liv.rent’s rental verification process for renters:

1. Phone number/carrier verification – When a user signs up, we verify the phone number to their carrier. If a number is flagged as spam or suspicious, our team is notified to investigate further.
2. Tenant ID – Government-issued ID is required to verify every user profile. When users upload a picture of their ID, we cross-reference the names on the ID and their profile to ensure they match. Once the verification process is complete, our system immediately removes the government-issued ID and all copies of authentication information in a secured manner.

Refer to our step-by-step tutorial here.

PRO TIP: Make sure your profile name matches the name on your ID. If you have a preferred name, be sure to fill out that field!

While it may seem like a lot of steps to get verified, it’s actually very simple.  Renter verification improves your Trust Score, which is part of your Renter Resume and helps your rental applications stand out from other renters’.

While you don’t need to complete your profile to become verified, you will need to complete your profile in order to start applying to your favourite listings. To do so, you will need to upload evidence of employment and income. Valid proof includes bank statements, pay stubs, tax statements, and letters of employment.

See more on how to apply to multiple listings with just one Renter Resume here.

How are landlords verified on liv.rent?

Here’s how landlords are verified on liv.rent:

1. Landlord ID – We verify landlords’ and property managers’ ID in one of two ways:
   1. Government-issued ID – When users upload a picture of their ID, we cross-reference the names on the ID and their profile to ensure they match. All pictures of IDs are securely removed from our system once the verification process is complete.
   2. Business license – We verify property managers’ and landlords’ business licenses with the City of Vancouver’s open registry of businesses as well as the Real Estate Council of British Columbia. Valid business and property management licenses are accepted.
2. Listings – We have a dedicated liv.rent team that manually checks and verifies each listing. There are two options to verify listings. Any suspicious or duplicated listings are flagged and hidden until one of the following occurs:
   1. Verify by documents – Official documents accepted include land title documents and property tax forms. For property managers and other landlords representing the property owner, representation documents are also accepted.
   2. Verify by mail – Alternatively, landlords can request for a postcard to be sent to the rental property. The postcard includes a code that the landlord can enter into the app to verify the listing.

In order to verify a listing by document, landlords will have to verify their ID first as we match the verified profile’s name to the documents.  

Refer to our step-by-step tutorial here.

Why does liv.rent ask for so much information?

Renters on liv.rent are always in control of their personal data. Your renter resume and Trust Score are the only things visible to landlords on our platform — you control when and what they get to see. Here is what your basic renter resume would look like to landlords:

Once you’re ready to apply, you can send an application to the landlord. At that time, the landlord can now see your full renter resume.

All the data you provide is the minimum required information that a landlord would need in your rental agreement. We simply digitized the process to make it easier and save everyone some paper, too.

Here’s a quick look at what information a landlord can legally ask from you:

Your personal information is safe with us and we treat it with the utmost respect.

How does liv.rent protect my data?

We apply strict precautions to protect the security and integrity of your personal information, both during transmission and storage. Transmissions of personal information through the Website are encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL), and all personal data stored on liv.rent are secured with AES-256-CTR (similar to military-grade encryption).

In regards to your government-issued ID and any authentication information requested during liv.rent’s verification process, our system will immediately remove all copies in a secured manner once you have been verified. This ensures that none of your personal data will be made public.

FAQ: liv.rent’s rental verification process

Have some feedback for us? Any other features you want to see? Contact us via Live Chat during business hours or email us anytime!

Rethink The Way You Rent

Not on liv.rent yet? Experience the ease of digital applications & contracts, verified tenants & landlords, virtual tours and more – all on one platform. Sign up for free or download the app.

Subscribe to receive the latest tenant & landlord tips and get notified about changes in the Canadian rental market.

>> Stay up-to-date on the average rent in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal: Rent Reports.

The post Your guide to liv.rent’s verification process appeared first on liv.rent blog.

Trust Score is an intelligent rating system designed to establish your reliability and credibility as a renter when you apply for apartments online. Using a powerful algorithm that corroborates your information with LinkedIn and your financial record, the Trust Score gives landlords a secure and accurate measure of your integrity simplifying their selection process.

How does it work?

• A credit check is conducted by Equifax and provides a comprehensive picture of your financial credibility based on payment history, credit utilization, bankruptcy etc.
• The algorithm analyzes your profile, corroborating the details you provided with your public LinkedIn profile, photo ID, references etc. to determine your trustworthiness.

So What Does it Mean?

Can I improve my Trust Score?

Yes!  There are a few steps you can take to bump up your score and improve your standing with landlords.

• Update your LinkedIn profile with accurate and current information
• Upload other financial documentation like pay stubs, letters of employment etc.
• Upload government-issued picture ID.
• If you are young or new to Canada, obtain a credit card and make your payments on time, preferably, paying off your entire balance on a monthly basis.
• Get a mobile phone under your name.
• Secure different types of credit. Credit bureaus love looking at different sources of credit when determining credit scores.
• If you have missed payments, catch up and set up automatic payments so it doesn’t happen again.
• You can learn more about improving your Trust Score here.

Is my personal information secure?

Your picture ID and Equifax report are temporarily stored until the verification process is complete. Once verified, both are destroyed from our servers. In the entire process, landlords will never receive, or be able to view, your uploaded ID or Equifax report.

For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

The post What is a Trust Score? appeared first on liv.rent blog.