Guide · 6 min read
What to write in your first message to a landlord
The person reading it has twenty-five of these and four viewing slots. Your job is to make the decision easy, not to be liked.
What the reader is actually doing
Picture the other side. An agent or landlord opens an inbox with twenty-five replies to a listing posted this morning and needs to book four viewings this week. They are not evaluating who deserves the flat. They are sorting for who is straightforward: can pay, can view soon, can sign soon, will not create problems.
Every line of a good first message exists to answer one of those four questions before it is asked. Everything else is decoration, and decoration is what gets skimmed.
The template
Adapt it, obviously, but keep the order, because the order is what makes it scannable in six seconds.
Copy this, then make it yours
Hello, I'd like to view [address or listing title], still available? About me: [job title] at [employer], gross income [amount] per month, [X]x the rent. [Or: student at [university], with [parent/guarantor] as guarantor.] Availability: I can view [two specific days and times, including one soon]. I could sign and move in from [date]. I have ID, proof of income and references ready to send now. [Name], [phone number]
Why each line is there
The first line asks whether it is still available, which gets a reply even from someone who has filled the viewings, and a reply keeps you on the list if the first candidate falls through.
The income line is the screening question and it saves a round trip. Most European landlords apply an informal rule of roughly three to four times the rent in gross monthly income. If you clear it, say so in numbers. If you do not clear it alone, name the guarantor in the same sentence rather than leaving it to be discovered.
The availability line is the one people leave out and it is the one that books the viewing. 'Whenever suits you' sounds accommodating and creates work for the reader; two specific slots do not. If you are relocating and cannot be there, offer a live video viewing explicitly.
The documents line removes the next email. The phone number removes the one after that.
Three things that get you skipped
A paragraph about how much you love the neighbourhood
It is the most common opener and it answers none of the four questions. Warmth belongs at the viewing, where it is worth something.
Hedging on the money
'I think I should be able to afford it' reads as no. Either state a number that clears the threshold or name your guarantor. Vagueness here is the fastest route to the bottom of the pile.
An obviously automated message
Especially on flatshare sites, where the people reading are choosing who they live with. Two specific sentences beat a polished generic paragraph every time. If you use an auto-reply tool, make the template specific enough that it does not read like one.
On language, and on shared flats
Write in the local language if you can manage it at all, even imperfectly, and say so: a line of Dutch or German followed by 'happy to continue in English' signals that you intend to live there rather than pass through. For agency listings it matters less; for private landlords it matters a lot.
Shared flats are a different document. A WG in Berlin or a flatshare in London is not screening a tenant, it is choosing a flatmate, and the income question is secondary to whether you sound like a person. There, cut the template down and write three real sentences about who you are, what your hours are like, and what you are like to live with. The four questions still get answered, just underneath something human.
Common questions
How long should the message be?
Under 120 words for an agency listing. It should be readable in one screen on a phone without scrolling, because that is how it will be read.
Should I attach documents to the first message?
Say you have them ready rather than attaching everything unprompted, because unsolicited attachments get filtered and can look careless with your own data. The exception is where the listing explicitly asks for them.
Is it worth following up?
Once, after two or three days, in one line. Beyond that it does not help, and viewing lists move on quickly enough that your effort is better spent on the next listing.
Does using an auto-reply tool hurt my chances?
It depends entirely on the message. On agency forms, where the reply is a form submission either way, speed is worth more than phrasing. On shared-flat adverts, a generic message is visible from across the room, so use the speed to be early, then write something real.
Setting up alerts for the sites in this guide
Pararius alerts
Agency-listed rentals nationwide. Free alerts are once a day; instant costs money.
WG-Gesucht alerts
German flatshares. The premium tier sells visibility, not a faster alert.
OpenRent alerts
Direct-from-landlord UK lettings. Email alerts are described as up to once a day.
Kamernet alerts
Rooms, studios and apartments, heavily student. Alerts are free, replying is not.
Keep reading
Be told before everyone else is
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