When a landlord meets you for the first time, they are making a bet. They don't know whether you'll pay your rent on time, whether you'll take good care of their apartment, or whether you'll be the worst tenancy decision they’ll ever make. With nothing solid to judge you by, many of them fall back on heuristics: your tribe, gender, marital status, and even the kind of work you do. Good tenants lose out on good homes that way every day.
A rental reputation fixes that. It's a record of how you've actually behaved as a tenant, and it does the arguing for you. Landlords are far more willing to open the door, negotiate on price, or overlook any preconceived biases when they can see clear objective proof of good behaviour. Here's how to build one.
1. Pay on time, every time
This is the foundation. At the core, when a landlord or property manager agrees to a specific rent collection date, they expect you to honour that agreement and stick to it. Everything you do to build a rental reputation sits on that one underlying piece – do you pay your rent on time? Everything else is commentary.
2. Treat the property like it's yours
Keeping a property in good shape is another key component of a good rental score. While paying on time is essential, if you mess the apartment up and the landlord or property manager has to cough up serious money to renovate the place to make it habitable for the next tenant, they’re probably not going to think too highly of you.
3. Keep to the whole tenancy agreement
Not just the rent clause. Don’t sublet if it’s prohibited in your agreement, don’t drown your neighbours in noise because there’s a new Davido album out, or your favourite sports team is winning, don’t start unnecessary fights. In summary, don’t make your neighbours wish you stayed elsewhere.
Where Upward comes in
The problem has never been that tenants behave badly. It's that good behaviour disappears the moment you move out, and you start from zero with the next landlord.
Upward keeps the record. Every rent payment you make through the platform builds your rent score. Your landlord and property manager can log how well you kept to your agreement and treated their apartment, and that feedback strengthens your rental score, a reputation you carry with you that improves your chances of getting a great apartment whenever you’re in the market again.
Stop proving yourself from scratch, start building your rent score with Upward today.