The rental dossier: what actually belongs in it

The six documents you will always be asked for

• The agency’s application form, filled in completely (not a cover sheet of your own)
• A copy of your passport or identity card, plus your residence permit if you hold one
• A debt-collection extract less than three months old
• Your last three payslips; if you are self-employed, your latest tax assessment
• A copy of your private liability policy, or an undertaking to take one out
• Contact details for your current agency or landlord

What you are not obliged to hand over

An agency may collect only what it needs in order to decide. Religion, political affiliation, plans to have children, illness and pregnancy are none of its business, and you may leave those questions unanswered. A full tax assessment usually goes further than the situation warrants as well; showing that you can carry the rent is enough.

A rule of thumb: gross rent should stay under a third of gross income. No statute says so, yet nearly every agency works to it, and works to it first.

What actually moves a dossier up the pile

1. 1Completeness. A missing document is not requested later; the dossier simply drops out.
2. 2One PDF, in the order of this list, named with your name and the reference number.
3. 3Five lines of covering text: who you are, why this flat, from when.
4. 4Papers for everyone who will move in, in the same dossier rather than a second email.
5. 5Hand it in on the day of the viewing. Most answers come within 48 hours.

On Immovix you file these documents once and send them later in a single click. The agency receives one complete, checked dossier instead of eight attachments spread over three emails.