Tenant selection in the private rental sector of Paris and Geneva

Abstract

This article seeks to make sense of tenant selection in the private rental sector. It is based on 51 interviews with real estate agents in Paris (France) and Geneva (Switzerland). Tenant selection is a process whereby real-estate agents primarily assess whether prospective tenants can be a stable source of income for landlords. First, real estate agents use the income criterion as a category to organize the worthiness of a rental applicant. Our comparative design shows that financial risk assessment depends on particular institutional features of national tenancy regulations. Second, a “good tenant” is more than just a financially-solvent one. A good tenant pays rent regularly, stays in the apartment, maintains it in good condition, and does not cause any trouble. We show that real estate agents use many different categorical stereotypes related to these unobservable characteristics to dismiss applicants, just as employers on the low-wage labor market rely on stereotypes to identify soft skills of prospective employees.

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