Tenant screening: how to find a good tenant for your apartment

Tenant screening means that you check whether an applicant can pay the rent and will look after the home before you sign: income, payment history, references and a meeting at the viewing. You may only ask for the information you need, and the CPR number (the Danish personal identification number) requires consent. Your choice must be based on objective criteria, not on for example ethnic origin, gender or disability.

Where do you find a tenant for your apartment?

You can advertise on property portals and in groups on social media, ask in your network or let a property manager find the tenant. Wherever you advertise, the listing is your first filter. The clearer it is, the fewer enquiries you get from people the home does not suit. Include:

• the rent, the on-account payments (aconto) for heating and water and the total amount due on moving in
• the deposit and prepaid rent
• the move-in date, and whether the tenancy is fixed-term (read about fixed-term leases)
• whether the home is furnished, and whether pets and smoking are allowed
• what documentation you ask for, for example payslips

On our page with homes to rent, you can see how the rent, on-account payments, deposit and the total cost of moving in can appear in a listing. Do not write anything about nationality, ethnicity or gender, though. We will come back to that.

Beyond what belongs to the tenancy agreement itself, you may not demand or accept payment from the tenant for getting the home (§ 15 of the Rent Act (lejeloven), in Danish). According to the explanatory notes to § 15 (in Danish), you may use a professional to find the tenant, as long as the tenant does not pay for it.

What information may you ask a tenant for?

When you receive applications, you process personal data, and then the data protection rules apply. You may process data when it is necessary for a contract with the person the data is about (the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet), in Danish). But you must stick to what is necessary. Processing, including storage, must be limited to what is necessary for the purpose, and when you no longer need the data, it must be deleted or anonymised (the basic principles, in Danish).

Information	May you ask for it?	Note
Name, phone and email	Yes	Needed for contact and the contract
Who will live in the home	Yes	Part of the tenancy agreement
Job and income	Yes	See the documentation, and keep only what is necessary
Reference from a previous landlord	Yes	Contact them with the applicant’s agreement
CPR number	Only with consent	Standard form A10 has no field for it
Criminal record certificate	As a rule, only with explicit consent	§ 8(3) of the Data Protection Act
Health, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation	No	Sensitive data you do not need

The CPR number requires consent

The CPR number is confidential information. As a private landlord, you may as a rule only process it when it follows from legislation or when the applicant has given consent (§ 11(2) of the Danish Data Protection Act (databeskyttelsesloven), in Danish). You do not need it for the lease itself. The authorised standard form A10 (typeformular A10) has fields for the tenant’s name, address, phone and email, but not for a CPR number.

If you need the number, for example for a credit check, ask only when it becomes relevant, and get the consent in writing so you can document it. Consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, and it can always be withdrawn (Datatilsynet on consent, in Danish).

Sensitive data and criminal records

Do not ask about health, religion, political opinions, trade union membership, sexual orientation or ethnic origin. These are sensitive data (in Danish) under the data protection rules, and you do not need them to choose a tenant. As a private person, you may only process data on criminal offences, for example a criminal record certificate, with the applicant’s explicit consent, or if it is necessary for a legitimate interest that clearly outweighs the applicant’s interests (§ 8(3) of the Data Protection Act).

How long may you keep the applications?

Only as long as you have a purpose for them. Datatilsynet writes that personal data must be deleted as soon as you no longer have a purpose for it (accountability and data minimisation, in Danish). So delete payslips and copies of ID from the applicants you did not choose once the tenancy agreement is in place. Do keep a short note on which criteria you used and why you chose as you did. The City of Copenhagen recommends keeping documentation of the process in case questions come up.

Credit check on a tenant: income and payment history

The City of Copenhagen writes that as a landlord you should give weight to objective and documentable criteria such as income, payment history and contract terms (kk.dk, in Danish). They also say something about whether the rent will be paid. Ask for documentation that fits the applicant’s situation:

• Employee: the latest payslips, and the employment contract if the job is new.
• Self-employed: the latest annual tax statement from the Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) or the business accounts.
• Student: documentation of the state education grant (SU), a student job or other regular income.
• New to Denmark: the employment contract or a letter from the employer.

Look at the documents, note what you need, and do not ask for bank statements or anything else you do not need. Set the same requirements for all applicants. If you want to run a check with a credit reference agency and need the applicant’s CPR number for it, the applicant must give consent first. Say so in advance, so the applicant knows what happens to the information.

References from a previous landlord

A reference from a previous landlord tells you something payslips do not: whether the rent was paid on time, and how the home was handed back. Ask the applicant for the name and phone number of their most recent landlord, and call with the applicant’s agreement. Ask the same questions every time: Was the rent paid on time? What was the home like at move-out? Would you rent to this person again? If the applicant has not rented before, an employer can say something about stability.

Viewings: how to get a good impression

The viewing is both your chance to meet the applicants and their chance to see the home. Use it to align expectations about rent and on-account payments, the move-in date, the house rules and how the move-in inspection works.

• Show the home yourself, or let someone you trust do it.
• Ask everyone the same questions, so the answers can be compared. The City of Copenhagen recommends this too.
• After each viewing, jot down what you gave weight to.
• Let the applicants see every room, and be honest about known faults. They have to go in the move-in report anyway.

If the current tenant still lives there, the tenant must give access to view the home once the tenancy has been terminated. The tenant decides the time, but it must be at least 2 hours every other working day at a time that suits a viewing. If the tenant is neither present nor represented, you or your representative must be there (§ 186(1) of the Rent Act).

Discrimination: which rules apply when you choose a tenant?

As a private landlord, you generally choose your tenant yourself. But when you offer the home to the public, for example in a listing, the choice must not be based on race, ethnic origin, gender or disability. Three acts set the limits:

Act	Prohibits discrimination on grounds of	Applies to
Ethnic Equal Treatment Act (lov om etnisk ligebehandling), in Danish	Race or ethnic origin, both direct and indirect (§ 3)	Access to goods and services, including housing, that are available to the public (§ 2)
Gender Equality Act (ligestillingsloven), in Danish	Gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (§ 2)	Everyone who provides goods and services to the public outside private and family life (§ 1 a)
Act on the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of disability, in Danish	Disability, both direct and indirect (§ 5)	All public and private activity in all areas of society (§ 2)

The Ethnic Equal Treatment Act and the disability act do not apply to activities of a purely private nature, and the Gender Equality Act only applies to services outside private and family life. In a decision from 2017 (in Danish), the Board of Equal Treatment (Ligebehandlingsnævnet) found that a private person renting out a single room in their own home is not a service available to the public, and therefore falls outside the Gender Equality Act. The same decision shows the limit: it was contrary to the Gender Equality Act that a housing website carried a listing for a whole apartment for a “single woman”. If you are going to share your own home, you can read more about renting out a room.

Indirect discrimination and the burden of proof

Discrimination can also be indirect: a requirement that looks neutral but puts people of a particular race or ethnic origin at a disadvantage, unless the requirement is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means are appropriate and necessary (§ 3(3) of the Ethnic Equal Treatment Act). The City of Copenhagen writes that you may not set different requirements for applicants based on their name, language or ethnic background, and that the discrimination is unlawful even if it is not deliberate.

Under the Ethnic Equal Treatment Act, the burden of proof is shared. If an applicant shows facts that give reason to presume discrimination, it is you who must prove that you did not discriminate (§ 7). The person whose rights were violated can be awarded compensation (§ 9), and complaints are handled by the Board of Equal Treatment (§ 10(2)). Outside the labour market, the Board of Equal Treatment (in Danish) handles complaints about discrimination on grounds of gender, race, ethnic origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. Age is not on the list, and in the 2017 case an age requirement in two of the listings was irrelevant for that reason: the ban on age discrimination only applies in the labour market.

If you rent out as a business, there is also a criminal provision. Anyone who, in the course of a business, refuses to serve someone on the same terms as others because of, among other things, race, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, faith or sexual orientation can be punished with a fine or imprisonment (§ 1 of the Act on the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race (racediskriminationsloven), in Danish).

The City of Copenhagen’s checklist for fair renting is a good place to start:

1. Do not set requirements about ethnicity or nationality in the listing.
2. Consider using a waiting list, so the letting is transparent.
3. Set your criteria before you advertise.
4. Ask all applicants the same questions.
5. Keep documentation of the process.

Warning signs when you screen tenants

A single sign does not make an applicant unsuitable, but it is a reason to ask more. Ask in the same way, whoever the applicant is.

• The applicant pushes to get the keys before the lease is signed and the deposit is paid.
• The applicant would rather avoid a written lease. You can always require the tenancy agreement to be in writing (§ 11(1) of the Rent Act).
• The information about job, income or who will live in the home changes along the way.
• The applicant will not show documentation of income or give a reference.
• Payslips or other documents look edited, or names, dates and amounts do not match.
• The applicant wants to pay in cash. Under the Rent Act, you must name an account in a financial institution that the rent is paid into (§ 57), and a bank transfer gives you both documentation.

Deposit and prepaid rent as security

Even thorough screening cannot guarantee that everything goes well. That is why, when the tenancy is entered into, you may demand a deposit of no more than 3 months’ rent. It serves as security for the tenant’s obligations on move-out (§ 59(1) of the Rent Act). You can also demand up to 3 months’ rent in advance, but not more than the rent for the period from the tenant giving notice until the tenancy ends (§ 59(3)). Once the tenancy agreement has been terminated, the tenant can set the prepaid rent off against the last part of the rental period.

The amounts must be demanded when the tenancy is entered into, so write them in the lease. Read more about the rules and pitfalls of deposits and prepaid rent.

The deposit does not replace screening. It is security on move-out, not a guarantee that the rent will be paid month after month. If you would rather not do it yourself, we find and screen the tenant for you when we handle your long-term rental.

Sources

• Data Protection Act (databeskyttelsesloven), Consolidated Act no. 289 of 8 March 2024 (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• What is personal data (Datatilsynet, in Danish)
• When may you process personal data (Datatilsynet, in Danish)
• The basic principles (Datatilsynet, in Danish)
• Accountability and data minimisation (Datatilsynet, in Danish)
• Consent (Datatilsynet, in Danish)
• Ethnic Equal Treatment Act, Consolidated Act no. 438 of 16 May 2012 (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Act on equality between women and men, Consolidated Act no. 5 of 6 January 2025 (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Act on the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of disability, Consolidated Act no. 1071 of 10 August 2023 as amended (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Act on the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race etc., Consolidated Act no. 626 of 29 September 1987 as amended (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Decision of the Board of Equal Treatment on gender and a tenancy agreement, ref. 2017-6811-22012 (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Grounds of discrimination (Board of Equal Treatment, in Danish)
• Avoid ethnic discrimination when renting out homes (City of Copenhagen, in Danish)
• Act on Rent (lejeloven), Act no. 341 of 22 March 2022 as amended (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Bill on Rent (L 47), explanatory notes to § 15 (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Standard form A, 10th edition: lease for residential use (Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing, in Danish)