On this page you define which requirements applicants must meet at each stage of your rental process. Locari automatically checks incoming applications against your active criteria and only contacts you for borderline cases.
What Locari does automatically: Check applicant data and documents against your active criteria, calculate the fulfilment status, start a clarification request for borderline cases, mark applicants with an unmet requirement for manual review. What you decide: Which criteria to activate, what threshold and tolerance applies, and whether a borderline case is accepted or rejected.
Common Tasks
- Add or edit a criterion
- Set the phase: pre-selection or document verification
- Configure income multiple and tolerance
- Configure the response to non-fulfillment
- View the full criteria catalog
- Track criteria changes
For an overview of all applications switch to the Applicant List.
How To
Setting Up Criteria
- Open the rental → tab Tenant requirements.
- Click Add requirement and choose an entry from the catalog. You change an existing row via "…" → Edit.
- Configure phase, mandatory flag, and value where applicable — for example:
- Criterion: Income (incl. benefits) from 3× base rent
- Phase: Pre-selection
- Mandatory: Yes — if not fulfilled: request guarantor
- Save — the criterion applies to all new applications immediately. If applications already depend on it, Locari asks "Re-check them now?". Nobody is accepted and nobody is rejected by this.
Example for the Bauer family: Base rent 1,200 €, income criterion 3× = 3,600 € net. The Bauer family reports 3,800 € — criterion fulfilled .
Understanding Phases
Locari assigns each criterion to one of two evaluation phases:
| Phase | When | Typical criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-selection | Immediately on application, before a viewing invitation | Name, income, employment, pets, smoker status |
| Document verification | After applicant submits documents | Proof of income, ID, credit report, self-disclosure form |
What the AI does here: In pre-selection, Locari evaluates the applicant's self-reported data. In document verification, the AI reads submitted files, extracts values (income, employment duration), and compares them with self-reported figures. What you do: You decide which criterion belongs to which phase. If documents contradict self-reported data, Locari flags the applicant for manual review.
Income and Income Proof
Configure income multiple:
- Choose the Income (incl. benefits) criterion (1.5×, 2×, or 3× base rent). Income includes wages, pensions, basic income support (Grundsicherungsgeld, formerly citizen's benefit), unemployment benefit, BAföG, parental allowance, housing benefit, child benefit, maintenance and other regular benefits, each with the amount paid out.
- Set a tolerance — default: ±10 %. Example: with a 3,600 € requirement and 10 % tolerance, 3,240 € is sufficient.
- Choose response when not fulfilled: Manual review or Request guarantor.
Income proof criterion:
- Activate the Proof of income criterion. Accepted are pay slips, benefit and pension notices and bank statements showing income (other transactions may be blacked out).
- Set the number of months to evidence (default: 3). A single document can cover several months; a valid benefit or pension notice covers all months.
- Applies to the configured household roles (primary tenant, partner, guarantor).
- Self-employed people and freelancers meet the proof with their most recent tax assessment or BWA (business evaluation), even if all of them are older than the month limit. If the proven sum is not enough, you decide in the manual review.
- Child benefit, child supplement, child maintenance and housing benefit only count towards the amount in the document check with an official notice; they do not replace proof of income. Housing costs paid by an authority do not count as income. Without proof the row reads "Additional income stated, not proven, does not count".
Response to Non-Fulfillment
For income criteria you can choose what happens when an applicant does not meet the requirement:
- Manual review — Applicant is flagged for your manual review; you decide.
- Request guarantor — Locari automatically requests a guarantor. Once a guarantor with sufficient income is confirmed, the criterion is marked as fulfilled.
Locari never rejects on its own. An unmet requirement always leads to manual review by you (GDPR Art. 22) — you make the final decision.
Criteria Catalog
Personal Details
| Criterion | Phase | Configurable |
|---|---|---|
| First name provided | Pre-selection | Mandatory (active by default) |
| Last name provided | Pre-selection | Mandatory (active by default) |
| Valid phone number | Pre-selection | Mandatory / Optional |
Income
| Criterion | Phase | Configurable |
|---|---|---|
| Income (incl. benefits) ≥ 1.5× rent | Pre-selection | Tolerance, response to non-fulfillment |
| Income (incl. benefits) ≥ 2× rent | Pre-selection | Tolerance, response to non-fulfillment |
| Income (incl. benefits) ≥ 3× rent | Pre-selection | Tolerance, response to non-fulfillment |
| Proof of income | Document verification | Number of months (default 3) |
Only one of the three income-multiple criteria can be active at the same time.
Employment
| Criterion | Phase | Configurable |
|---|---|---|
| Has employment | Pre-selection | Mandatory / Optional |
| No probationary period | Pre-selection | Mandatory / Optional |
Documents
| Criterion | Phase | Configurable |
|---|---|---|
| ID document required | Document verification | Mandatory / Optional — applies to the configured roles |
| Credit report required | Document verification | Mandatory / Optional |
| Self-disclosure form required | Document verification | Template uploadable |
| Signed guarantor form | Document verification | Only when guarantor present |
Legal note (DSK 2024): According to German data protection authority guidelines, the credit report and ID document may only be requested at an advanced stage — when the selection has been narrowed down to a few serious candidates. Locari therefore assigns these criteria to the fixed document verification phase.
Other
| Criterion | Phase | Configurable |
|---|---|---|
| No pets | Pre-selection | Mandatory / Optional |
| Non-smoker | Pre-selection | Mandatory / Optional — requires consent |
| Household size | Pre-selection | Value, Mandatory / Optional |
| Household type | Pre-selection | Value, Mandatory / Optional |
How the fulfilment status is calculated: Locari checks each active criterion with a fixed comparison against the threshold you set, and marks the status as fulfilled, not fulfilled, or pending. The result appears as a percentage on the applicant detail page: fulfilled criteria ÷ total × 100. There is no weighted point ranking — the same data always yields the same result. If fulfillment is unclear — for example income stated without proof — the criterion stays pending. As soon as the document is available, Locari updates the status automatically. What you do: You set whether a criterion is mandatory or optional, and decide for each borderline case whether the deviation is acceptable.
Audit and History
The History tab documents every criteria change: who added, edited, or removed which criterion, with timestamp and team member name.
Important: Changes to criteria only apply to newly incoming applications. Already-evaluated applications are not automatically recalculated. On the applicant detail page, click Re-process to re-evaluate a single application against the current criteria.
Retention: Criteria changes remain permanently visible in the history and cannot be deleted — they serve as evidence in the event of discrimination complaints.