Anyone can find a tenant for an apartment in Porto right now — the market's hot enough that you won't struggle to fill a vacancy. Finding the right one is a different job, and it's the part most owners skip past too fast, usually because they just want the "For Rent" sign down.
We've screened a lot of tenants over the years, and the honest truth is: the process matters more than the person's first impression. Someone can be lovely in the viewing and still be a nightmare tenant. Someone quiet and a little awkward on the phone can turn out to be your easiest relationship in years. So we don't go on gut feeling alone — we go on a process.
Start with what the property actually is
Before you screen anyone, be honest about what you're renting out. A place set up for a medium-term stay — a month, a few months — pulls in a different kind of tenant than a traditional long lease: remote workers, people relocating for a job, someone between homes while they sort out something bigger. Get that positioning right first, and half your mismatches never happen.
What we actually check
Income first. We like to see stable income around three times the rent — a payslip, a contract, solid proof of freelance or remote income. For international tenants this is rarely a neat Portuguese payslip, so we've learned to read bank statements and employer letters just as carefully.
Then references — and this is the one step most owners skip entirely, which is a shame, because it's the fastest one. A two-minute message to a previous landlord ("did they pay on time, did they take care of the place, would you rent to them again?") tells you more than the whole rest of the application combined.
And identity checks, always — a valid ID, and for anyone coming from abroad, confirmation they're legally allowed to be here for the length of the stay. Non-negotiable, no matter how nice the conversation was.
The red flags that actually matter
A few things make us slow down every time: someone who dodges direct questions about income or work, someone pushing to skip paperwork or "just move faster," an offer to hand over cash up front "to make it easier," or a story that quietly shifts between the first chat and the application. None of these alone is a dealbreaker — but two together, and we pause.
Getting the contract to match the stay
Once you've picked someone, make sure the paperwork actually fits — a short stay, a medium-term arrangement, and a full arrendamento lease are legally different things with different rules for both sides. (We go into the details in a separate guide, worth a read before anyone signs anything.)
Why this is the part we take off your plate
Screening isn't something you do once and move on from — it's the start of a relationship you'll be managing for months, maybe years. Getting it right at the front end is the difference between a property that just runs and one that calls you every other week. It's also, honestly, the most time-consuming part of this whole job to do properly on your own — which is exactly where we come in.
