How do I rank rental applicants fairly (for agencies)?

Rank rental applicants fairly by scoring only what actually matters for renting: how well their income covers the rent, whether their dossier is complete, the listing's own rules on pets and smoking, and checked documents (including a Betreibungsauszug without open debt collections). Permit type is never read. Never rank on race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation (refusing a flat offered to the public on those grounds can be a criminal offence), and leave out nationality, family status, age, gender and disability too: Swiss law does not forbid all of these outright, but they are unfair, and data protection limits what you may ask. Keep a person in charge of the final decision and a record of every choice. This is exactly what aptari does · list once and get an applicant inbox ranked by Match Score, which scores those four areas, leaves protected characteristics out completely, and shows the reasons behind every number.

Fair ranking keeps you on the right side of the law and gets you the best tenant. The two goals line up when you score the right things.

Criteria you SHOULD rank on

1. Income coverage

Gross income against the rent · the Swiss 3× rule. Objective and documented.

2. Dossier completeness

Did they provide ID, salary proof, Betreibungsauszug and references? Completeness is a good sign of reliability.

3. Listing fit

Household size against apartment size, pets against the pet policy, smoking against the smoking policy. All relevant to the listing. Permit type is never read.

4. Verifiable trust

A clean Betreibungsauszug and references you can check. Concrete and verifiable.

Criteria you must NEVER rank on

Some of these are protected by criminal law, the others are a matter of fairness and data protection:

Nationality (beyond the legal right to rent)
Race or ethnic origin
Religion
Family status, marital status, pregnancy
Age, gender, sexual orientation
Disability (except where accessibility genuinely matters)
Political views

What the law says: refusing a flat offered to the public because of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation can be a criminal offence (art. 261bis StGB) and violates personality rights (art. 28 ZGB). For age, gender, family status and nationality Swiss law has no general ban for private landlords, but you may not ask about marital status, religion or nationality as such on the application form (EDÖB leaflet of 15 July 2025). Leaving all of them out keeps you clear of both.

Watch out for hidden stand-ins: a postcode, a name or a first language can quietly stand in for a protected characteristic. A fair system leaves these out too.

The process that holds up

Objective criteria only, written down before you see applicants
A person makes the final decision, never the software on its own
A record of the inputs and the reason for every decision
A clear explanation available to any applicant who asks

How aptari's Match Score does this

Portals give you an inbox. aptari gives you a ranked shortlist: every applicant scored by the same rules, with the reasons shown. You decide. Match Scores per plan: Starter 5 a month after the trial, Growth 1,000 a month, Enterprise unlimited. The score is a clear set of rules, not a model trained on old, biased decisions. It looks at the four areas above and nothing else. Protected characteristics are never part of it, there are no hidden stand-ins, and every score comes with the reasons behind it. You stay the decision-maker · the score is simply a fair, explainable shortlist.

See discrimination in tenant selection and what you're allowed to ask tenants.