For owners: how to write a listing that gets calls
Two identical flats, the same district, the same price. One is let within a week; the other sits empty for a month. The difference is almost never the flat — it is the listing. A tenant looks at dozens of adverts a day and gives each one a few seconds: glances at the photo, checks the price, reads the first two lines, moves on. If those few seconds do not give a clear picture of your flat, the advert sinks. Writing a good one is not difficult work; it is an hour of care, and that hour usually buys back weeks of an empty flat.
Photographs are ninety per cent of the listing
Take the pictures in daylight, on a bright day. Turn the lights on, open the curtains, clear away the clutter — this is not renovation, it is basic preparation. Shoot each room from the doorway, from a corner: the room reads as larger and the layout is easier to understand. A phone camera is entirely sufficient, as long as your hand is steady.
The commonest mistake is posting only the two prettiest shots. A tenant is suspicious of what they have not been shown and will not even open the advert. Show every room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the balcony and the stairwell — including the tired parts. Hide them and the tenant arrives, sees them, is annoyed and leaves, and you have wasted the afternoon.
- Daylight, lights on, curtains open.
- Every room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the balcony — leave nothing out.
- The view from the window, the stairwell and the courtyard.
- Photos taken on the same day, and all of the same flat.
- Never reuse pictures from another advert — the checks pick that up.
Make the title specific
A title is not the first sentence of the advert, it is its address. "Wonderful flat, hurry" carries no information at all. Put the three things that matter into it instead: the number of rooms, a landmark, and the flat’s main selling point — the district or metro station, and one concrete attribute such as "furnished" or "recently renovated".
Capital letters, exclamation marks and the word "URGENT" never help. They are the house style of agent adverts and they make a tenant suspicious. A plain, calm, precise title gets opened more often.
The description: what the tenant wants to know
Write the description in the order the tenant asks their questions, not in the order that suits you. Put the essentials in the first two lines: where it is, how many rooms, whether it is furnished, who it suits. The rest of the detail can follow.
You do not need long, flowery text. Ten or fifteen precise lines work better than a hundred lines of praise. Generic words like "has everything", "cosy" and "European renovation" say nothing — replace them with facts: which appliances are there, how it is heated, what floor it is on.
- A landmark: metro station, bazaar, school or a main street.
- Rooms, floor area, which floor of how many, and whether there is a lift.
- The furniture and appliances, listed.
- Type of heating, internet, parking.
- Who it is offered to: a family, students, a flatshare — say so plainly.
- The date it is free from, and the minimum term.
The price, and what it covers
An advert with no price is barely opened. "Negotiable" does not save the tenant time; it simply sends them to the next listing. Put a real figure in — the negotiation will happen anyway.
Alongside the price, say what it covers: are utilities included, who pays the building management fee, is the internet separate. State the deposit in the advert as well. That information cuts out pointless calls, and the people who do ring are the ones who already accept your terms.
What to disclose in advance
Hiding a drawback buys a short-term advantage and costs you in the long run. If the flat is on the ground floor, if there is no lift, if the heating is electric only, if there is construction on the next street — write it down. That kind of openness builds trust, and the people who come to view are the ones who have already accepted those conditions.
Set out your terms up front too: are pets allowed, how many people may live there, what your position on smoking is. Settling these in the advert is better than an uncomfortable conversation with someone standing in your hallway.
Verification and answering quickly
Confirming your phone number and having your identity and ownership document checked gives the listing a trust badge. That matters to tenants, because they are wary of fraud and open verified adverts first. The check is free and you do it once.
The last point is small and important: response time. Someone hunting for a flat calls several owners in a day and goes to view whoever answers first. Making a habit of calling back a missed number, even hours later, changes the outcome of a listing noticeably. And once the flat is let, close the advert straight away — it saves other people’s time and protects your reputation.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it cost anything to post a listing?
- No. Posting, editing and verifying a listing are all free for the owner. Nothing is taken from you at any point.
- Can everyone see my phone number?
- No. The number is shown only to signed-in users and only on the full listing page. That stops automated scrapers from harvesting it.
- Why is nobody looking at my listing?
- It is usually one of three things: too few or poor photos, no price, or a description that is too generic. Fixing those three normally brings a listing back to life.