Renting: Referencing Data asked before viewing the property

HamSoulo

Hi All
Im in market for renting a decent property in London. Called up local estate agent, after viewing pictures of a property on the website. The agent asked a couple of questions like annual income, which was promptly answered and I volunteered more information - like number of people in household, no CCJs, will provide a great recommendation letter from LL, never got any rent arrears etc.
After all this, asked if and when I could get a viewing. The agent said that first she needs some more information, due to covid they want to be sure who are viewing, I gave my email address and within minutes 'Goodlord' form was sent. This is essentially referencing form, asking for whole lot of data.
Is it right to ask prospective tenants so much of confidential data even before viewing of the property? 
Has anyone else experienced the same?

greatcrested

Increasingly common. Covid makes viewings difficult (sometimes impossible!) so restricting viewings to applicants who are known to be genuine and acceptable makes sense.

At least with the Tenant Fees Act 2019 you cannot be charge for the process any more.

youth_leader

I went through all the Good Lord hoops too.  I also had to allow a third party access to my bank account as I couldn't upload my bank statements with my name on.  

saajan_12

There's no right or wrong - its up to individuals what they want to agree to or whether they'd prefer to walk away. If enough people refuse then they may loosen requirements, but currently it's likely working for  them. 

Personally, I think it makes sense - if in order to rent a property there are 2 criteria (among others)
a) that you like the property (through viewing)
b) that LL accepts you as tenant (through referencing, income etc)
Then one of those needs to happen first, which will filter out people who need to check the 2nd criterion. In normal times, viewings are pretty easy, so makes sense to do that first and then only have to reference and manage data on a few potential tenants. In covid times, when physical contact is risky, it makes sense to minimise the people viewing by using other filters first - ie reference checks first. 

The agent should be following GDPR guidelines in holding your data eg only using it for required purposes, storing securely etc. 

HamSoulo

Thanks @greatcrested @youth_leader @saajan_12 for your comments.
I completely understand the need to find suitable tenants and only allow viewings for the ones fiting their criteria. Having said that I found it extremely intrusive, and very deviant of them to ask for all of my following data even before agreeing for a viewing.
I complained to branch manager about not being very comfortable parting with my data and I again asked for fixing viewing, while giving my salary, number of occupants in the house, move in date etc. And after a day of sending me this form, they took the property off the market. No communication about viewing ever reached me.
And GDPR laws are there, but companies do not give a flying squat about them. Emma's Diary has been fined for illegally selling the personal details of more than a million users. MSE bulletin news: Experian sold data of its hapless million users and there is a legal suit. So not very re assuring these GDPR laws eh. Rogues will do what rogues want.