How to compare three rental offers on one cost sheet

Use a consistent set of columns

Give each offer its own column and use rows for base rent, mandatory recurring charges, excluded utilities, one-off costs and refundable cash. Record currency, billing period, occupancy dates and property size at the top. Do not combine a landlord’s all-inclusive total with separate component estimates until you know which components overlap.

Calculate two rankings

Rank the recurring monthly outlay separately from the cash needed to move in. An offer can win one ranking and lose the other. Illustration: 900 monthly plus 300 non-refundable setup costs is 5,700 over six months; 950 with no setup cost is also 5,700. This is arithmetic, not a market quote, and it excludes any bills that differ between the offers.

Keep uncertain offers out of false precision

Use a question mark for an undisclosed charge and state whether it could change the ranking. Do not fill it using whichever value makes a favourite property win. Check eligibility, availability and validity dates before treating a quote as actionable. Save the original terms privately so you can revisit your comparison when the advertised conditions change.

Sources and further reading

• Lifovra — methodology and limitations