Rentals, red tape and rejection...

When I began house hunting at the beginning of this year, I fully expected that I was going to run into some faith challenges. I had been paying minimal rent for more than a decade and I knew that typical rentals on a house like mine were around five or six times the amount I had been paying.

Even so, it was rather a shock - as I mentioned in a previous post - to discover that even the tiniest of flats or one-roomed studios had a rental that was more than my total monthly income.  I wasn't sure whether I should even go and look at the places available, when I knew that my income was insufficient to cover the cost.

But God has kept reminding me of the principle of stepping out with what we have - even if it seems totally inadequate for the situation. I wrote about that in this blog (see this post from 3rd January) and this week I shared a devotional about it when my home group from church met, probably for the last time, at my house. Different group members then shared their own testimonies of times that they had stepped out in faith and how God had honoured their faith by providing all that they needed.

Yes, I was prepared for the fact that there would be a faith challenge. What I wasn't prepared for was that the system would have changed since the last time I was house hunting, that there would be more red tape than in the past, and that I would constantly find myself being rejected as an undesirable tenant.

I decided this week that I needed at least to visit a few flats and studios - just to see what is available and get a sense of whether God was prompting me to have faith for any place in particular. So I requested a few appointments to visit properties: the system usually involved leaving your phone number in a contact form and waiting for them to phone you to arrange a visit.

Imagine my surprise when I was subjected each time to an interrogation and a speech about the "requisitos" (requirements) for signing a rental contract. Rental contracts are not allowed to be more than 33% of your monthly income, I was told, and so, before arranging for me to visit a flat, they needed proof that I had been in my current employment for more than a year, and I had to provide salary slips to confirm my income over the past three months!!

It wouldn't have surprised me that proof of income was needed if I was looking to arrange a mortgage, but I was stunned to discover that it was also needed for a rental contract. I suppose it's their way of confirming that you're not going to default on the monthly payments.

Of course, I had to go through the usual explanation that I don't have a salary, that I do voluntary work and live from gift income. (In different circumstances, I might have offered to provide three months of bank statements... but I knew that this would only confirm the rental to be an amount higher than my total income.) It didn't seem that this was even an option for them, however. Time and again I discovered that, if I wanted to rent even a one-roomed studio, I needed to have an income of more than €3000 per month, and I needed to prove it with salary slips.

I'm not giving up yet. I'm going to keep looking and keep trying to make appointments to view possible accommodation. But it does feel a little bit as if a door is closing... as if finding a rental property through the usual channels is something that is far out of reach.

There's an old saying that rejection often turns out to be redirection. If you read missionary biographies, there have been many people historically who found doors closing to them (even some, like Gladys Aylward, who were rejected for missionary service) and God used that closed door to direct them into the plans and purposes He had for them. 

So I'm seeking to be sensitive to what the alternatives to the red tape might be. Perhaps a private rental without an estate agent's contract could be an option. Perhaps there's still a future housemate out there somewhere. Some people have even urged me to consider that it might be time to buy a home instead of renting one!

Each option feels just as impossible as the others... so, as we head into the last week of the month, I just keep moving forward at the prompting of a God who specialises in the impossible.