Playbooks · Everyday tasks · last verified 2026-10-23

Write a first rental listing description and screening questions

For a small landlord × drafting a first listing description and a set of screening questions × with Claude, in plain chat — posting and legal checks are yours.

Before you start

You need the facts of the place, written down by you: number of bedrooms and bathrooms, approximate size if you know it, rent amount, what is included (utilities, parking, laundry, furnishings), pet policy, smoking policy, available date, and the neighbourhood in general terms. If you do not know a fact, write UNKNOWN — do not let the draft fill it in.

Time and cost: NOT_MEASURED. This page states no rent advice and no expected outcome from a listing.

Do not paste tenants' or applicants' personal information into the chat, and do not paste your own full address or account details. A listing draft needs the property's features, not anyone's private information. This playbook also gives no legal advice: screening rules and required disclosures vary by place, and the chatbot's draft is not a substitute for checking your local rules.

What "done" looks like

At the end of one sitting you have a listing description that states only facts you supplied, a short set of screening questions you have read one by one, and a note of the questions you still need to check against local rules before posting. Nothing is posted by the chatbot in this playbook.

Steps

1. Give the facts as a list, not a story. Paste:

   Write a rental listing description from these facts only:
   [bedrooms] bedrooms, [bathrooms] bathrooms, rent [amount] per
   month, available [date]. Included: [utilities/parking/laundry].
   Pet policy: [policy]. Smoking policy: [policy]. Nearest
   transit or main road: [general area only]. Do not add features,
   amenities, or nearby places I did not list. Keep it under 200
   words, plain tone, no sales language.

2. Ask for screening questions in two groups. Paste:

   Now draft screening questions in two groups: (1) questions
   about the tenancy itself — move-in date, number of occupants,
   pets, smoking, rental history, references; (2) questions I
   should check against local tenancy rules before asking, with
   a note saying CHECK LOCAL RULES next to each one. Do not
   include questions about protected characteristics, and flag
   any question you are unsure about instead of including it
   silently.

   The two-group split is the point: group 1 is usable drafting, group 2 is a reminder list, and nothing in group 2 goes into a real application until you have checked it.

3. Check every fact in the description against your list. Read the draft line by line. Delete any feature, amenity, or nearby place you did not supply, even if it sounds plausible for the area. A listing that overstates the property creates problems at the viewing that a plainer listing never does.
4. Read every screening question and decide keep, reword, or cut. For each question ask: does this tell me something I need to decide a tenancy, and am I allowed to ask it where this property is? If you cannot answer both, cut it or check the local rule first.
5. Post it yourself. Copy the final description and the questions you kept into the listing site or application form you use, and keep a copy of exactly what you posted.

Check the agent's work

• Every fact in the description was supplied by you. Nothing was added about the property, the building, or the neighbourhood.
• Rent, available date, pet policy, and smoking policy match your facts exactly — these are the details applicants will rely on.
• No screening question asks about a protected characteristic, and no question you were unsure about slipped into the usable group unflagged.
• The tone is plain and factual. Superlatives or sales language you would not defend at a viewing have been cut.
• Anything marked CHECK LOCAL RULES is still unchecked — it does not go into a live application until you have checked it.

What can go wrong

• It invents amenities. Chatbots fill gaps with plausible details — a dishwasher, a balcony, a nearby school. The facts-only instruction and the line-by-line check exist for this reason.
• It writes screening questions you should not ask. A chatbot's draft is not legal advice and does not know your jurisdiction. Treat every question as unvetted until you have checked it.
• It softens a policy you meant to be firm. "Pets considered" is not the same as "no pets." Check policy wording character by character — applicants read it literally.
• It assumes a rent or a market you did not state. If the draft suggests a rent, a deposit, or lease terms you did not supply, delete them. Those are your decisions, informed by local rules and comparable listings you check yourself.

Limits

• Claude's chat is a drafting tool in this playbook. It cannot post a listing, run a background or credit check, verify an applicant, or confirm what your local tenancy rules allow. Those steps are yours, with the appropriate service or authority.
• No legal advice is given or claimed here. If a screening question or a lease term matters, check it against your jurisdiction's tenancy rules or with a qualified adviser.
• No file upload, web search, or pricing capability is claimed on this page. The draft is built entirely from facts you type into the chat.

Verification

Tier: AUTHOR_DOCS_VERIFIED · 2026-10-23. This page was not run end to end; its capability claims rest on provider documentation fetched this run. The only product capability this playbook relies on is conversational drafting in a chat — typing a request and refining it with follow-ups — which is the ordinary interaction described across the provider pages consulted: Claude Help Center — Upload files to Claude (Claude as a chat product with individual chats; file upload is available but not used by this playbook's steps); OpenAI — Research with ChatGPT (chat follow-up pattern, consulted for the general chat interaction and set aside where this playbook does not use search). Omitted: no claim is made that Claude can post listings, run checks, verify applicants, or give legal advice — those steps were cut because they are not grounded in the fetched pages, and the playbook says so in Limits. Limits of this verification: provider pages describe the chat product, not whether any given listing or question complies with local rules — that check is the "Check the agent's work" section above and your own local-rules check.

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