Application Assist · before you upload

What to send, what to leave out, and what to black out.

Your review runs on a complete pack. This is the exact list. Nothing more is needed, and a few things should never be sent to anyone, including us.

Read this before your dashboard opens. It takes about four minutes, and it's the same list an agent would work from.

How the upload works

Tell us your situation

After you book, the team emails you (within one business day, usually much sooner) to say your dashboard is open. You sign in on this site with a six-digit code sent to the email you paid with (no password, nothing to set up), and answer a few questions: who's applying, how each of you is paid, what you're after.

Your list, person by person

After the call (or straight from your answers), each person gets a list of only what their situation needs. Everyone can see who's done and who's not; each person decides whether the others can open their documents. Housemates can upload their own with their own sign-in.

Missing something? Say so

Every item has three answers: add it, it doesn't apply, or you don't have it yet. Gaps don't stop anything. Press “My pack is complete” when you're ready and the 48-business-hour clock starts then. The pack builds around what's missing.

Only through the dashboard. Please don't email documents. If some arrive that way, we move them into your dashboard and delete the email. Everything you upload is stored encrypted in Sydney on SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 certified infrastructure (Supabase), opened only by you, anyone else on your order, and the review team, used solely for that review, and deleted within 60 days of it being delivered. Front of the Pile itself is a small business and isn't audited to those standards, but the infrastructure holding your documents is. Details in the privacy policy.

What to send

Queensland lets an agency ask for at most two supporting documents for each applicant, in each of three categories: identity, financial, and suitability (rental history). Your review needs no more than that, either. Send what you intend to submit, in the state you'd submit it. If you haven't chosen yet, send the options and say so.

FOR EACH ADULT APPLICANT

The application itself, if you've started one: the PDF or summary the platform gives you (Ignite, 2Apply, Snug, the agency's own form), or the approved Queensland form if you've filled it in. If you haven't started, that's fine: say which platform the property uses if you know it.
Identity: the one or two ID documents you plan to submit (usually a driver licence or passport, maybe a Medicare or student card as the second). With the numbers blacked out, as set out below. We're checking how it reads, not verifying who you are.
Financial, or what shows your income: your two most recent payslips, or an employment letter, or for self-employed people the last notice of assessment and/or an accountant's letter, or a Centrelink income statement. Two documents at most. Bank statements are not on this list, on purpose.
Rental history: a tenant ledger, a rental reference or a written reference from a previous landlord or agent. No history yet? Say so, and send whatever you'd offer instead: a written reference from an employer, a boarding/family arrangement letter, anything you're considering.
Your cover letter, if you've drafted one. It gets rewritten as part of the review, so a rough draft is better than none. It tells us what you think matters.

FOR THE HOUSEHOLD (ONCE)

Who's applying: names as they'll appear on the application, and how you're connected (couple, friends, family, sharehouse).
The property, if there's a specific one: the listing link or the address, the advertised rent, and the lease term offered. If it's general preparation, tell us the suburbs and budget you're looking at instead.
Pets: a pet profile or resume if you have one; otherwise the type, breed, age and whether it's registered/desexed, plus a photo.
The thing that needs explaining: a gap in rental history, a new job, a guarantor, a previous unsuccessful application, moving from interstate or overseas. One paragraph, plain words. This is usually where the review earns its money.
Any extras you're thinking of adding, and we'll tell you which strengthen the pack and which are just noise.

What to black out first

A review is about how your pack reads. It doesn't need the numbers that make a document dangerous if it ends up in the wrong place. Before you upload, cover these with a solid black box:

On ID documents

Licence number and card number
Passport number
Medicare number and the individual reference number
Your signature

Keep visible: your name, photo, date of birth and address. That's what an agent actually looks at.

On payslips and income documents

Bank account number and BSB
Tax file number (TFN), anywhere it appears
Employee ID or payroll number

Keep visible: employer, pay period, gross and net pay, year-to-date. That's what the affordability check uses.

Before and after

Before Account: 123-456 98765432 · TFN: 123 456 789 · Net pay: $1,640.20
After Account: 123-456 98765432 · TFN: 123 456 789 · Net pay: $1,640.20

How to do it so it actually works

Use a solid box, not a highlighter or a blur. Highlighter is see-through; blurred and pixelated text can often be reversed. A black rectangle at full opacity is the only version that stays hidden.
On a phone: open the photo or PDF, choose Markup (iPhone: the pen icon; Android: Edit → Markup or the pen tool), pick the pen or shape at full opacity, draw the box, then Save as a new file or Share → Save to Files. Upload that new file.
On a computer: Mac Preview → Tools → Annotate → Rectangle, filled, then File → Export as PDF. Windows → open in Photos or Paint, draw a filled rectangle, Save as. For PDFs on Windows, print to PDF after drawing the box so the layer is flattened.
Don't cover it in Word or Pages and save the document. The text is still underneath. Export to PDF or take a screenshot of the finished page instead.
Check it once by opening the new file and trying to select the covered text. If nothing selects and nothing shows, you're done.

Never send these, to us or to anyone

Bank transaction statements. Queensland agencies can't require them, and your review doesn't need them. If a form insists, that's a question for the request checker, not a reason to send one.
Your tax file number, on its own or on any document. No application needs it.
Full card numbers or photos of cards.
Logins or passwords to any rental platform, tenant app or email account. Nobody legitimate will ask for them, including us.
Another adult's documents without their say-so. Each applicant should send their own, or tell us they're happy for a housemate to send on their behalf.
Anything about a protected attribute: ethnicity, religion, disability, pregnancy, relationship status and the like. Not required, not relevant, and the review will tell you to leave it out of the application anyway.

Files and names

Format: PDF, JPG or PNG. One document per file. No zips, no screenshots of screenshots.
Naming: Applicant1-ID.pdf, Applicant1-payslip-1.pdf, Applicant2-reference.pdf, Household-pet-profile.pdf. Numbers match the order you listed people in.
Size: phone photos are fine; keep each file under 25 MB.
Readable: flat, in focus, all four corners in shot. If an agent would squint, we would too.

The rule underneath all of this: send what you'd send an agent, redacted the way you'd want it handled if it went astray. The review improves how your genuine circumstances are presented. It never invents, hides or pads anything.

Questions before you upload?

Email hello@frontofthepile.com.au. Describe the document, don't attach it. You'll get a plain answer, usually the same business day.

Back to Application Assist

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