@drewdevault This happens because there are no reliable credit scores in Europe.

You have a form of this *everywhere*. For us, it's usually in the form of demanding an affidavit from another owner / renter that they will take you in in case you're not paying the rent and have to be thrown out.

The alternative is a social housing system like the one in Stockholm, where apartments are cheap and ubiquitous, if you're willling to wait in line for 20 years. We had a similar system before the free market took hold here, with the added complication that a bribe and/or a family connection to the right officer could potentially let you bypass the queue.