Soaking runner bean seeds

Hi I’ve been having difficulties getting my runner beans to germinate, some have rotted in the compost, so I tried soaking them and growing in a jar of dampened kitchen roll, but I read somewhere that this causes halo blight, any advice please.

I soak them in tepid water for a few hours to prime them for germination, then I put them between damp kitchen paper in a sandwich box, potting up as soon as the roots first appear.

If either the kitchen paper or compost used for potting up looks wet rather than damp, it's too wet and the seeds may well rot (even if they germinated successfully.)