A guide to finding the right tenant for your property

This article was updated in April 2026 to include information about the Renters’ Rights Act.

Whether you own one or more investment properties that you’ve bought specifically to let out, or you’re moving out and looking for tenants to rent the home you’ve been living in, the process can be stressful.

Your property is likely to be the most significant investment you’ve made in your life, so finding the perfect tenants is an issue of protecting your asset as well as finding trustworthy custodians of a home that may be sentimentally important to you.

To help you navigate the difficult world of renting your property, we run down the top things that landlords should look for when screening a tenant.

Where to find good tenants

Whether you’re an experienced landlord or a brand new property owner, it can be a challenge to find good tenants for your rental properties.

Use property websites

One of the broadest ways to advertise your property to prospective tenants is by using one or more of the popular online property sites such as Rightmove, Zoopla or Openrent.

The upsides of using property websites to find tenants include:

• You’ll reach a wide audience quickly
• You can encourage a good volume of interest from plenty of prospective renters

The downsides include:

• The cost of advertising, which will usually set you back at least £50 per month or more
• You get limited functionality to filter applicants when making enquiries, so you may find that you get a large volume of enquiries from prospective tenants who are not ideal candidates.

Think creatively

To encourage high-quality applications from prospective tenants, you may wish to consider searching in less obvious places. Periodically browse online message boards for people searching for homes to rent.

Also, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are often places where prospective renters may post about their requirements and about themselves.

The upsides of using social media to find prospective tenants include:

• It’s free to post about your property
• You’re in control of the post and can ask your friends and family to share the post with people in their network

The downsides include:

• It may be harder to filter the applications you get
• People aren’t always who they seem on social media

Prepare your property to encourage the right tenant

Decorate and furnish

The way you display your property will heavily influence the kind of potential tenant you will receive interest from. It’s well worth spending a little money to window-dress your property for prospective renters.

Unlike in the sales market, where potential buyers might see the value in a ‘do-er-upper’, renters are likely to be looking for a place they can move into straight away.

Some simple ways to make your home more appealing to a high-quality tenant include:

• A fresh coat of paint in a bright, neutral colour
• An emphasis on cleanliness, especially in the bathroom(s) and kitchen
• High-quality photographs, always taken during the day
• A de-cluttered living area
• Simple, good quality, widely-appealing furnishings

An important factor in whether you have a good tenant or not is the way they will treat the home when they live there. An individual who views a messy, unclean home with faded decor and does not raise an objection is perhaps more likely to take less care in keeping the place in good condition during a tenancy.

Conversely, showing off a clean, well-presented and well-decorated home is a way to encourage prospective tenants to maintain this high standard.

What to look for in a tenant

There are certain things to look out for when selecting your tenant for your property that can help guarantee your investment and ensure you have a harmonious relationship with the person or people who call your house their home.

Stable job

A stable job isn’t essential for a good tenancy — but it’s definitely a positive sign. If a prospective tenant can show they’ve got steady, long-term employment with a reputable company, there’s a good chance they’ll be able to pay their rent on time. Plus, employers can often provide helpful character references, too.

That said, don’t rule out applicants who aren’t in full-time work. From May 2026, landlords will no longer be able to reject applicants because they receive state benefits. You might just need to run a few extra checks or ask for added reassurance — more on that below.

Affordability

Regardless of whether your new tenant is in long-term employment, self-employed or on benefits, you should make sure their income will comfortably cover the rent. The decision will need to be based on fair, neutral criteria. Your tenant's income source alone won’t be a valid reason to refuse an application from May 2026.

As a general rule of thumb, tenants are considered to pass affordability checks if their pre-tax income is at least two and a half times the rent.

Use our easy-to-use calculator below to help you work out whether your prospective tenant’s income meets this threshold.

Long-term renter

From May 2026, the standard tenancy agreement in the UK is known as an Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT). These new tenancy agreements will be rolling, meaning there will be no end date

Tenants will be able to leave at any point with two months’ notice, and landlords will only be able to end tenancies using a valid Section 8 ground.

As a landlord, this means you’ll lose the predictability of fixed end dates. Your tenants can leave when it suits them (after giving two months' notice), but you’ll still need valid grounds to end the tenancy yourself.

On the flipside, it does mean you’ll gain a simpler setup with fewer contract types to manage.

Check your tenant

Once you have found a potential tenant or a shortlist of possible tenants, then the next stage in ensuring you have the best renter for your property is a series of checks that allow you to vet your potential tenants.

Credit checks

As a landlord, you can (and, to be responsible, really should) conduct a credit reference check on your prospective tenants before entering into a tenancy agreement. This can give you peace of mind, knowing you’ve found a tenant who will reliably be able to pay their rent each month.

A tenancy credit check will help you find out whether the tenant has:

• Given you their genuine bank details
• Any County Court Judgements or fraud convictions
• A history of missing payment deadlines and bills
• Provided an accurate history of their previous addresses

With the three main credit reference agencies in the UK (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian), a tenancy credit check should cost you around £20 per person, though a more thorough background check will cost more.

References

To give yourself the best chance of securing a tenant that is trustworthy, responsible and will keep your property in good condition, you should ask for a reference from one or more previous landlords.

Sensible questions to ask a previous landlord as a reference include:

• Did they take good care of the property?
• Did they receive their full deposit back when they left your property?
• Would you recommend them as a good tenant?
• Did they always pay their rent on time?

You may also seek a reference from your prospective tenant’s employer, asking for information like:

• What’s their salary?
• Are they employed full-time or part-time, and temporarily or permanently?
• How long have they worked for the company?

Right to Rent check

Once you are satisfied with your choice of tenant, before you can officially sign a tenancy agreement with them, you legally have to conduct a “Right To Rent” check if your property is in England.

Intended as a measure to help crack down on illegal immigration, landlords have been obliged since 2014 to check that their tenants have the right to live in the country. Those with a right to rent in England include all UK and Irish citizens and holders of:

• A Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)
• A valid visa
• Documentation showing ‘proof of settlement status granted’

Legally, it is your responsibility as the landlord to conduct these checks, including checking all the relevant documentation.

Protect yourself and your property

Taking a deposit

Once you’ve found the tenant that you wish to trust with your property, it is usual to request a deposit before they move in. This will usually be of an amount equivalent to one month’s rent, but it can vary at the landlord’s discretion.

A good tenant will be well aware of both the reason for needing to take a deposit, as well as the legal protections they enjoy when their money is taken. The deposit does not sit with you, the landlord, but with a third-party deposit protection scheme until the end of the tenancy.

Rent guarantor

A way to guarantee peace of mind regarding your rental income is to ask your prospective tenant to provide a rent guarantor. This can work especially in a situation where you have found a tenant you like and think is responsible, but has less than perfect credit history.

The rental guarantor will co-sign the tenancy document and agree to pay rent if the tenant is unable to. Guarantors will usually be parents or guardians of tenants, though they can be anyone over the age of 18.

Crucially, you should always conduct a credit reference check on a guarantor as well as the prospective tenant.

Landlord insurance

When you undertake all your due diligence and make every effort to find the perfect tenant, there can still be times when your relationship will not be perfect, and your tenant may not take good care of the property or cause damage, either accidentally or maliciously.

To protect yourself and your asset against financial losses if this rare and unfortunate situation occurs, landlord insurance can provide cover for damage to the home that occurs either because of a tenant’s recklessness or neglect.

Landlord insurance policies bought through always include building and fixtures and fittings cover, as well as property owners’ liability.

There’s also the opportunity to include landlords’ contents cover, if you’re providing white goods and furniture. Additionally, you might want to consider landlords’ home emergency cover, for things like boiler breakdowns or pest infestations.

You may also like:

• A guide to your responsibilities as a landlord
• Landlords guide to inspecting your property
• Your rights as a landlord