How to Find Good Tenants in London

Every landlord wants the same thing: a tenant who pays on time, looks after the property and stays for a reasonable length of time. Finding that tenant is partly judgement and partly process, and since the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force, the process matters more than ever. Here is how to attract the right applicants and assess them fairly, lawfully and with confidence.

What a good tenant actually looks like

A reliable tenant is not simply someone who can afford the rent. It is someone whose income is stable, whose references stand up to scrutiny and whose circumstances suggest they will treat your property as a home rather than a short stop. Affordability, a settled employment or income position and a clean history with a previous landlord tend to matter far more than first impressions at a viewing.

It is worth being honest with yourself about what you can and cannot tell from a friendly conversation. Charm is not a reference. The whole point of a structured assessment is to replace gut feeling with evidence, applied in the same way to everyone who applies.

Marketing to the right audience

Good tenants are often found, not stumbled upon. A well presented listing with honest photographs, a clear description and an accurate rent figure will attract people who are genuinely suited to the property, rather than a flood of enquiries you then have to filter. Pricing realistically for the area is the single biggest factor in the quality of applicant you attract.

Where you advertise shapes who you reach. Listing on the major portals gives breadth, but the right professional or corporate audience often comes through more targeted channels. Many London landlords find that working with an agent who understands a particular tenant base, such as relocating professionals, brings stronger and better referenced applicants. Our note on letting to Japanese corporate tenants in London explains why that audience tends to be so dependable.

Referencing: the part you should never skip

Referencing is where most problems are caught before they become problems. A thorough check looks at three things in particular.

• Affordability, usually confirmed against a guideline of rent being no more than around a third of gross income
• Employment or income, verified directly with an employer or through accounts where someone is self-employed
• A previous-landlord reference, which tells you how the applicant actually behaved as a tenant, not just whether they could afford to be one

If an applicant is strong in every respect but slightly short on the income multiple, there are lawful ways to bridge the gap. A UK-based guarantor, or a company or employer standing behind the tenancy, can give you the security you need. These are the right tools to reach for, and they are worth discussing openly rather than rejecting a good applicant outright.

Right to rent checks

You are legally required to confirm that every adult occupier has the right to rent in England before the tenancy begins. For most tenants this is now done through the online share code system: the applicant generates a share code, gives it to you along with their date of birth, and you confirm their status on the government service. British and Irish citizens are the usual exception and can prove their status with original documents instead.

Carry out the same check for every tenant, keep a dated record of what you confirmed, and never treat someone differently because of how they look or sound. A consistent process protects both your tenant and you.

The strengths of corporate and relocation tenancies

If you want to reduce risk further, corporate and relocation tenancies are hard to beat. The rent is often paid or underwritten by an established employer, references are straightforward, and the tenant typically arrives with a clear reason to look after the property and stay for the duration of a posting. For many London landlords this is the closest thing to a low-stress let, which is why it features so heavily in how we advise clients on choosing the right approach. If you are weighing up how much support you want, our guide on how to choose a letting agent in London may help.

Staying the right side of the law

Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 you cannot apply blanket bans against families with children or against people who receive benefits. Refusing someone, or refusing even to consider them, on those grounds is unlawful discrimination. The same principle runs through everything above: assess every applicant against the same affordability and reference criteria, and judge them on what the evidence shows, not on assumptions about their circumstances.

This does not mean you must accept anyone. It means your reasons for saying no must be objective and consistent, such as an affordability shortfall with no guarantor available, or a poor previous-landlord reference. Keep notes on how you reached each decision. If you would like the wider picture of what has changed, our overview of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 for London landlords sets it out in plain terms.

Finding a good tenant is mostly about doing the ordinary things well and applying them evenly. If you would value a second pair of eyes on a tricky application, or simply want to know that your referencing and right to rent process is sound, a short conversation costs nothing. We are always happy to talk it through before anything is signed.