Tenavia: one platform for the whole tenancy. Screening, rent, certificates, repairs, photos and records.
What to ask tenants for: the pre-tenancy checklist
Five things to collect from every applicant, five checks to run once the pack arrives, and the certificates and duties on your side before the keys. Decide the list before the first enquiry and the whole let runs calmer, and the record it leaves is the one that protects you later.
Free for one property.3 applicants a year, everything else included. No card, no expiry.
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The applicant pack: five things, asked of everyone
The biggest upgrade to most landlords’ process costs nothing: fix the list in advance and ask every applicant for exactly the same pack. Serious applicants provide it without fuss, comparisons become fair, and nobody can say the goalposts moved.
Photo ID
Ask for: See the original, in person. You will anyway at the right to rent check, so nobody needs to email a photo of their passport.
What it provesWho you are dealing with, and the name every other document has to agree with.
Watch forA name that differs from the bank account or the payslip. One harmless cause to know: a passport prints the surname in its own box, so SMITH, JOHN and John Smith are the same person.
Three months of bank statements
Ask for: Three consecutive months, most recent first, downloaded from the bank. One three-month PDF is fine.
What it provesIncome landing, rent leaving, and what is left each month. A statement is a ledger, and a ledger has to add up.
Watch forScreenshots instead of the bank’s PDF, a missing month, and a running balance that does not re-add from one line to the next.
Payslips, or tax records
Ask for: Payslips for the same months if employed. If self-employed, the HMRC SA302 and tax year overview instead, and lean on the statements.
What it provesThe income they claim, which the statements then have to confirm.
Watch forTax and National Insurance that do not fit the gross pay, and a net figure that never appears in the statements.
A previous landlord’s details
Ask for: Three questions: paid on time, condition on leaving, would you let to them again. Optional, and cheap insurance.
What it provesHow they behaved as a tenant, which no document can show you.
Watch forA referee who cannot name the address or the rent. Compare the address they give with the one printed on the statements.
Right to rent evidence
Ask for: A share code and date of birth, or the original documents in person. The check itself is yours, through the government service.
What it provesTheir right to rent in England, for every adult who will live there. A legal requirement before the tenancy starts.
Watch forA work share code (starts with W) offered in place of a rent one (starts with R). Codes last 90 days, so an old one may have lapsed.
Five checks, once the pack arrives
Collecting the documents is the easy half. These are the checks that turn a pile of PDFs into a decision, in the order they are worth doing.
- 01The names agree everywhere. Form, ID, payslip, bank account. Genuine paperwork is consistent without trying.
- 02The claimed salary actually lands. Find the employer’s credit in the statements and match it to the payslip’s net pay.
- 03The months join up. A missing month is a question, not a formality. Ask for it.
- 04The affordability arithmetic works. The rule of thumb is annual income of thirty times the monthly rent, or rent under roughly a third of take-home. Work from what lands, not what is stated.
- 05The documents are genuine. Template payslips fail payroll arithmetic, and edited PDFs keep the original figure underneath. Neither is caught by eye. This is the step software exists for.
Same bank statements both times. Only the payslip changed, and the arithmetic noticed.
The checklist, as one link
Send every applicant the same request. Get back a ranked list.
Tenavia asks each applicant for the pack, runs forty-seven checks on what comes back, and scores every complete application on the same scale. The checklist above happens by itself, identically, for everyone.
Free for one property · 3 applicants a year · No card, no expiry · Unlimited applicants and printable exports from £8 a month
When each job happens
Three moments, and the checklist is different at each. The first one is the one most landlords skip, and it is the one that makes the other two easy.
1Before you list
Decide the pack
Fix the five items now and write them into the listing and your first reply. Everyone hears the same ask on day one, so nobody can say the goalposts moved.
- Put the list in the advert
- Reuse the same reply for every enquiry
- Decide your affordability line in advance
2When they apply
Collect, then check
The same pack from every applicant, then the five checks on each. Compare like with like: a complete pack against a complete pack, never a promise against a PDF.
- One request, one deadline, everyone
- Verify with arithmetic, not by eye
- Keep a note of what you checked and why you chose
3Before the keys
Your own list
Separate from the applicant pack, eight jobs are the landlord’s side of a new tenancy: the certificates the tenant must receive, the deposit, the guide, the check. Since section 21 went, the dated record of each is what a possession case is built from.
- Gas, electrical and energy certificates
- Alarms tested, deposit protected, guide given
- The right to rent check, for every adult
- The full list, and what the tenant must receive
The whole checklist, compressed: decide the pack, collect it identically from everyone, verify it with arithmetic, keep the record. That is also, in one sentence, what Tenavia does.
What Tenavia does for you
Free for one property.3 applicants a year, everything else included. No card, no expiry.
Screen the tenantsApplicants send payslips and bank statements through your link. You get a ranked list. See howClose
One reply to paste into OpenRent or any listing site. Screening questions before viewings, so you only show people who fit.
47 checks on every applicant. Every warning says why. You make the choice.
Record the property’s conditionDated photos at move-in, inspections and move-out, side by side. See howClose
Take the photos on your phone. At the next inspection the camera shows the last photo faintly, so you line up the same shot.
Every photo is dated by us, not by the phone.
Stay compliantGas, electrical and energy certificates, and the deposit deadline. We remind you before they run out. See howClose
One page shows every date. Reminders by email before anything lapses.
No software makes you compliant, but nothing here gets forgotten.
Find a tradespersonTenants report a problem through a link. You request tradesperson quotes in one tap. See howClose
No app and no account for the tenant. You see the report with photos.
Pick a tradesperson, keep the quote, and the job is on the record.
Track the moneyRent checked off each month. Receipts kept for your tax return. See howClose
Late rent gets a dated letter you can send.
Receipts are read and filed in the boxes HMRC uses.
Everything is dated and kept in one file, ready if there is ever a dispute.
Your side of the checklist: the certificates and duties before the keys
Eight things that are yours, not the applicant’s. Most have a copy the tenant must receive, and every one of them has a date worth keeping. The government’s guidance for landlords holds the current detail; this is the list, and what Tenavia does with each.
Why this list now decides the ending
Section 21 is gone. The paperwork is now the case.
Since May 2026 a landlord in England cannot end a tenancy without a reason. Getting a property back means citing a legal ground, proving it, and if the tenant disputes it, persuading a judge. The landlord who cannot show when the gas certificate went to the tenant, when the deposit was protected or when the written statement of terms was given walks into that room already behind, and councils can fine landlords for the missed duties on their own.
None of it is decided at the hearing. It is decided in the months before, by whether anyone kept the record. A tenancy that starts with every item above dated is a tenancy you can end on a ground if you ever have to. One that starts on trust and text messages is not.
How the record builds the case
No software makes you compliant, and Tenavia does not claim to. What the record gives you is the version of events you can prove.
What one link takes off your desk
Mapped honestly. Three of the five are collected and checked for you. The other two stay in your hands, and the selection checklist holds the line until you tick them.
Free for one property · 3 applicants a year · No card, no expiry · Unlimited applicants and printable exports from £8 a month
Questions landlords ask
The judgement calls around the checklist.
How many months of bank statements should I ask for?
Three months is the standard: long enough to show the salary landing repeatedly and the real shape of spending, recent enough to describe their life now. Fewer leaves gaps a single unusual month can hide in.
Can I ask for documents before a viewing?
You can ask pre-qualifying questions before a viewing, and full documents once someone applies. Many landlords now pre-screen enquirers with a short questionnaire first, then send the document link to the shortlist. It keeps viewings for serious applicants without demanding paperwork from everyone who enquires.
Do I need to see their ID in person?
Yes, and you will anyway: the right to rent check in England is done in person with the original document, or online with a share code, before the tenancy starts. A photo of a passport sent by email proves far less than a passport in your hand, which is why Tenavia does not ask applicants to upload one. It matches the name across the form, the payslip and the bank account instead.
What about applicants who are self-employed?
Swap the payslip for tax records and lean on the bank statements: regular incoming payments and what remains each month. Ask for the same pack otherwise. Tenavia scores self-employed applicants on that evidence rather than marking them down for having no payslip.
Is it legal to ask for bank statements?
Yes, with proportionality and care. Income evidence is a normal, legitimate part of referencing. Your duties are to ask every applicant for the same things, use the documents only for the decision, store them securely and not keep them longer than needed.
Do I need a credit check as well?
It answers a different question from the documents: court judgments and credit history, rather than whether the income is real and the rent is affordable. You can add one to your chosen applicant for £12, once the document checks have narrowed it to one person, and the selection checklist reminds you at that point. They consent on the credit agency’s own form, it is a soft search that does not affect their rating, and the result sits beside their score rather than changing it.
Which documents does the tenant actually have to receive?
Before they move in: the gas safety certificate, the electrical safety report, the EPC and the written statement of terms, then the deposit scheme’s prescribed information once the deposit is protected. Keep a dated note of when each one was given. The government guidance for landlords holds the current list and is the place to confirm it for your property.
Is section 21 really gone?
Yes. Since May 2026 a landlord in England cannot end a tenancy without giving a reason. Possession runs through the legal grounds, each has to be evidenced, and a disputed case ends in front of a judge. That is why the certificates and the dated record matter more than they used to: they are the evidence, and the landlord who kept them is the one who can use the grounds at all.