Tenavia: one platform for the whole tenancy. Screening, rent, certificates, repairs, photos and records.
Choosing tenants after the Renters’ Rights Act
Section 21 is gone and tenancies no longer have a fixed end. The decision you make before the keys change hands is now the one that protects you.
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a legal ground, evidence, often a court
Section 21 is abolished. Possession needs a section 8 ground: serious arrears, anti-social behaviour, selling, or moving back in. Each one must be evidenced in writing for a judge.
tenancies are periodic from day one
Your tenant can leave on two months’ notice, and for the first twelve months the moving in and selling grounds are closed to you.
advertise a price, accept no more
Accepting more than the advertised rent is unlawful, rent in advance is capped at one month, and a rise needs formal notice once a year, which the tenant can challenge at tribunal.
the tenant you choose, on evidence
Blanket bans on benefits or children are unlawful: each applicant is judged on their own evidence, and that evidence is now the whole of your protection.
What the act says, not legal advice. The government’s guidance holds the current detail; the rest of this page is about the decision it left you.
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How does Tenavia protect landlords?
By choosing a tenant based on evidence through Tenavia’s screening system. Then by maintaining an electronic record of the tenancy which makes it hard to argue against.
- 01Every applicant is checked the same way, before the keys. Forty-seven automated checks: tax and National Insurance recomputed from HMRC’s tables, and the claimed salary traced to the money that actually lands in the bank.
- 02Fraud detection is built in. An edited PDF names the editing tool in its own metadata, a template payslip fails the tax arithmetic, and a bank statement whose balances do not add up is flagged. None of it is catchable by eye.
- 03One ranked shortlist, and a reason you can point to. Everyone is scored on the same scale in the same order, so if a rejection is ever questioned, the process is the answer.
- 04The record builds itself as the tenancy runs. Certificates and their expiry, the deposit clock, rent month by month, the letters you sent, inspections and condition photos, kept with the tenancy.
- 05And that record is dated by something other than you. Every file gets a fingerprint the moment it arrives: a short code that changes if the file changes. The date is stamped by our server, not typed in by you. The original is never altered, so its metadata survives: the hidden details a file carries, such as which program made it and when. The whole tenancy then exports as one document with that fingerprint printed on every page.Why that matters: in a dispute, the question is rarely whether you kept a photo. It is whether anything other than your own word says when it was taken.
One honest limit: no software makes you compliant with the Renters’ Rights Act, and Tenavia does not claim to. Compliance is how you run the tenancy: notices, deposits, certificates, rent rules. What Tenavia gives you is the strongest version of the decision the act made permanent, a dated record of how you made it, and a systematic way to stay on top of the rest: the deposit clock, certificate expiry and rent all tracked, and reminders before a deadline passes. Doing what the reminder asks is still yours.
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Vetting that answers the act, in five habits
Whether or not you use any software: the landlords adapting best do five concrete things, and all five are arithmetic and consistency rather than instinct.
- 01Verify the income actually lands. A payslip is a claim; the bank statement is what the employer really pays. They should match.
- 02Check the documents are genuine. Edited PDFs keep the old figure underneath; template payslips fail the tax arithmetic. Neither is caught by eye.
- 03Work affordability from real evidence. What is left each month after rent, from the credits that land, not a stated salary.
- 04Same checks, same order, every applicant. A consistent, documented process is what makes a rejection defensible.
- 05Keep the evidence. The application, the checks, the reason you chose. Under a grounds-based system, records are the currency.
Questions landlords ask
Straight answers, including the ones that are not a sales pitch.
Can I still choose freely between applicants?
Yes. The act does not tell you whom to pick. Equality law applies exactly as before: you cannot reject someone because of a protected characteristic, and blanket bans linked to benefits have been ruled discriminatory. Choosing on documented evidence, with the same checks for everyone, is both the safest and the strongest way to decide.
Does this make me compliant with the Renters’ Rights Act?
No, and be wary of anything that says otherwise. Compliance is about how you conduct the tenancy: notices, deposits, certificates, rent rules. Tenavia guides and reminds you to stay compliant in a systematic way.
What does the rent bidding ban mean for choosing?
You advertise a price and cannot invite or accept more than it. So when several people want the property, the deciding factor cannot be money. Evidence of reliability is what is left, which is exactly what screening produces.
Does Tenavia run credit checks?
Yes, as a paid extra on your chosen applicant, and deliberately separate from the screening. Tenavia is not a credit reference agency: the search is carried out for you by a referencing company using credit agency data, the applicant consents on their form, and it is a soft search that does not affect their rating. What the screening itself verifies is the evidence applicants actually hold: identity, income, bank statements, and whether the documents are genuine. The credit result sits beside the score and never moves it.
I already have applications in hand. How fast is this?
Minutes once the documents arrive. Send each applicant your link, and as their evidence comes in, the checks run and the ranking updates. Most applicants complete it the same day.
The whole job, in two acts
The same summary as our front page, because it is the honest shape of the product: choose well, then keep the record.
Act 1 · Finding the tenant
- 01Every enquiry, answered. One ready-written reply for every portal, carrying your booking link, with pre-qualifying questions attached.
- 02Viewings, booked and tracked. Who booked, rearranged or turned up, in one place. You approve each request.
- 03Screened across 47 checks. After the viewing: payslips, bank statements and affordability verified, every applicant scored on the same scale.
- 04Selection and final checks. Right to rent, credit, references: a checklist in the letting’s real order. Credit checks and references are not run by Tenavia; the checklist walks you through them. You decide; the score never does.
- 05Tenancy created. Contract, deposit, first rent, and room photos before move-in day.
Act 2 · Protecting the tenancy
Condition record
Move-in photos, inspections, move-out compared.
Deposit
The 30-day protection clock, counted down.
Rent
Monthly check-ins; arrears letters drafted for you.
Compliance
Gas, electrical, EPC: reminded before they lapse.
Maintenance
Tenants report by link. No app, no account.
Everything above is dated and kept, properly. Photos and certificates are fingerprinted the moment they arrive (a code that changes if a single pixel does), dates are stamped by our server rather than typed in, and the original files are never edited. If a tenancy ends in a dispute, you export one file that shows the whole story, and prints its own fingerprint on every page.
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