Tenavia: one platform for the whole tenancy. Screening, rent, certificates, repairs, photos and records.
Screen tenants yourself, without an agent
Agents charge per applicant for checks you can run better yourself. Send every applicant one link, and this shortlist is what comes back: every document verified, every applicant scored on the same scale.
Free for one property.3 applicants a year, everything else included. No card, no expiry.
Landlords start now, no card needed · No account needed for the demo
applicant shortlist5 screened
R. Patel95 · Excellent
Income consistency£2,840 payslip · £2,837 in bankMatch
Payslip integritytax & NI recomputedPassed
Statement ledgercash balance arithmeticPassed
Affordabilityrent is 28% of verified incomeAffordable
Everything a self-managing landlord does, in one place. Free for one property, 3 applicants a year, no card, no expiry. One plan covers the rest.
What needs doing, and what Tenavia does about it
No agent needed. Eleven jobs, the same for every applicant. Seven are done for you, one is a paid extra, and three need a person. Those three are marked, because a page that pretends otherwise is not worth reading.
What needs doingWhat Tenavia does
What needs doingAsk everyone for the same documentsA recent payslip and three months of bank statements, from every applicant.
What Tenavia doesDone for youOne link does the asking. Every applicant uploads to the same secure place, so nothing lands in your personal inbox.
What needs doingCheck for fraudulent payslipsFake payslips are cheap to buy online and look real.
What Tenavia doesDone for youWe work out the tax and National Insurance again from HMRC’s own tables. A fake usually gets the pay right and the deductions wrong, so it fails the sums.
What needs doingCheck for edited bank statementsHas a figure been changed to make things look better?
What Tenavia doesDone for youEvery balance is added up again, line by line, and each month is checked against the next to the penny. Change one number and the statement stops adding up.
What needs doingCheck the salary really arrivesA payslip says what they earn. The bank statement shows what they were actually paid.
What Tenavia doesDone for youWe look for the salary landing in the bank each month, from the employer named on the payslip.
What needs doingCheck they can afford the rentRent should be around a third of what they take home, with room for a bad month.
What Tenavia doesDone for youYou see the rent next to the income we verified, and what is left each month. Self-employed applicants are judged on what lands in the bank, not marked down for having no payslip.
What needs doingCompare applicants fairlyThe same checks, in the same order, for everyone.
What Tenavia doesDone for youEvery applicant is scored the same way and shown in a ranked list, with every warning explained in plain words. The score never rejects anyone. You decide.
What needs doingRun a credit checkCounty court judgments and credit history, from a credit reference agency.
What Tenavia does£12 add-onAdd one to your chosen applicant for £12. They fill in the agency’s form and give consent themselves. The result shows on their row and never changes the score.
What needs doingCheck their IDLook at the document and the person holding it.
What Tenavia doesStays yoursYours, because it needs a human. We match the name across the payslip and the bank statements, but only someone who meets the applicant can confirm the document is theirs.
What needs doingSpeak to their previous landlordDid they pay on time, and would they take them back?
What Tenavia doesStays yoursYours to make, and worth making. Ask the applicant for their landlord’s details, and check them independently of the number you are given.
What needs doingDo the right to rent checkThe law says the landlord must do this before the tenancy starts.
What Tenavia doesStays yoursStays yours. We collect the share code and date of birth from any applicant who needs one, so you have what the official check asks for.
What needs doingKeep a record of how you choseWith no-fault eviction gone, being able to show a fair decision matters.
What Tenavia doesDone for youEvery applicant is scored on the same published weights, and the working behind each figure is kept and dated. If anyone ever asks, you can show exactly how you chose.
The four forgeries no eye catches
Steps two and three are where DIY screening genuinely breaks down, because the documents most worth catching are built to survive a careful read.
The template payslip Fails arithmeticBought online, gross salary right, tax and National Insurance impossibly wrong. Caught by recomputing the deductions a real payroll would make.
The salary that never lands No matching creditA payslip can claim anything. The bank statement shows what the employer really pays, and whether it arrives from the employer at all.
The edited statement Ledger breaksChange one figure and every running balance after it stops adding up. Re-adding three months of rows takes software, not scrutiny.
The photo of a screen UnverifiableProves nothing and cannot be verified. It deserves to be treated as unverifiable rather than waved through out of politeness.
This is the honest reason screening software exists. Not to replace your judgement about people, but to do arithmetic at a scale and rigour no landlord has a Sunday afternoon for: on a typical complete application, over a thousand individual verifications.
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.
What sending one link replaces
You stay the decision maker. The collecting and the forensics stop being your evening job.
- 01The chasing. Every applicant gets the same link and uploads the same evidence to one secure place, instead of emailing bank statements to your personal inbox.
- 02The forensics. Forty-seven automated checks: file forensics, payroll arithmetic, ledger re-adding, salary matching, coverage. All four forgeries above, caught by arithmetic.
- 03The comparison. Every applicant scored on the same scale, ranked, every flag naming its reason. The score never rejects anyone; the decision stays yours.
- 04The per-applicant fees. £8 a month for your property, however many people apply. Applicants pay nothing, ever.
Free for one property · 3 applicants a year · No card, no expiry · Unlimited applicants and printable exports from £8 a month, cancel anytime
ICO-registered · UK GDPR · Applicant data is never sold · Landlords see scores and verified figures, not raw documents, unless the applicant shares them
Questions self-managing landlords ask
Including the two answers an agent would rather blur.
Is it legal to screen tenants myself?
Yes. Nothing requires a letting agent or a referencing company. Two duties sit with you either way: performing the official right to rent check before the tenancy starts, and handling applicants’ personal information properly once you hold it.
Can a private landlord do tenant referencing without an agency?
Yes, and this is that. Referencing is the agent’s word for the same job: confirming who the applicant is, that their income is real, and that the rent fits it. Tenavia runs those checks on the documents the applicant sends and shows you the evidence behind each answer, so a private landlord can reference an applicant to the same standard without handing the decision away.
Is tenant vetting the same as tenant screening?
Yes. Vetting, screening and referencing are three words for one job: confirming who the applicant is, that their income is real, and that the rent fits it. This guide uses screening; if you typed vetting, this is the vetting process, and the checks below are how to verify a tenant properly.
How much does tenant referencing cost, and is cheap referencing worth it?
Agents and referencing companies usually price per applicant, so checking five people is five fees, and the cheap end of the market is often a quick pass or fail on one person. Tenavia charges per property, not per applicant: one property is free (3 applicants a year, no card, no expiry), and from £8 a month every rental application check on that property is included with no limit, every applicant screened and ranked. Applicants are never charged.
What documents should I ask a tenant for?
Photo ID, the last three months of bank statements, payslips if they are employed, and a previous landlord’s contact details. Self-employed applicants substitute their tax records and rely more on bank evidence. Ask every applicant for the same pack.
Do I still need a credit check?
A credit check 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. They fill in the agency’s own form and consent themselves, the result appears on their row as its own line, and it never changes the score or the ranking. The decision stays yours either way.
How should I handle applicants’ documents safely?
Bank statements in a personal email inbox are a liability. Collect through one secure place, share nothing onward, and delete what you no longer need. Tenavia stores the evidence encrypted, shows you verified figures rather than raw files by default, and applicant data is never sold.
What about self-employed applicants?
Their payslip does not exist, so the bank statements do the talking: regular incoming payments, what remains each month after costs, backed by tax records. Tenavia scores self-employed applicants on exactly that evidence rather than marking them down for having no payslip.