Finding Good Tenants: Complete Advertising Guide

If you get tenant selection right, the rest of your business is boring and profitable. Get it wrong, and you spend your life chasing arrears and Section 8 grounds under the new Renters' Rights regime.

1. Where to advertise (2026 prices)

You want maximum exposure, minimum faff:

OpenRent

Free basic listing on OpenRent's own site; paid packages to push to Rightmove, Zoopla, PrimeLocation and partners.

Current combined advertising + tenancy creation product around GBP 58-69 inc VAT for 3-4 months, including portal exposure.

SpareRoom (for rooms/HMOs)

Free basic ads, with paid "bold" / featured options roughly GBP 10+ depending on duration and area.

Other channels

Zoopla access usually bundled via OpenRent / online agents, not direct for small landlords.

Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, local Facebook groups: free or low-cost but higher time-waster / scam risk.

Local letting agents: typically 8-12% of rent for full management instead of a fixed advert fee.

For most single-let ASTs in 2026, your default should be: OpenRent (for portals) plus SpareRoom if it is a room or HMO.

2. Listing and pricing: how to attract the right people

Your advert should do three jobs: pre-qualify, attract, and set expectations.

Include:

Clear headline: beds, key feature, area ("3-bed house with parking near station").

Essentials up front: rent, deposit, EPC rating, council tax band, parking, pets policy, broadband speed if good.

Photos: bright, landscape, one of every room, front elevation, garden. Tidy, no people in shot.

Floorplan: massively reduces wasted viewings from people who need a specific layout.

Pricing strategy:

Use OpenRent / portal rent calculators and comparables to find true market rent.

Price in line or a shade under market if you want lots of choice quickly.

Overpricing by GBP 50-100/month can easily add 2-4 weeks' void, which costs more than you gain. One month's void on a GBP 1,000 rent is GBP 1,000 lost; that dwarfs a GBP 25/month "uplift".

Your PropertyKiln guide should spell it out: overpricing to "see what happens" is often more expensive than pricing to let in the first 7-10 days.

3. Viewings and selection: what you actually look for

Viewings

Group block viewings can save time, but for final selection you want individual conversations.

Safety: meet at the property, ideally in daylight, let someone know where you are, keep valuables out of sight.

What to look for / ask (without discriminating):

Employment and income: job type, length of employment, probation periods.

Reason for moving and desired length of stay.

Who will live there, any pets, smoking habits (you can ban smoking inside).

How they have handled previous tenancies (do they volunteer landlord details, show awareness of responsibilities).

You then run full referencing (credit check, affordability, landlord and employer refs, right to rent) as in your 1.12 guide, either via your own checks or a service like OpenRent's referencing.

When choosing between applicants, you balance:

Affordability (rent at <= 30-40% of net income is a helpful guide).

Stability (job history, prior tenancy length).

Quality of references and overall communication.

"Gut feeling" is fine as a tie-breaker, but only within the limits of equality law.

4. What you cannot do: Equality Act, "No DSS", and Renters' Rights

Equality Act 2010 and DSS discrimination

You cannot discriminate on protected characteristics: sex, race, disability, religion, age, pregnancy/maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership.

Blanket "No DSS / no benefits" policies have been held to be indirect discrimination under the Equality Act because they disproportionately impact women and disabled people.

York County Court and subsequent cases found such policies unlawfully indirectly discriminatory under sections 19 and 29 Equality Act 2010.

So:

You cannot state "No DSS / no housing benefit" in adverts.

You can apply consistent affordability criteria, require guarantors, or decline an application where the numbers genuinely do not stack. You just cannot refuse solely because of benefit status.

Renters' Rights Act: why selection matters more now

From 1 May 2026, under the Renters' Rights Act:

You cannot grant new fixed-term ASTs under 21 years; all assured tenancies are periodic from day one.

Existing ASTs convert to rolling periodic tenancies on the commencement date.

Landlords can only recover possession on specified grounds; there is no "end of fixed term" break.

In other words:

You are now picking someone who may legally be able to stay for years as long as they pay and behave.

The cost of a bad choice has gone up because you do not have a natural fixed-term end to remove them; you are into ground-based possession if things go wrong.

Your tenant-selection guide should hammer this: with periodic-only tenancies, front-end filtering is your main risk control.

5. The cost of getting it wrong, and what forums get wrong

Costs of a bad tenant under the 2026 regime:

Void + re-let: 1-2 months at GBP 1,000 is GBP 1,000-2,000 plus re-letting costs.

Arrears: 3-6 months unpaid while you try to resolve or go to court.

Damage: anything from a deep clean to GBP 5,000-10,000 in serious cases.

Possession: legal fees, court fee, and time; under Renters' Rights you are reliant on grounds and evidence, not the calendar.

What forums tend to get wrong:

"Just always take the highest earner / highest offer."

You want sustainable affordability and behaviour, not just the biggest salary. A high earner planning a 6-month stay is less attractive in a world of periodic-only tenancies than a modest earner with stable local work and good references.

"Never take benefits, it's your choice."

Blanket bans risk Equality Act claims and compensation.

The lawful route is consistent affordability checks and, where appropriate, guarantors or direct HB payments, not crude "No DSS" policies.

"Agencies filter tenants better, so DIY is too risky."

Some agents are excellent; others are box-ticking factories.

With modern tools (OpenRent referencing, credit checks, written criteria), you can run a selection process as robust as a typical high-street agent, as long as you respect Equality Act and Renters' Rights.

For PropertyKiln, the position to take is:

In 2026, under a periodic-only Renters' Rights regime, tenant selection is not the bit you outsource and forget. You advertise widely, price sensibly, run proper referencing, and apply consistent, lawful criteria. If you lean on "gut feel" and "No DSS" memes from forums, you are gambling with a tenancy you may not easily be able to end.

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