For letting agents, finding a tenant has never been just about filling a vacancy.

With rents rising and household budgets under pressure, the decision made before move-in can have a lasting effect on a landlord’s income and a tenant’s ability to sustain their tenancy.

The HomeLet Rental Index shows that the typical UK tenant spent 32% of their income on rent in September 2026. Average monthly rent reached £1,387, up 3.3% year on year, after seven consecutive monthly increases. Outside London, average rent stood at £1,176.

In some areas of the UK, such as London, affordability is even more stretched, with the average tenant income-to-rent ratio creeping towards 40%. When rent takes up that much of a household budget, there may be less room to absorb an unexpected bill or a change in income. For letting agents, the question is not just whether an applicant can afford the rent today, but whether the tenancy is likely to remain affordable over time.

For landlords in England, regaining possession when a tenancy goes wrong is not immediate. Since Section 21 no-fault evictions ended in May 2026, landlords must rely on a valid ground for possession and follow the legal process. If a tenant stops paying rent, arrears can continue to build while the case progresses.

Legal for Lettings’ Quarterly Courtwatch recorded an average court delay of 4.85 months across the UK, showing how long landlords may have to wait for a case to move forward.

The financial impact can be significant. Quarterly Courtwatch put median lost rent at £5,325 per possession case and average loss per claim at £6,411. These figures underline why it is so important to assess affordability and potential risks before a tenancy begins.

If a tenant falls into arrears, the impact on your business can go beyond the tenancy itself. 

Your landlord will likely look to you for answers and support. Even when a change in the tenant’s circumstances could not have been predicted, they may question how the applicant was assessed and whether any warning signs were missed. That can strain the relationship and, in some cases, put the landlord’s business at risk.

That is why your recommendation needs to be based on more than an applicant meeting a basic income threshold. Thorough, well-documented referencing helps you explain the decision you made and give your landlord confidence in the checks behind it.

A clearer picture with VISTA referencing

That is where VISTA referencing can help. HomeLet and Let Alliance’s VISTA tenancy scorecard goes beyond a traditional affordability calculation, drawing on verified information to build a fuller picture of an applicant’s financial circumstances and rental behaviour.

Where applicants choose to share it, VISTA can verify income directly through HMRC and Open Banking. It also uses credit information, current account insights and residential data to help agents assess how an applicant manages their commitments, rather than relying solely on the income they declare or documents they provide. This is particularly valuable when household budgets are stretched: an income figure alone may not tell the whole story about someone’s ability to keep up with rent.

No referencing process can guarantee that a tenant’s circumstances will not change. But by bringing affordability, payment behaviour and fraud checks together, VISTA helps agents make a more informed choice at the point when it can make the biggest difference: before the tenancy begins.

To find out more about VISTA, speak to our team today.