Liverpool Landlord Hub
How to Choose the Right Tenant in 2025 (And What Happens If You Don’t)
Published: February 2025
Category: Risk Reduction | Tenant Management
Let’s be blunt — a bad tenant can wreck your rental income, damage your property, and cost you months of legal hassle.
In 2025, with no-fault evictions set to be abolished, landlords have fewer ways to regain possession. That means choosing the right tenant up front is more important than ever.
Here’s how to do it properly — and what can go wrong if you don’t.
✅ 1. Always Use a Professional Referencing Service
Forget “they seemed nice.”
Professional referencing is your first line of defence. At Open Key, we use a system that checks:
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Credit score & financial stability
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Employer verification
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Affordability based on income
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References from previous landlords
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ID and address verification
This isn’t just box-ticking — it’s risk reduction.
✅ 2. Don’t Accept Incomplete Applications
No bank statements? Gaps in employment history?
If something feels off — it probably is.
Always insist on a complete application pack before issuing an AST. Never let desperation to fill a void override common sense.
✅ 3. Gut Feel ≠ Due Diligence
It doesn’t matter how polite or well-dressed someone is — a reference check is objective. It keeps emotion out of a legal business decision.
We’ve seen tenants who passed every charm test — and later defaulted on rent for 6 months.
✅ 4. What Can Go Wrong Without Referencing
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Rent arrears you can’t recover
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Damage to the property and no valid deposit claim
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Eviction delays due to Section 21 being scrapped
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No legal grounds to remove the tenant (if you skipped documentation)
And if you try to evict without proper process? You could end up in court, out of pocket, and legally blocked from repossession.
✅ 5. Let Us Handle This for You
At Open Key, we manage tenant referencing and qualification as standard. We won’t move anyone in without proper checks — because your rental income depends on it.
Choosing a tenant is easy.
Choosing the right tenant is everything.
🤝 Need Help Vetting a Tenant?
📩 Email: info@openkeylets.com
📞 Call: 0151 701 0212
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