How to find a good letting agent (tenant guide)

Tenants usually pick a property and inherit the agent, but you can still screen one before you commit. Check three things on the agent's own website: their fee list, their redress scheme, and their client money protection scheme. All three have to be published by law. Then ask at the viewing whether the agent manages the property or just finds the tenant, because that single answer decides who you ring when the boiler dies.

Nobody sets out to choose a letting agent. You find a flat you like and the agent comes attached. But you will deal with that agent for the whole tenancy, and the difference between a good one and a bad one is the difference between a repair taking four days and four months.

So it is worth ten minutes of checking before you hand over a holding deposit. Here is what to look at.

The three things the law makes them publish

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a letting agent has to display certain information on their website and in any office where they deal with people face to face. If any of it is missing, that is your first data point.

• A list of fees. Clear, itemised, inclusive of VAT. Since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 most tenant fees are banned outright, so a tenant fee list should be short. What an agent can still charge you is rent, a refundable tenancy deposit, a holding deposit, a capped charge for changing the tenancy at your request, payments if you end the tenancy early, and utilities, council tax and the TV licence where the agreement says so. Anything charging you for viewings, referencing, credit checks, inventories, renewals or check-out is a warning sign, and quite possibly unlawful.
• Their redress scheme. Every letting and managing agent in England has had to belong to one since October 2014. There are two government approved schemes: The Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme. An agent who does not name one is either careless or not a member, and councils can fine them up to £5,000 for the latter.
• Their client money protection scheme. Since April 2019, an agent in England who holds client money has to belong to an approved scheme and display the membership certificate on their website and in the office. This is what compensates you if the agent goes under while holding your rent or deposit, and the penalty for not having it runs to £30,000, so a missing certificate is a genuine red flag rather than an oversight.

Any agent who publishes all three clearly has at least read the rules. That tells you something.

Ask the question that actually matters

At the viewing, ask: "Is this property fully managed by you, or is it let only?"

On a fully managed property, the agent handles repairs, inspections, rent collection and the deposit for the length of the tenancy. On a let-only or tenant-find arrangement, the agent finds you, takes their fee from the landlord, and then largely disappears. Your repair calls go to the landlord directly.

Neither is automatically worse. A hands-on landlord who answers the phone can beat a large agency with a ticketing system. What causes trouble is not knowing which one you have got, and then losing three weeks bouncing between the two. Get the answer in writing, along with the name and contact route for whoever handles repairs.

Read the reviews properly

Star ratings for letting agents are close to useless on their own, because most reviews come from people at the happy end of a move. Do this instead.

• Filter to the two and three star reviews. That is where the real texture is.
• Look for repeated words rather than dramatic one-offs. Three separate people saying "never answers the phone" is a pattern. One furious review about a specific person is not.
• Check whether reviews mention tenants or only landlords and sellers. An agent can be excellent for landlords and terrible for the people living in the property.
• See whether the agent replies, and how. Defensive replies to every criticism tell you how a complaint from you will go.

Professional memberships worth noticing

Voluntary memberships are not proof of quality, but they do mean the agent has signed up to a code of practice and to inspections. Propertymark (which runs ARLA Propertymark for letting agents), RICS and Safeagent are the ones you will see most often in England. Their logos are widely copied, so if it matters to you, look the agent up on the relevant body's own membership search rather than trusting the badge on the website.

What to check before you sign anything

A competent agent will hand most of this over without being asked. Asking is how you find out which sort you are dealing with.

• Gas safety record. Renewed every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and you should get a copy before you move in.
• Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). Required every five years, with a copy to you before you move in.
• Energy Performance Certificate. Rented homes in England and Wales must currently reach at least band E. The government has confirmed that landlords will have to meet a higher standard, broadly EPC C, by 1 October 2030. The certificate also tells you roughly what the heating will cost you.
• Which deposit scheme they use. Ask outright. Your deposit is capped at five weeks' rent, or six weeks if the annual rent is £50,000 or more, and it must be protected within 30 days with the prescribed information sent to you. If they hesitate, read our guide on what to do when a letting agent will not return your deposit before you commit.
• Your written statement of terms. For tenancies starting on or after 1 May 2026 you must be given one before the tenancy begins, either as a separate document or inside the agreement itself.
• The government information sheet. The Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 replaced the old How to Rent guide on 1 May 2026. It is a prescribed document that must not be edited, so an altered or out of date version tells you something about the agent.
• Licensing. Many councils operate selective or additional licensing, and larger HMOs need a mandatory licence. Your council's website will tell you whether the address needs one. An unlicensed property is a landlord problem, but it becomes your problem too.

Red flags at the viewing stage

• Being invited to offer above the advertised rent. Rental bidding was banned on 1 May 2026. The advertised rent has to be a stated proposed figure and the agent cannot invite, encourage or accept more.
• Asking for several months' rent up front. Where you pay monthly, no more than one month's rent can be required in advance, and it cannot be asked for or accepted until the agreement has been signed, even if you offer it.
• Any suggestion that benefits claimants or families with children need not apply. Unlawful since 1 May 2026, including in the advert itself.
• A holding deposit over one week's rent, or vagueness about when you get it back. The default is that the agent has 15 days to make a decision unless you agree a different period in writing.
• An agreement that still talks about a fixed term or a section 21 notice. Both were abolished in England on 1 May 2026. Old templates suggest an agent who has not updated their paperwork, which rarely stops at the paperwork. Our guide to tenant rights under the Renters' Rights Act explains what should be there instead.
• Pressure. "Three other people are interested, I need a decision tonight." Sometimes true. Often not.

Test them before you are committed

Send one email with a straightforward question after the viewing. Something like: who do I report a repair to, and what is the target response time for an urgent one? How long they take to reply, and whether the answer is specific, predicts most of the tenancy.

Ring the office once, too. If nobody picks up on a Wednesday afternoon while they are trying to let a property, think about what happens when you have no hot water in January.

Once you are in

Photograph everything on day one, including the meter readings, and put dated copies somewhere that is not your phone. Return the check-in inventory with your own comments added rather than signing it blind. Report repairs in writing every time, even if you also ring. That paper trail is what wins deposit disputes and disrepair complaints later on.

And if the agent lets you down badly, you have a free route. Complain to them formally in writing, then escalate to their redress scheme if it is not resolved within eight weeks. A separate ombudsman covering private landlords directly is being set up under the Renters' Rights Act, but it is not open yet, so the agent's scheme is the route available to you today. For safety, disrepair, harassment or banned fees, contact your council's private sector housing team. Shelter and Citizens Advice will both help you work out which door to knock on.

One caveat about where you live

This guide is written for England. Wales operates under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 with occupation contracts and its own agent licensing through Rent Smart Wales. Scotland requires letting agents to be on a statutory register and to follow the Letting Agent Code of Practice. Northern Ireland has separate rules again. The checks are similar in spirit, but the schemes and the legal duties are not the same.

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