Across England and Wales, landlords are increasingly focusing on tenant referencing after the introduction of limits on advance rent and a notable surge in County Court Judgments (CCJs), a recent study shows.
According to Leaders’ data, close to 50% of respondents say that referencing has grown in significance since the advance-rent ban was implemented. This change coincides with Registry Trust statistics showing that about 1.02 million new consumer CCJs were recorded in England and Wales during 2025, an 11.6% rise year-on-year and the largest total since 2019.
Rising Financial Pressure on Tenants
A separate study from LexisNexis Risk Solutions identified that 3.14 million adults – roughly 6% of the adult population – carry at least one CCJ or another adverse financial mark on their credit files. Given that 12.9 million individuals reside in the private rental market, landlords are more likely to meet prospective tenants with poor credit histories when conducting references.
The Renters’ Rights Act eliminated Section 21 no-fault evictions and capped advance rent at a single month’s payment. Consequently, landlords can no longer depend on upfront rent as a safety net once a tenancy starts, shifting risk mitigation to the pre-tenancy vetting stage. These reforms align with government efforts to tighten regulation of the lettings industry.
How Landlords Are Adapting
Leaders’ Summer 2026 Lettings Report outlines landlords’ responses to the altered environment. The most frequent answer, given by 41.7% of participants, indicates reliance on their letting agent to handle tenant referencing.
Among landlords who adopt a proactive stance, 37.4% state that referencing has grown markedly more key since the ban on advance rent, while an additional 7.8% note a modest increase in importance. A minority of 13.1% claim that referencing has always been their chief concern and remains unchanged.
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When asked to pinpoint the top criterion for approving a tenancy request, 40.6% of landlords prioritized the applicant’s employment and earnings, with 38.8% placing the referencing report from their letting agent in second place. Combined, these considerations represent close to 80% of the responses.
Tenant Experience and Perspectives
Tenant-focused data paints a somewhat more reassuring view than landlord reports. Eighty-two percent of surveyed tenants claim they have consistently cleared referencing checks. For the small segment that faced rejection, the leading cause was income level (4%), with employment type accounting for 2.2% and credit history for 1.6%.
On the question of rigorous referencing’s worth, 36.8% of tenants believe it serves both landlords and renters equally, noting that detailed checks can stop tenants from entering untenable leases. An additional 21% feel the practice favors landlords more while still offering some tenant advantage. Conversely, 25.9% regard it solely as a safeguard for landlords.
For landlords who employ professional agents, 41.7% assert that professional referencing yields generally or consistently superior results compared with alternative approaches, while merely 3.3% feel it underperforms.
Allison Thompson, Chief Lettings Officer at Leaders, part of LRG, said: “With advance rent no longer available, referencing has moved from being one tool among many to being the most important decision a landlord makes before a tenancy begins. The volume of CCJs and adverse credit markers in the population is rising, and landlords are right to take the referencing process seriously.”
The heightened emphasis on tenant screening arrives alongside sweeping regulatory reforms that are redefining the lettings environment, affecting both landlords and renters in the private sector. Findings show that although landlords encounter stricter vetting demands, most tenants, 82%, still clear referencing assessments, implying the process works well for the majority of market participants.
