Tenant's guide: renting a home with confidence

Renting well is mostly about checks made before money changes hands. This guide covers what to verify, what a landlord must provide, and where your rights differ across the UK.

Before you pay anything

1. View the property in person, or by live video if you cannot attend, and meet the landlord or agent.
2. Confirm the person you are dealing with is entitled to let the property.
3. Ask for the gas safety record, electrical report, EPC and, where applicable, the licence or registration number.
4. Read the tenancy agreement in full before signing, including clauses on repairs, pets, subletting and ending the tenancy.
5. Get every payment in writing with a receipt.

Deposits

Your deposit must be protected in an approved scheme, and you must be given the scheme details. Caps on the amount and the timescale for protecting it differ by nation. At the end of the tenancy, deductions must be evidenced — the inventory and your own dated photographs are your protection.

Repairs and safety

• The landlord is responsible for the structure, exterior, heating, hot water, and gas, electrical and water installations.
• Report problems in writing and keep copies.
• Working smoke alarms, and carbon monoxide alarms where there are fixed combustion appliances, are the landlord's responsibility.
• If serious hazards are not dealt with, your local council's environmental health team can act.

Ending a tenancy

England and Wales

Notice periods depend on the type of tenancy or occupation contract and the reason. Wales uses occupation contracts with their own notice rules under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act.

Scotland

The private residential tenancy is open-ended. Tenants normally give 28 days' notice; a landlord must use one of the statutory eviction grounds and apply to the First-tier Tribunal.

Northern Ireland

Notice periods are set by statute and depend on how long you have lived in the property.

Renting from a private landlord on PointClickView

Enquiries you send from a listing go directly to the advertiser by email, phone or WhatsApp, depending on what they chose to publish. PointClickView does not hold deposits, take rent, reference tenants or arrange viewings, and we never ask you to pay us.

Official sources and further reading

• GOV.UK — Private renting: your rights
• GOV.UK — How to rent guide
• gov.wales — Renting Homes
• mygov.scot — Private renting
• nidirect — Private renting