Build your "tenant CV" before you book a single viewing

If landlords can't pick the highest bidder, they pick the cleanest application. Put everything in one folder or PDF before you start viewing:

• Proof of income. Three months of recent bank statements, or a signed employment contract showing your current salary.
• Two references. One from your previous landlord, one from your employer.
• Guarantor details. If you're a student or early in your career, with their proof of income signed and ready to send.

The goal is to apply the same day as the viewing, not the same week. When two applicants look equally good on paper, the one who can be referenced and processed today usually wins. Use our Renting Fast Pass to set these things up in just a few minutes and you'll be ready to go.

Know the new rules so nobody can play you

A few of the changes are worth understanding before you walk into a viewing. Sounding informed genuinely changes how an agent rates you.

Rent in advance is capped at one month. For tenancies signed from 1 May 2026, landlords can't require more than one month's rent up front (see the government's implementation roadmap). If an agent hints that offering six or twelve months upfront will move you up the list, they're operating outside the law. What they can still ask for, under the Tenant Fees Act 2019: a holding deposit of up to one week's rent, and a security deposit of up to five weeks' rent (six if the annual rent is £50,000 or more).

Discrimination against benefits claimants and families is out. Landlords and agents can no longer refuse you purely because you receive benefits or have children.

You have a legal right to request a pet. From 1 May 2026, you can ask in writing to keep a pet, and the landlord has 28 days to respond in writing. They can only refuse for a genuinely reasonable cause, such as a leasehold restriction or an unsuitable property. Worth knowing: a clause in the original draft allowing landlords to require pet damage insurance was dropped before the Act passed. They can't demand pet insurance or a separate pet deposit, the standard five-week deposit is meant to cover any damage.

Section 21 is gone. No-fault evictions were abolished on 1 May 2026, and every assured shorthold tenancy converted automatically to an assured periodic tenancy with no end date. Landlords are now choosing tenants with a longer horizon in mind, which works in your favour if you genuinely want to stay put.

Treat the viewing as the interview

With agents acting as gatekeepers, the ten minutes inside the flat matter as much as your paperwork.

• Be on time. Running late? Ring ahead.
• Ask specific, sensible questions. Council tax band, EPC rating, broadband speed, what's included in the bills, how the heating works. It signals you've done this before and you'll look after the place.
• Raise pets at the start, not as an afterthought. Offer vet records or a reference from a previous landlord, and frame it as part of a long-term arrangement.
• Say you want a long, stable tenancy. With Section 21 gone, a tenant planning to stay three years beats one who'll be gone in six months.

The short version

The deepest pockets no longer win Bristol's rental market. The best-prepared application does. Get your paperwork together before you start viewing, see new listings the moment they appear, and turn up to the viewing like you're meeting your future landlord, because more often than not, you are.