The two decisions that now define a good let

The two decisions that now define a good let hero

In this blog

Most coverage of the Renters' Rights Act says the same thing: letting just got harder. After 25 years letting homes across Berkshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire, we see it differently. The rules haven't made letting harder. They've narrowed it to two decisions, and handed it almost entirely to you: who you let into your property.

The first decision that carries the weight

For years, the choice of tenant carried less weight than it should have, because a wrong choice could be undone quickly. Since Section 21 went in May 2026, undoing it takes far longer and is more likely to end up in the courts. The choice made before anyone moves in has gone from one of several things that matter to the thing that matters most. That sounds like pressure. It's the opposite. Almost everything else that determines the success of a let is out of your hands. This one isn't, and it's the one that now shapes the rest.

Referencing isn't doing the job you think it is

Here's what most landlords haven't clocked. Referencing used to answer one question: can this person pay? A credit check and a payslip covered it, because if they turned out to be wrong, you could move them on.

That's no longer the question. Now that a tenancy is slower and more difficult to end, referencing has to answer a harder one: will this person stay, look after the place, and be reasonable if something goes wrong? A credit score doesn't tell you that. Judgement does, built from years of doing this in the same towns, meeting the applicant, understanding the property, and knowing what a good match actually looks like. It's why we treat referencing (and we mean full, proper consideration, not box ticking) as a corner we refuse to cut, and why we'll tell a landlord an applicant is wrong even when saying yes would fill the property faster. The cost of that honesty used to be a slightly longer void. The cost of ignoring it is now a great deal higher.

The second decision – who to trust to help keep your tenant

Looking after tenants has always been the decent thing to do. Under the new rules, it's also become one of the highest-return decisions a landlord can make, and most still file it under "being nice."

Think about what a good tenant leaving now actually costs: the void, the re-advertising, the fresh referencing, and, if it ever goes wrong with the next one, a slow, evidence-based process to put it right. Set against that, every extra year a settled tenant stays is worth far more than it was two years ago. This is where having a local, independent and owner-led managing agent makes all the difference. Your tenant can talk to a real, local person in the Newbury, Devizes, Marlborough or Didcot office who knows them and the property, and the big and the little things get handled before they become the reason a good tenant starts looking elsewhere. And it works. Our tenancies run to an average of 3 years and 3 months.

Where this leaves you

Letting in 2026 isn't harder for a landlord who chooses well and keeps well. It's simpler, because the rules now reward the two things good agents have always done, and punish the corner-cutting that used to be free. The market agrees: good tenants are looking for well-run homes, and a settled, well-managed property is exactly what they want to stay in.

The question isn't whether letting has got harder. It's whether your property is being let in a way that fits how the rules now work, whether the decision that now carries the weight is being made with the judgement it deserves.

How we help

At Jones Robinson, we're owner-led and independent. We have been letting homes across Berkshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire with teams who've lived and worked in these towns for years, so the person choosing your tenant isn't a stranger passing through. We look after your property and your tenant without the fuss, without the flattery, and without the unreturned calls. If you're letting a property, or wondering whether your current arrangement still fits the way letting works now, book a management review with our lettings team. Because a settled tenant is worth more to you now than at any point in the last 25 years.