Fewer than one in three UK letting agents are fully confident that their tenant onboarding process protects them and landlords against tenant fraud.
Research by tenancy platform Propoly found that delays with referencing continue to slow down applications.
It found that only 31% of agents managed to complete onboarding within three days, while 6% said the process takes longer than two weeks.
A further 31% of agents usually need between four and seven days, with 29% taking one to two weeks.
Onboarding balancing act
Sim Sekhon, the group chief executive at Propoly, said: "Tenant onboarding has become a difficult balancing act for letting agents.
"They need to move quickly, because delays can frustrate landlords, tenants and agents alike, but they also need to be confident that the person they are onboarding is who they say they are and that the information they've provided can be trusted."
He added: "The answer isn't to choose between speed and security.
"Agents need a process that delivers both."
Mr Sekhon went on to say that agents must engage with technology or improve the tenancy application process.
Tenant referencing delays
Tenant referencing was named by 43% of agents as the part of onboarding that causes the most problems.
Separately, 54% said they had concerns about tenant fraud.
Preventing fraud and verifying information was the biggest onboarding challenge for 29%, while the same proportion cited chasing tenants for documents and other details.
The firm points to a recent MoneyWeek report that the annual cost associated with tenancy fraud rose by 101.4% between 2021 and 2025, increasing from £7.2m to £14.5m.
Fraud checks increase
The firm says that agents must collect documents, verify identities, complete referencing and identify possible fraud while keeping applications moving.
Slow or fragmented systems can create more administration when landlords and tenants are waiting for a tenancy to proceed.
However, reducing the number of identity and anti-fraud checks would leave agents with less protection against false information.
Propoly said its system combines AI document fraud detection, identity checks, referencing, open banking and automated payslip checks through direct HMRC connections.
Fraudsters using AI
Accommodation for Students recently reported that fraudulent tenancy applications could expose landlords to losses of up to £4.1 billion a year.
That’s according to a Goodlord analysis which found that between July 2025 and June, 41 applications per 1,000 references were flagged for suspected fraud, down from a peak of 46.6 in every 1,000 during late 2024.
Suspected cases increased by nearly 40% last year compared with 2024.
It examined more than one million tenant references from the past two years as fraudsters increasingly use AI to falsify payslips, references and entire identities.
Landlords at risk
Simon Thompson, the managing director of Accommodation for Students, said: "Landlords now face a greater risk that apparently credible applicants may be presenting fabricated evidence.
"As always, thorough screening matters, although speed alone should never outweigh determining a tenant's identity."
He added: "Agents play a crucial part in sourcing tenants and therefore need robust systems capable of spotting altered documents before agreements are signed.
"That's because failures could leave landlords dealing with arrears, legal costs and lengthy possession claims."
