Fraudulent tenancy applications cost the private rental sector £4.1bn in financial losses every year, analysis from Goodlord has suggested.

The analysis, which examined data from more than one million tenant references over the past two years, found 41 tenancy applications per 1,000 were flagged for suspected fraud between July 2025 and June 2026.

While this is down slightly from the peak of 46.6 per 1,000 references recorded in late 2024, suspected fraud remains above historic levels.