Best tenant referencing companies in the UK (2026)
Search for “best tenant referencing company” or “tenant reference check companies” and you'll mostly find Goodlord, HomeLet, NRLA and Letmojo. What rarely gets said upfront: three of those four won't sell you a single reference if you don't use a letting agent or pay for a membership first. This page compares all five honestly — including RentFig — on who can actually buy each one, what it costs where that's published, and what each check covers.
Quick answer
Of the five best-known UK tenant reference check companies, only RentFig and Letmojo sell a single reference directly to a private, self-managing landlord with no letting agent involved. Goodlord and HomeLet/Let Alliance sell only through agents; NRLA's referencing is Goodlord's product resold to NRLA members, gated behind £125/year membership. Of the two direct options, RentFig is the only one with a published, pay-online price — £9 for a credit check or £19 for a full reference, no account needed.
Top UK tenant referencing providers at a glance
Prices are paid by the landlord — the Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans charging the tenant — and are indicative. Confirm current details on each provider's own site before ordering.
| Provider | Can a private landlord buy it? | Price | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| RentFig (that's us) | Yes — order online yourself, no agent, no membership, no account | Free application form; £9 credit check / £19 full reference (£7 / £17 for members) | Also runs the tenancy afterwards — rent chasing, compliance tracking, accounting and an AI assistant, not just the pre-tenancy check. |
| Goodlord | No — sold to letting agents only, not to individual landlords | Not published — set by the agent's contract, typically £20–£40 via the agent | Comprehensive reference (credit, affordability, employment, previous-landlord); publishes roughly 30% instant, most within 24–72 hours. |
| HomeLet (and Let Alliance) | No — HomeLet's own site says referencing is for letting agents in partnership with HomeLet, and points individual landlords to its insurance team instead | Not published — quote-only via your agent | VISTA product built with Experian; HomeLet publishes 70% of references as returned within 24 hours. Let Alliance is the same company under a different brand — both are trading names of Barbon Insurance Group Limited — so getting a quote from each isn't getting two independent quotes. |
| NRLA (National Residential Landlords Association) | No — not without paying £125/year for individual landlord membership first | £23.40 per reference for members, on top of £125/year individual landlord membership | “NRLA Tenant Referencing powered by Goodlord”, by NRLA's own description — it's a membership discount on Goodlord's product, not an independent referencing provider. A separate instant-results Basic Credit Check is also offered. |
| Letmojo | Yes, per its own site — states landlord-direct service is the same as going through an agent | Not published anywhere on its site — order by phone or email, no online checkout found | Five tiers: a free Pre-Qualification link, Credit Search (Equifax, CCJ/IVA/bankruptcy, PEP/sanctions), Essential Reference (adds open banking income verification and AI document-fraud checks), Comprehensive Reference (adds employer and landlord references plus staff QA), and Priority Reference (dedicated case handler). |
Sources checked 7 September 2026: goodlord.com, homelet.co.uk, nrla.org.uk and letmojo.com. RentFig figures are our own (disclosure: RentFig is our product).
Best tenant referencing for private (self-managing) landlords
This is the question that actually matters if you don't use a letting agent: which of these can you buy from at all? Strip out the three that gate access behind an agent or a membership, and the shortlist for a private landlord looks like this:
| Provider | Can a private landlord buy it? | Price | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| RentFig (that's us) | Yes — order online yourself, no agent, no membership, no account | Free application form; £9 credit check / £19 full reference (£7 / £17 for members) | Also runs the tenancy afterwards — rent chasing, compliance tracking, accounting and an AI assistant, not just the pre-tenancy check. |
| Letmojo | Yes, per its own site — states landlord-direct service is the same as going through an agent | Not published anywhere on its site — order by phone or email, no online checkout found | Five tiers: a free Pre-Qualification link, Credit Search (Equifax, CCJ/IVA/bankruptcy, PEP/sanctions), Essential Reference (adds open banking income verification and AI document-fraud checks), Comprehensive Reference (adds employer and landlord references plus staff QA), and Priority Reference (dedicated case handler). |
- Goodlord — agent-only, no individual-landlord route at all.
- HomeLet / Let Alliance — same company, both agent-only; individual landlords are pointed to HomeLet's insurance team instead.
- NRLA — technically buyable by a private landlord, but only after paying £125/year to join, before the £23.40 per-check price even applies.
That leaves RentFig and Letmojo as the two names in this round-up that will actually sell a self-managing landlord a single reference with no agent and no membership. The practical difference between them: RentFig publishes its price and takes payment online (£9 credit check, £19 full reference, no account), while Letmojo requires a phone call or email before you know what it costs.
What you get with RentFig
If you're a private landlord specifically, this is the actual difference RentFig makes:
- Tenancy setup wizardEight guided steps that build the statutory document pack — EPC, gas safety, EICR, privacy notice — attach the right compliance certificates automatically, and track anything you postpone.
- Section 8 notice builderPre-fills the official Form 3A from your tenancy data, with the post-Renters'-Rights-Act grounds and notice periods built in. Since Section 21 ended, this is the form that matters.
- Section 13 rent increase wizardPre-fills the official Form 4A, with the once-a-year and two-months'-notice rules applied for you.
- WhatsApp AI assistantRun your portfolio from WhatsApp — ask about arrears, send a tenant their statement, update rent chasing — without opening the app. (Add-on.)
- AI ModeAn assistant inside RentFig that reads your actual portfolio — profit and loss, documents, compliance knowledge base — and proposes actions you approve before anything happens. (Add-on.)
- AI-matched bookkeepingBank transactions matched to the right tenancy and category for you, receipts auto-merged, and an AI accountant that can read your books.
- Referencing built in£9 credit check or £19 full reference (£7 / £17 for members), with a free application form — no separate provider needed.
- A live licensing registerHMO and selective licensing schemes tracked weekly across English councils, so a new designation on your street doesn't arrive as a £40,000 surprise.
FAQ
What is the best tenant referencing company in the UK?
There's no single winner — it depends whether you're a letting agent or a self-managing landlord, because most of the well-known names simply won't sell to an individual landlord. Goodlord and HomeLet (and Let Alliance, the same company) are agent-only. NRLA's referencing is Goodlord's product resold to NRLA members, which means joining NRLA first (£125/year) before you can buy a single £23.40 check. Of the names people actually search for, only RentFig and Letmojo sell directly to a private landlord without an agent or a paid membership — and RentFig is the only one of those two with a published, checkout-ready price. (Disclosure: RentFig is our product.)
Is NRLA good for tenant referencing?
The underlying check is Goodlord's, which is a solid, comprehensive reference — but NRLA isn't an independent referencing provider, it's a membership discount on Goodlord's product. The real first-check cost is £125 for individual landlord membership plus £23.40 for the reference, unless you're already a member for other NRLA benefits (legal helpline, tenancy documents, etc.), in which case the £23.40 alone is competitive.
Can I use Letmojo without a letting agent?
Yes — Letmojo's own site states its service levels are the same whether you go through a letting agent or work with it directly as a landlord. What it doesn't offer is a published price or an online checkout: ordering means phoning or emailing first, so you can't compare cost upfront the way you can with a provider that prices its checks on the page.
What's the cheapest tenant referencing for a private (self-managing) landlord?
Among the five best-known names in this round-up, RentFig's £9 credit check / £19 full reference is the cheapest published price that will actually sell to an individual landlord, with a free application form and no account. It isn't the cheapest option on the wider market, though: Oops Insurance, a smaller direct-to-landlord provider not covered above, lists a £14.99 full reference that undercuts RentFig's £19 (its £9.99 credit check is slightly more than RentFig's £9) — see the cheapest tenant referencing guide for the full market table. NRLA's £23.40 looks close on the label, but only after £125/year membership — which makes a single reference far more expensive unless you're already paying for NRLA membership anyway. Letmojo and the agent-only names (Goodlord, HomeLet, Let Alliance) don't publish a price to compare at all.
Do I need to be an NRLA member to use their tenant referencing?
Yes. The £23.40 rate is described on NRLA's own site as a member discount, and individual landlord membership costs £125/year. There's no non-member price listed for the referencing service.
Is tenant referencing different for private landlords than for letting agents?
The check itself isn't usually different — the gate is access, not features. Goodlord and HomeLet build genuinely capable referencing products, but they're sold as agent platforms, so a landlord without an agent simply can't buy a single reference from either. That's why the practical shortlist for a self-managing landlord is much shorter than the list of well-known UK referencing brands.
Can a tenant be charged for referencing?
No. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, charging a tenant for referencing is a banned fee in England — the landlord or agent pays, whichever of these providers you use.
Want every option ranked purely on price? See the cheapest tenant referencing guide, or head-to-head against a specific name in every RentFig comparison.
Disclaimer: This comparison is general information for UK landlords, not legal or financial advice. RentFig is our own product; every other company named is independent, and its details are summarised from its public website and may change — always confirm current pricing, membership terms and what's included directly with the provider.