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: Goodlord and HomeLet won't sell you a single reference directly unless you use a letting agent (Goodlord's product reaches landlords through the NRLA), and NRLA's headline £23.40 is a members' price. This page compares them honestly — with RentFig and two other landlord-direct options, OpenRent and Oops Insurance — on who can actually buy each one, what it costs where that's published, and what each check covers.
Quick answer
Goodlord and HomeLet/Let Alliance sell through letting agents, so a private, self-managing landlord can't buy from them directly. NRLA resells Goodlord's reference to landlords at £40.20, or £23.40 to members. Of the landlord-direct options with a published price, Oops Insurance is cheapest for a full reference (£14.99) and RentFig for a credit check (£7 with a free account, £9 without); RentFig's full reference is £19 with no account, and OpenRent charges £30.
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 with a free account) | Also runs the tenancy afterwards — rent chasing, compliance tracking, accounting and an AI assistant, not just the pre-tenancy check. |
| Goodlord | Not from Goodlord itself — it sells to letting agents. Landlords can buy Goodlord-powered referencing through the NRLA (below) | Not published by Goodlord — set by the agent's contract | Comprehensive reference (credit, affordability, employment, previous-landlord); Goodlord's own figures are 30% returned instantly, 70% within 24 hours and 90% within 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) | Yes — at £40.20 a reference without membership, or £23.40 for members | £40.20 per reference for non-members; £23.40 for members (individual landlord membership from £125/year) | “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 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). |
| OpenRent | Yes — order online as a landlord | £30 inc. VAT per reference (one tier) | Referencing sits alongside OpenRent's advertising and tenancy services. There's no cheaper credit-only option. |
| Oops Insurance | Yes — order online as a landlord | £9.99 credit check / £14.99 full reference, inc. VAT | The cheapest published full reference we know of — it undercuts RentFig's £19. RentFig's credit check is cheaper: £7 with a free account, £9 without, against Oops's £9.99. |
Sources checked 13 October 2026: goodlord.com, homelet.co.uk, letmojo.com, nrla.org.uk, openrent.co.uk and oopsinsurance.co.uk. Prices include VAT. 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 ones that only sell through letting agents, 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 with a free account) | Also runs the tenancy afterwards — rent chasing, compliance tracking, accounting and an AI assistant, not just the pre-tenancy check. |
| NRLA (National Residential Landlords Association) | Yes — at £40.20 a reference without membership, or £23.40 for members | £40.20 per reference for non-members; £23.40 for members (individual landlord membership from £125/year) | “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 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). |
| OpenRent | Yes — order online as a landlord | £30 inc. VAT per reference (one tier) | Referencing sits alongside OpenRent's advertising and tenancy services. There's no cheaper credit-only option. |
| Oops Insurance | Yes — order online as a landlord | £9.99 credit check / £14.99 full reference, inc. VAT | The cheapest published full reference we know of — it undercuts RentFig's £19. RentFig's credit check is cheaper: £7 with a free account, £9 without, against Oops's £9.99. |
- Goodlord — sells to letting agents, not to landlords directly; its referencing reaches landlords through the NRLA instead (in the table above).
- HomeLet / Let Alliance — same company, both agent-only; individual landlords are pointed to HomeLet's insurance team instead.
Among the landlord-direct options, the choice comes down to price and what you need. Oops Insurance has the cheapest published full reference. RentFig has the cheapest credit check (£7 with a free account, £9 without), takes payment online with no account, and offers a free application form first. NRLA's price drops to £23.40 only if you're a member, and Letmojo needs 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 wizardNine 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. Standard (£29/mo) and above.
- Section 13 rent increase wizardPre-fills the official Form 4A, with the once-a-year and two-months'-notice rules applied for you. Standard (£29/mo) and above.
- WhatsApp assistantRun your portfolio from WhatsApp — ask about arrears, send a tenant their statement, update rent chasing — without opening the app. Included on Standard (£29/mo) and above.
- 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. Included on every paid plan with a monthly credit allowance; top-ups available.
- 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 with a free account), 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 won't sell directly to an individual landlord. Goodlord and HomeLet (and Let Alliance, the same company) sell to letting agents; a landlord can't buy from Goodlord itself, but NRLA's referencing is Goodlord's product resold by the NRLA to landlords, at £40.20 a reference for non-members or £23.40 for members. RentFig, Letmojo, OpenRent and Oops Insurance all sell directly to a private landlord without an agent. On published prices, Oops is cheapest for a full reference (£14.99 inc. VAT) and RentFig for a credit check — £7 with a free account (£9 without). (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. A non-member pays £40.20 per reference; a member pays £23.40, with individual landlord membership from £125/year. If you're already a member for other NRLA benefits (legal helpline, tenancy documents, etc.), £23.40 is competitive; joining only for referencing pays off at around eight references a year.
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?
On published prices, Oops Insurance is cheapest for a full reference at £14.99 inc. VAT, and RentFig is cheapest for a credit check — £7 with a free account, £9 without (Oops: £9.99). RentFig's full reference is £19 with no account needed, £17 with a free account, or £17.86 each (£15.98 with a free account) when you order 2 or more people together. OpenRent charges £30, and NRLA £40.20 for non-members or £23.40 for members. Letmojo and the agent-facing names (Goodlord, HomeLet, Let Alliance) don't publish a price of their own to compare — see the cheapest tenant referencing guide for the full market table.
Do I need to be an NRLA member to use their tenant referencing?
No. NRLA lists £40.20 per full reference for non-members and £23.40 for members, both including VAT. Individual landlord membership is from £125/year, so it only pays for itself on referencing alone if you run around eight or more references a year.
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 can't buy a single reference from either directly — the one route in is Goodlord-powered referencing through the NRLA. 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.