RentFig vs Let Alliance for tenant referencing
Start with the fact that reshapes this comparison: Let Alliance and HomeLet are the same company — both trading names of Barbon Insurance Group Limited, sharing the same Experian-built VISTA product. Let Alliance is an agent-facing platform that quotes on application. RentFig sells directly to landlords at a published £9 credit check or £19 full reference, with a free application form and no account.
RentFig vs Let Alliance at a glance
Referencing is paid for by the landlord or agent — the Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans charging the tenant. Let Alliance details were checked against letalliance.co.uk on 1 August 2026; confirm anything load-bearing on their own site.
| Feature | RentFig | Let Alliance |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | Independent — RentFig is our own product | A trading name of Barbon Insurance Group Limited (PIB Group) — the same company as HomeLet |
| Published price | Yes — £9 credit check, £19 full reference (£7 / £17 for members) | No — quoted on application via its Customer Development Team |
| Who can buy it | Any landlord, direct, by card | Agent-facing — agent and tenant portals; we found no landlord-direct route |
| Credit bureau | Checks run through our UK referencing partner | Both — VISTA is built with Experian, and its Same Day Referencing product with TransUnion |
| Products | Two: credit check, or full reference | VISTA Intelligent Referencing and Same Day Referencing, plus Vision+ tenancy portal, rent guarantee, Nil deposit and insurance |
| How long a reference stays valid | No stated expiry — the report is yours once produced | 60 days, per its own FAQs |
| Turnaround | Usually within 48 hours | Publishes over 70% of VISTA applications completing instantly |
| Free application form | Yes — collect details and consent at no cost | Not offered to landlords directly |
| Best for | Self-managing landlords who want a published price and no account | Letting agencies wanting referencing bundled with rent guarantee and deposit products |
Let Alliance details from letalliance.co.uk, checked 1 August 2026. RentFig figures are our own (disclosure: RentFig is our product).
Two brands, one company — why it matters
Landlords and agents shopping around often put Let Alliance and HomeLet on the same shortlist, assuming two independent quotes. They aren't. Let Alliance's own About page states it is a trading name of Barbon Insurance Group Limited, and HomeLet's privacy notice confirms Barbon is a PIB Group subsidiary — alongside Rent4Sure and Rentshield Direct, which is worth remembering if those names come up too.
That doesn't make either a bad product. It does mean that if you're comparing them to find a keener price or a genuinely different assessment, you are comparing one company's two front doors. A real second opinion has to come from outside the group.
Where Let Alliance genuinely differs from HomeLet
One thing does set it apart, and it's more interesting than the branding. Alongside the shared VISTA product, Let Alliance markets Same Day Referencing built with TransUnion — a different credit reference agency from the Experian data behind VISTA — pairing a full credit file with Open Banking income and expenditure verification.
For most applicants that distinction is academic. It stops being academic when someone has a thin fileat one bureau: a recent arrival in the UK, someone who has been abroad, or a younger applicant with little credit history. Bureaux don't hold identical data, so which one you check can change what comes back. If you hit that situation, Open Banking income verification — which both Let Alliance and Goodlord use — tends to tell you more than a credit score alone.
Where RentFig is the better fit
If you manage your own property, the decisive difference is that you can actually buy RentFig. Let Alliance is built and sold for letting agencies — agent portals, agent-written FAQs, referencing bundled with rent guarantee, Nil deposit and insurance products that agents resell. We found no landlord ordering route, though unlike HomeLet it doesn't explicitly say landlords are excluded, so a phone call would settle it.
RentFig is deliberately narrower on referencing and broader afterwards: two options at published prices, no account, and the reference lands next to the tenancy setup, rent chasing and compliance records you'll need for the rest of the tenancy.
FAQ
Are Let Alliance and HomeLet the same company?
Yes, and it is the most useful thing to know before you start collecting quotes. Let Alliance's own About page states it is a trading name of Barbon Insurance Group Limited, and HomeLet's privacy notice confirms Barbon is a PIB Group subsidiary alongside Rent4Sure and Rentshield Direct. The two brands also share the same Experian-built VISTA referencing product. Asking both for a quote is asking one company twice.
How much does Let Alliance referencing cost?
Let Alliance does not publish a price. Referencing is quoted on application through its Customer Development Team and, in practice, priced into a letting agent's contract. Market guides put agent-backed references at roughly £20–£40 per applicant, but that is an industry estimate rather than a Let Alliance rate card. RentFig publishes £9 for a credit check and £19 for a full reference, with no account or subscription. (Disclosure: RentFig is our product.)
Can a landlord use Let Alliance directly?
We could not find a route to. Its site is written for letting agents — separate agent and tenant portal logins, agent-oriented FAQs referencing an internal system — and we found no landlord ordering path. Unlike HomeLet, though, Let Alliance does not explicitly state that landlords are excluded, so the honest position is that we found no direct route rather than that one definitely doesn't exist. If you self-manage, it is worth a phone call before assuming either way.
What is Same Day Referencing, and how does it differ from VISTA?
They are two products from the same company built on different credit bureaux. VISTA is the Experian-built product shared with HomeLet, offering suitability scoring, enhanced identity checks, fraud detection and affordability assessed from income and expenditure trends. Same Day Referencing is built with TransUnion and combines a full credit file with Open Banking income and expenditure verification. For a landlord the practical difference is which bureau's data underpins the decision — worth knowing if an applicant's file is thin at one bureau but not the other.
Why do references expire after 60 days?
Let Alliance's FAQs state its references are valid for 60 days. That is normal across the industry: a reference is a snapshot of someone's credit, income and circumstances on the day it was run, and those change. It matters practically if a let falls through and you re-market the property — a reference run for an applicant two months ago may need re-running before another landlord or insurer will rely on it. RentFig doesn't impose an expiry, but the same common sense applies: an old report describes an old situation.
Compare the sister brand on the HomeLet comparison, or see every UK provider in one table in the cheapest tenant referencing guide.
Disclaimer:This comparison is general information for UK landlords, not legal or financial advice. RentFig is our own product; Let Alliance is an independent company and its details, including its corporate ownership, are summarised from its own public website and may change — always confirm current pricing and what's included directly with each provider.