RentFig vs a spreadsheet: one app instead of eight
Most UK landlords don't run their portfolio on one tool — they run it on a rent spreadsheet, an accounts spreadsheet, Google Drive for certificates, a pile of renewal reminders, and manual chasing texts, plus separate tools for referencing, e-signatures and editing PDFs. RentFig replaces all eight with one app — and this page is a fair look at where that helps and where a spreadsheet is still fine.
The short answer
RentFig replaces the eight tools most UK landlords juggle — a rent spreadsheet, an accounts spreadsheet, Google Drive, renewal reminders, manual rent-chasing, a referencing service, an e-signature tool and a PDF editor — with one app. A spreadsheet is free and fine for a single tenancy; RentFig earns its place once you are tracking certificate renewals and chasing rent across several tenancies, because a spreadsheet can't remind you before a certificate expires or chase a tenant for you.
The eight-tool landlord stack, replaced
Here is the stack a typical UK landlord ends up running, the problem with each part, and the RentFig feature that replaces it. Every RentFig capability below is live in the product today.
| What you're using now | Why it falls short | RentFig replaces it with |
|---|---|---|
| A rent spreadsheet | Every payment typed in by hand; nothing reminds you a tenant is late | Rent tracking with auto-generated invoices, outstanding / overdue / paid summaries, tenant statements and a debt tracker |
| An accounts or tax spreadsheet | Figures re-keyed at year end; slow and error-prone for your tax return | Accounting that categorises income and expenses, builds a profit & loss, and exports a Year-End Pack (PDF, CSV or Excel) so your accountant has clean books |
| Google Drive or a filing cabinet | Certificates scattered across folders; no idea what is about to expire | A document vault storing every certificate and document against the property and tenancy — encrypted, with row-level access controls |
| A wall of renewal reminders | You still have to remember to set them — and to act before they lapse | Automatic expiry alerts for Gas Safety, EPC, EICR, Fire Risk, insurance, Right to Rent and utility tariffs, surfaced on your dashboard |
| Chasing rent by hand | Awkward “any news on the rent?” texts, sent manually one by one | Rent Chaser: an automatic escalation ladder (reminder → firm → urgent → final) by email that clears itself when the tenant pays — the full ladder is on Standard (£29/mo) and above, with SMS optional on Business |
| A separate referencing service | £30 a reference on OpenRent, for example, and yet another login to manage | Built-in tenant referencing — a free application form, then a £9 credit check or £19 full reference, no extra account |
| DocuSign or another e-signature tool | A whole extra subscription just to get a document signed | Firma.dev-powered e-signatures — admissible in evidence under section 7 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and valid under the UK’s retained eIDAS regime — with a tamper-evident audit trail |
| Adobe or a PDF editor | Paid software just to merge, edit or watermark a PDF | Built-in PDF tools — open any document from your vault to merge, remove or reorder pages, add text, make it fillable or watermark it, and save it back to the tenancy |
… and a few more: a Document Creator with 14 legal and tenancy templates (including the Renters’ Rights Act Info Sheet, and the pre-filled Section 8 and Section 13 notices on Standard (£29/mo) and above), plus, on Standard and above, a WhatsApp assistant you can ask about your portfolio. RentFig figures are our own (disclosure: RentFig is our product).
Where a spreadsheet is still the right call
We're not going to pretend a spreadsheet is useless. If you have a single tenancy, no imminent certificate renewals, and you're happy doing your own reminders, a spreadsheet is free and does the job. RentFig starts to pay for itself when the admin outgrows a grid: several tenancies to keep compliant, rent to chase without sending the texts yourself, and figures to get tax-ready without re-keying them at year end.
Where RentFig wins
- It remembers so you don't — automatic expiry alerts for gas, EPC, EICR, fire risk, insurance and Right to Rent, before they lapse.
- It chases rent for you — an automatic reminder ladder that stops the moment the tenant pays, instead of manual texts.
- It's one subscription instead of several — accounting, document storage, PDF editing, e-signatures and referencing in one place from £9/month, rather than a separate bill and login for each.
FAQ
What does RentFig replace?
RentFig replaces the eight tools most UK landlords stitch together to run a portfolio: a rent spreadsheet, a separate accounts or tax spreadsheet, Google Drive or a filing cabinet for certificates, a set of renewal reminders, chasing rent by hand, a standalone tenant-referencing service, an e-signature tool such as DocuSign, and a paid PDF editor. It also includes a Document Creator with 14 legal and tenancy templates (the Renters’ Rights Act Info Sheet, prescribed information and more, with the pre-filled Section 8 and Section 13 notices on Standard (£29/mo) and above), and on Standard and above a WhatsApp assistant you can ask about your portfolio, so several more manual jobs collapse into the same app.
Can I manage rental properties without a spreadsheet?
Yes. RentFig replaces the rent spreadsheet with automatic invoices, outstanding / overdue / paid summaries and tenant statements, and replaces the accounts spreadsheet with income-and-expense tracking and a profit & loss. Every report exports as PDF, CSV or Excel — so you get clean figures for your tax return without typing anything into a spreadsheet.
Is a spreadsheet good enough for managing rental property?
For a single tenancy, a spreadsheet is free and perfectly fine. The moment you are tracking certificate renewals, chasing late rent, or preparing figures for tax across several tenancies, a spreadsheet stops being enough — it cannot remind you before a gas certificate expires, and it cannot chase a tenant for you. That is the point at which landlords tend to move to RentFig.
Do I still need Google Drive, DocuSign or an accountant with RentFig?
You no longer need Google Drive for property paperwork (documents and certificates live in the vault) or a separate e-signature tool (Firma.dev-powered signing is built in). You may still want an accountant: RentFig keeps your books tax-ready and exports everything they need (PDF, CSV or Excel, or a one-click Year-End Pack), but it does not file your Self Assessment or MTD return for you — your accountant still does that.
How much does RentFig cost compared with buying these tools separately?
RentFig is one subscription instead of several. Paid plans start at £9 a month (the Starter tier), versus paying separately for accounting software, a document-signing tool such as DocuSign, a PDF editor and a referencing service. There is also a free tier, and a 30-day free trial of full Business features on every paid plan (card or Direct Debit needed, nothing charged for 30 days), and referencing and extra e-signatures are pay-as-you-go on top. See the pricing page for current plan prices.
See everything in one place on the features overview, or dig into the documents, PDF editing & e-signatures that replace your paperwork.
Disclaimer: This comparison is general information for UK landlords, not legal, tax or financial advice. RentFig is our own product. Third-party tools (Google Drive, DocuSign, Adobe and others) are named only to describe common landlord workflows; they are independent products and their features and pricing may change — confirm current details on their own sites.