Cheapest tenant referencing in the UK (2026)
“Cheapest” shouldn't mean skipping the checks that protect you. The cheapest credible way to reference a tenant in the UK is to collect their application for free, then pay only for the formal checks you actually need — rather than a monthly subscription or an agent package. This guide compares the options by price, what each one checks, and whether you need an account.
Tenant referencing cost comparison
The table below groups the main ways UK landlords reference tenants, from free DIY to agent-backed services. Prices are indicative and for comparison only — always confirm current pricing with each provider.
| Option | Account / subscription? | What it checks | Indicative cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY — phone the employer and previous landlord yourselfManual, do it yourself | None | Only what you gather; no formal credit data | £0 + your time |
| Standalone credit checkOnline credit + ID snapshot | Usually an account | Credit history, basic identity | ~£9–£20 |
| Free application form + pay-per-check (e.g. RentFig)Free form to collect details, then pay only per check | No account or subscription | Free application form; then ID, credit, income, Right to Rent, anti-fraud | Free form, then £9 credit / £19 full |
| Free landlord portals (e.g. 99home, listing sites)Referencing offered alongside a property listing | Account, often tied to a listing | Free basics vary; a full reference usually costs extra | Free to list; 99home charges £20 or £40 inc. VAT |
| Agent / insurance-backed (e.g. Goodlord, HomeLet, RentProfile)Insurable references, often via a letting agent | Often agent or subscription | Comprehensive + an insurable decision | Not published — market guides say ~£20–£50 |
Checked 2 August 2026 and shown including VAT; confirm current pricing with each provider. Where a provider publishes no per-reference rate, this table says so rather than quoting a range — the ~£20–£50 figure is a market estimate from the AXA and Latch guides, not a rate card. 99home's £20 and £40 are from its own pricing page. RentFig prices are our own and final; we aren't VAT-registered.
Tenant referencing prices compared by provider
The same comparison by named UK provider, cheapest first, with every price shown including VAT. That matters more than it sounds: residential lettings are VAT-exempt, so you can't reclaim the VAT on a reference the way a VAT-registered business reclaims its costs — the inc-VAT figure is what actually leaves your account. Read the middle two columns before the price one, though, because a £9 credit check and a £30 full reference aren't the same purchase. Pay-per-check services price well below agent- and insurance-backed references, which are usually ordered through a letting agent rather than direct — and which mostly don't publish a price at all.
| Provider | Indicative price | What's included | How you buy it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RentFig | £0 to start, then £9 credit / £19 full | Free application form; credit check adds ID and credit history; full reference adds income and affordability, employer and previous-landlord references, Right to Rent and anti-fraud. Credit check usually back in minutes, full reference usually within 48 hours and often the same day | No account and no subscription | We aren't VAT-registered, so these are the final prices — nothing is added at checkout. Collect the application for free and pay only if you run a check (our product) |
| Oops Insurance | £9.99 credit / £14.99 full reference | Credit tier covers ID, credit history, Right to Rent status and anti-money-laundering; full reference adds employment and income confirmation and landlord references | Account | Cheaper than us on a full reference. VAT status isn't stated on its site. Its page headline says “from £5”, but the tiers listed are £9.99 and £14.99 |
| OpenRent | £30 inc. VAT per reference | One tier: credit and risk score, ID and fraud, CCJs and Right to Rent advice within 24h, then previous-landlord reference and income and employment checks in the final report | Account | Standalone, or bundled into its Rent Now tenancy service |
| Canopy | Not published — pricing on application | Essential, Comprehensive and Priority tiers (Comprehensive adds employment and landlord verification; Priority adds a dedicated case handler), plus a free self-certified Pre-Qualification tier | Agent-facing — sign-up by request form, no self-serve checkout | Every tier shows “Let's talk” rather than a price. Its RentPassport is built by the tenant for free, but Canopy verifies those details only when an agent or landlord pays to upgrade it to a reference |
| Goodlord (including Vouch) | Not published — quoted via a letting agent | Four tiers from Essential (credit + ID) to PRO and Priority, which add Open Banking and HMRC income data and a full insurable decision | Via a letting agent, often on a subscription | Vouch referencing has moved to Goodlord, so these are now one provider rather than two — vouch.co.uk now redirects to Goodlord. 30% instant, 70% within 24h, 90% within 72h |
| HomeLet | Not published — quoted via a letting agent | Comprehensive reference plus an insurable decision (VISTA, built with Experian) | Letting agents only — HomeLet's own site says referencing is “available to all letting agents who work in partnership with HomeLet”, and points individual landlords to its insurance team | Same company as Let Alliance below: both are trading names of Barbon Insurance Group Limited (PIB Group). Rent guarantee and landlord insurance are sold alongside |
| Let Alliance | Not published — quoted via a letting agent | The same Experian-built VISTA product as HomeLet, plus Same Day Referencing built with TransUnion (credit file and Open Banking income verification) | Agent-facing — agent and tenant portals, no landlord-direct route found | A trading name of Barbon Insurance Group Limited, so HomeLet and Let Alliance are one business with two brands, not two independent quotes. References are valid for 60 days |
Prices re-checked 2 August 2026 against each provider's own site — always confirm current pricing there. All figures include VAT. OpenRent lists £30 inc. VAT; Oops Insurance lists a £9.99 credit check and a £14.99 full reference (its page headline advertises “from £5”, but no £5 product is listed, and it doesn't state whether VAT is included). Canopy, Goodlord, HomeLet and Let Alliance publish no usable price — they quote on application through letting agents, and market guides put that at roughly £20–£40 per applicant (AXA and Latch). We previously listed Canopy at £6.00 per reference and have removed that figure: it was a members' rate on a page expired since December 2024, and Canopy's live pricing page now shows no per-reference price to visitors at all. HomeLet and Let Alliance are both trading names of Barbon Insurance Group Limited, so they are one business rather than two independent quotes. RentFig prices are our own and final: we aren't VAT-registered, so nothing is added on top.
For a closer look at any one of these, we compare them side by side: OpenRent, Goodlord, Vouch, HomeLet, Let Alliance and Canopy, or browse every comparison in one place.
Credit check vs full reference — where the cost goes
A credit-only check is the cheapest formal filter: it confirms identity and pulls a credit and adverse-credit history (CCJs, defaults, bankruptcies), usually for £9–£20. A full reference adds income and affordability verification, employer and previous-landlord references, a Right to Rent check (England) and anti-fraud verification, and typically costs £25–£50 across the market — though the direct pay-per-check services in the table above undercut that substantially. Most credit checks use a soft “quotation” search, so they don't affect the tenant's credit score.
A sensible low-cost workflow is to run a credit check first as a quick filter, then a full reference only on the applicant you intend to proceed with. RentFig prices these at £9 for a credit check and £19 for a full reference (disclosure: RentFig is our product), with no subscription — start with the free tenant credit check form and only pay if you run a check.
How to get a full reference for £14
Two conditions, both worth stating plainly because £14 is not our headline price. First, a free RentFig account takes the full reference from £19 to £17 (and a credit check from £9 to £7). Second, members get a referral link: a landlord who orders their first full reference through it pays £17 without needing an account, and when that reference completes the member gets £3 off their own next full reference — £14. That is below Oops Insurance's £14.99, which otherwise remains the cheapest published full reference in the table above. The reward applies to full references only, one per order, up to five a year, and is withdrawn if the referred order is refunded. If you reference tenants once every few years and don't know another landlord to refer, treat £17 as your realistic RentFig price and compare on that.
The Tenant Fees Act 2019: the landlord pays
In England you cannot pass referencing costs on to the tenant — charging a tenant for a reference is a banned fee under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. The cost sits with the landlord or agent, which is precisely why the per-check price matters: it's money out of your pocket on every applicant you check.
How to keep referencing cheap without cutting corners
- Use a free application form to collect details, employment and consent before you pay for anything.
- Run a credit-only check first as a cheap filter; reserve the full reference for the applicant you actually want.
- Choose pay-per-check over a subscription unless you reference tenants every month — a monthly fee rarely pays off for a handful of lets a year.
- Ask the tenant to brief their employer and previous landlord in advance — faster references mean fewer re-runs.
- Always get the tenant's written consent before a credit check; a good tool collects this for you.
FAQ
What is the cheapest tenant referencing in the UK?
The cheapest credible option is a pay-per-check service rather than a monthly subscription or an agent package. All prices here include VAT, which matters because residential lettings are VAT-exempt so a landlord can't reclaim it. Among services a landlord can actually buy directly, a credit check runs about £9–£10 — RentFig is £9 and Oops Insurance £9.99. On a full reference covering income, Right to Rent and anti-fraud, Oops lists £14.99 against RentFig's £19, and OpenRent charges £30 inc. VAT. The agent-facing providers — Canopy, Goodlord, HomeLet and Let Alliance — publish no usable price at all; they quote on application, and market guides put agent-backed references at roughly £20–£40 per applicant. That makes RentFig's £9 the cheapest published credit check we can find from a landlord-direct provider, while Oops undercuts us on a full reference. Collecting the tenant's application is often free, so compare on the total for the checks you'll actually run, plus whether you need an account or subscription to run them.
Is free tenant referencing any good?
A free application form is genuinely useful for collecting a tenant's details, employment and consent. But a free service rarely includes a real credit, income and fraud check — those have a cost the provider has to recover somewhere. The cheapest sound approach is a free application form plus a low-cost pay-per-check, so you only pay for the formal checks you actually need.
Can I charge the tenant for referencing?
No. In England, charging a tenant for referencing is a banned fee under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. The landlord or agent must cover the cost of the check, which is exactly why a low per-check price matters.
Do I need a subscription to reference a tenant?
No. Some platforms bundle referencing into a monthly subscription or only offer it through a letting agent, but pay-per-check services let you run a single reference with no ongoing commitment. RentFig, for example, charges per check (£9 credit / £19 full) with no subscription or account.
Can I get a full tenant reference for less than £15?
Yes, but only conditionally, so read the conditions rather than the headline. RentFig's full reference is £19 to the public and £17 with a free account. Members also get a referral link: a landlord who orders through it pays £17 for their first full reference without an account, and once that reference completes the member gets £3 off their own next full reference — £14, which is the lowest price we know of for a full reference from a landlord-direct provider, below Oops Insurance's £14.99. The £14 needs a free account and one completed referral, applies to a full reference only (not a credit check), and is capped at five rewards a year. Without a referral, Oops remains the cheapest published full reference.
How much should a full tenant reference cost?
Across the UK a full tenant reference — identity, credit, income and affordability, Right to Rent and anti-fraud — typically costs £25–£50 through an agent or insurance-backed provider, but direct pay-per-check services undercut that substantially: £14.99 to £19 is normal. A credit-only check is cheaper again, around £9–£20. Anything described as a more comprehensive package (criminal record, multi-year history) tends to sit at the top of the range. Prices here include VAT, which a residential landlord can't reclaim. Be wary of any headline rate you see quoted for the agent-facing providers — the tier pricing Canopy once published was a members' rate on a page that expired in December 2024, and no longer appears on its live site at all.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information for UK landlords, not legal or financial advice. Prices are indicative and change — confirm current pricing with each provider and check the latest GOV.UK guidance on the Tenant Fees Act before acting.