LetCompliance vs August

For most self-managing landlords, yes, and it covers a good deal more: August runs the money side well, while LetCompliance runs the whole let: advertising, applications, viewings, referencing, e-signed tenancies, rent collection, arrears, compliance scoring, Section 8 and Section 13 notices, SA105 tax prep, and the MTD quarterly updates and tax return sent to HMRC. The one thing August does that we do not is Open Banking bank-feed matching, reading transactions straight from your accounts. If that automation is the reason you would buy software at all, August is built for it.

August Portfolio is £14.99 for up to 20 tenancies and LetCompliance Solo is £14.99 for up to 3 properties, and Single £7.99 for one, so the price is not the deciding factor. The difference is scope. August starts at the point where a tenant is already in place and paying: it matches the rent, tracks expenses and sends MTD quarterly updates. LetCompliance starts earlier and finishes later: it advertises the room or property, takes applications, books viewings, references the tenant, generates and e-signs the tenancy, then collects rent, chases arrears, scores compliance, sends your MTD updates and the tax return to HMRC, and serves the notice if it goes wrong. If you already have tenants and an agent, August is enough. Advertising, applications, viewings and referencing are not listed on August’s pricing page, so if you find the tenants yourself, that part needs another tool.

Not yet, on HMRC’s own list. HMRC’s Making Tax Digital software finder (checked 6 October 2026) lists August’s quarterly updates as “Ready now” and its tax return as “In development”, the label HMRC uses for software committed to building it in time for the 2026 to 2027 tax return. LetCompliance is “Ready now” for both, for UK property income: when UK property is the income to report, the quarterly updates and the year-end tax return go to HMRC from the same records, with no second product needed in January.

August is genuinely good here: room-level rent, per-room payment dates and HMO licence reminders, built around shared housing rather than adapted to it. LetCompliance also treats HMOs as first-class: rooms with their own rent and deposit, each tenant linked to their room, per-room arrears, licence tracking and fire-safety records. What we add is the rest of the tenancy: referencing and guarantors for sharers and students, e-signed agreements, and the Section 8 route with the Ground 8 arrears calculation if one room stops paying. If your HMO problem is matching the money to the rooms, August solves it. If it is letting the rooms and keeping them lawfully let, that is the wider job.

Not as tooling, on the evidence of their own site: their pricing page lists every feature in every tier and the Renters’ Rights Act does not appear on it, nor do Section 8, Section 13, possession notices or prescribed forms. Their compliance feature is a task tracker with certificate reminders and an audit trail, which is a real and useful thing, but it is simply not the possession and notices layer. That layer is what LetCompliance is built around: Section 8 with the correct Schedule 2 grounds and notice periods taken from the post-1 May 2026 rules, Section 13 rent increases on the correct prescribed form, the pet request 28-day tracker and PRS Database readiness.

No, and it is the clearest gap between us. August is regulated by the FCA as an agent of Plaid Financial Ltd to make Open Banking connections, and it reads your bank transactions to match rent automatically across several accounts. LetCompliance collects rent instead of reading it: Bacs Direct Debit through Stripe Connect, paid into your own bank account, so the payment is initiated by us and reconciled by definition. If you want your existing bank feed read and categorised, August does that and we do not.

No. August’s help centre answers it directly: “No, August does not offer tenant screening services.” It does publish employment and landlord reference form templates to fill in yourself (checked 6 October 2026). LetCompliance references tenants and guarantors through a regulated UK credit reference agency, pay-per-check, with the result stored against the tenancy, and Right to Rent checks sit alongside it. For a self-managing landlord that is usually the single most valuable thing in the whole process, because it is the decision you cannot undo.

Not yet: August’s pricing page lists "Electronic contract signing" as coming soon (checked 24 September 2026). What LetCompliance does today: it generates the correct tenancy agreement for the current law and seals the signed PDF with an audit certificate recording who signed, when, from which IP address and on which device, and in what order. Section 7 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 makes exactly that certification admissible in evidence on any question about whether the document is authentic or has been altered.

It is property management software for landlords and letting agents, and it runs the whole let, not just compliance. In one login you advertise, take applications and viewings, reference tenants, e-sign the tenancy, collect rent by Direct Debit and chase arrears, track a 0-100 compliance score, draft Section 8 and Section 13 notices, manage HMO rooms, book done-for-you property services and prepare your SA105 tax. The compliance score is one feature among many, not the whole product.

The page above sets what August's own website says it does beside LetCompliance, and lists everything else LetCompliance does. For most UK landlords and small-to-mid agencies who want the whole tenancy in one place, LetCompliance covers more of the let; August is the better pick for the specific areas it leads on, which are called out above. LetCompliance starts at £7.99 a month for one property, with a 3-day trial and no card.

LetCompliance ships an SA105-shaped Tax Pack, a Section 24 personal-vs-limited-company calculator, a capital-gains calculator and a mileage log, and it sends Making Tax Digital quarterly updates for UK property income to HMRC on every paid plan from £7.99 a month (not the free plan or the trial). It is recognised by HMRC for UK property income, and if your return needs self-employment, savings or dividend income you finalise the year with software that can add it, or with your accountant.

They are written by LetCompliance, which says so plainly. The August column shows only what August's own website says, with the date it was read, and every page names where August is the better choice and the one thing LetCompliance does not do (Open Banking bank-feed reconciliation). Providers change their plans and prices without notice, so check theirs before you buy.