The short answer
Yes. Direct Debit is not only for letting agents. A landlord needs a provider that runs the collections and each tenant’s agreement to a mandate, which the tenant gives once from their own bank details. From then on the rent is collected without the tenant doing anything, at the amount the tenancy says, including after a rent increase.
Whether Direct Debit suits your tenants better than a standing order is a separate question, and the blog comparison linked at the end covers it in full, the Direct Debit Guarantee included. This page is about collecting it yourself: when it is worth doing, what to compare between the ways of doing it, and how it runs in LetCompliance.
When collecting by Direct Debit is worth it
- After a rent increase. With a standing order the tenant has to change the amount themselves, and a missed change leaves a small arrear every month until someone notices. A Direct Debit collects the new rent from the day it takes effect
- When a payment goes wrong. A cancelled or unfunded standing order simply does not arrive, and you find out when you look. A failed Direct Debit comes back marked as failed against that rent
- With joint tenants or several properties. Matching ten standing orders by reference is a monthly job. Direct Debit payments arrive already matched to the tenancy
- When an agent used to collect it. Leaving an agent means the rent has to be redirected anyway, which is a natural moment to ask for a mandate rather than a new standing order
It is not for every tenant. Some want to keep control of the date, and a standing order set for the day after their payday may be what keeps them paying on time.
What to compare before you choose how to collect
- Where the money lands. In your own account, or in a platform’s or an agent’s account first, to be passed on later
- How the fee is worked out. A percentage of each payment, a capped fee or a flat monthly charge. Work it out on a year of your own rent, not on one payment
- How the tenant signs up. From a link with their bank details, or by creating an account somewhere first
- What a failed payment looks like. Whether it comes back marked against that month’s rent so you can chase it, or simply never shows up
- Whether it follows the tenancy. A rent increase, weekly rent or a joint tenancy should not need a new arrangement each time
- Where standing order tenants fit. Some tenants will stay on a standing order, so their payments need a place in the same record
The options side by side
- Standing order. Free for both of you. Set up and controlled by the tenant. Changes need the tenant to act
- Direct Debit through LetCompliance. LetCompliance adds no commission. Stripe charges 1% of each Direct Debit payment with a 20p minimum and a £4 cap, and £5 for a disputed payment. Each collection starts on the rent day, and changes follow the tenancy
On a £1,200 monthly rent 1% would be £12 a payment, so the fee is the £4 cap.
- Collection by an agent or a platform. The rent comes to you through someone else, for a percentage or a monthly fee. OpenRent lists its Rent Collection at £10 a month (pricing page, read 20 October 2026)
- Card, as a fallback. Costs you noticeably more than Direct Debit: a percentage of the rent with no cap, which you cannot pass on to your tenant. LetCompliance takes 0% either way.
What Direct Debit collection costs in full, on a year’s rent, is set out on the help page about its cost.
How it works in LetCompliance
Direct Debit. Connect a Stripe account in your own name from Settings. The rent goes into it and on to your bank, and never passes through LetCompliance. Each tenant then confirms the mandate from a link, with no account to create, and every tenant not yet asked can be invited in one go, twenty at a time. The tenant’s bank takes about three working days to confirm a new mandate, and rent that falls due before then is not taken by it, so collect that payment another way. From then on each rent charge is collected from its due date and recorded against the tenancy when Stripe confirms it, and Stripe’s fee is logged as an expense on its own line. A payment that fails is marked failed and one the tenant disputes is marked reversed; both count as owed, so the arrears chase can pick them up.
Direct Debit comes with the 3-day trial and every paid plan, from £7.99 a month. It is for landlords collecting into their own account, so it is not available inside an agency workspace.
Standing order. Nothing changes for the tenant. A charge is raised each rent day, and when the money arrives you mark it paid, confirm every property’s arrivals at once on the rent page, or upload your bank statement as CSV and confirm the matches. A part payment is recorded as part, and the rest stays owed. A tenant who pays by hand can also tell you from their portal that they have paid, and you confirm it.
Both can run side by side, with some tenants on Direct Debit and others on standing order, all on the same rent page.
The law
- The payment date. GOV.UK’s “Assured periodic tenancies: a guide for landlords” says a tenancy agreement usually cannot include terms asking tenants to pay rent before it is due; a tenant can choose to pay early, but you cannot make them (read 20 October 2026). Set the collection for the rent day, not before it
- Rent increases. The same guide says rent can go up only once a year, not in the first year of the tenancy, using Form 4A given at least 2 months before the new rent starts (read 20 October 2026). A Direct Debit should collect the new amount only from that date, which is how LetCompliance charges it
- No fee to the tenant for paying. GOV.UK’s “Fees you can charge as part of a tenancy” (updated 7 July 2026, read 20 October 2026) says you cannot charge your tenant any payment that is not on its list, and a charge for paying by Direct Debit or standing order is not on it. Schedule 1 to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 sets the list in law (legislation.gov.uk). Stripe’s fee is yours
Common mistakes
- Asking a tenant to switch to Direct Debit in the middle of a disagreement about the rent. Ask at the start of a tenancy, or with a rent change, when there is a plain reason
- Running a standing order and a Direct Debit for the same month, so the tenant pays twice. The standing order has to be cancelled before the first collection
- Setting a collection date earlier than the rent day in the agreement
- Assuming a Direct Debit payment is final. A tenant can dispute one with their bank
Can I make my tenant pay by Direct Debit?
In LetCompliance no tenant is moved to Direct Debit without confirming the mandate themselves. Explain why you are asking, and keep a standing order as the alternative for a tenant who would rather not.
How long does Direct Debit rent take to reach me?
Each collection starts on the due date. Bacs confirms it about three working days later, and Stripe then pays it into your bank on your payout schedule. The first collection on a new mandate waits for the tenant’s bank to confirm the mandate as well. On the rent page the payment shows as being collected, not as late, in the meantime.
Can a tenant cancel a Direct Debit?
Yes, with their bank. The next collection then cannot be taken, you are told the mandate has ended, and the charge shows as unpaid on the rent page until the rent arrives another way.
Does LetCompliance take a cut of the rent?
No. The rent goes into your own Stripe account. Stripe charges 1% of each Direct Debit payment with a 20p minimum and a £4 cap, and £5 for a disputed payment.
What LetCompliance does not do here
- Direct Debit is not on the free plan, and not in agency workspaces
- It cannot change Stripe’s fees or the dispute rules. If a tenant disputes a payment with their bank, Stripe takes the payment and a £5 fee out of your Stripe balance. The fee is not refunded, and a Bacs dispute cannot be challenged.
- It does not read your bank account live, so a standing order is confirmed by you or matched from a statement
- It never moves a tenant to Direct Debit without their agreement
