The short answer
No. Everything a tenant does in LetCompliance is free for them: opening their portal, seeing their rent and receipts, reporting a repair, signing the tenancy agreement and paying the rent. The landlord pays for LetCompliance, and the landlord pays Stripe’s fee for collecting rent by Direct Debit. The things a tenant does pay are the ones they would pay with any landlord: the rent, the tenancy deposit and, if the landlord asks for one, a holding deposit.
What a tenant gets, free
Each tenant gets their own portal link. There is no account or password to set up and nothing to download, because the link opens straight on a phone. It shows only their own tenancy.
- Rent: what is due, what they have paid and their receipts, with a way to tell the landlord I have paid this when they paid by transfer
- Repairs: report something with photos and follow its progress
- Messages: write to the landlord and read the replies
- Documents: certificates, the tenancy papers and anything waiting to be signed
- Inspections, pets, meter readings and moving out: visits and their reports, a pet request, meter readings, and giving notice
Signing the tenancy agreement online costs the tenant nothing either: they get a link by email, read it and sign.
Paying the rent
- By Direct Debit. The tenant confirms the mandate from a link, with no account to create. The rent goes into the landlord’s 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. That fee is charged to the landlord’s account, and LetCompliance adds nothing on top
- By card. Where a landlord sends a one-off card payment link, paying by card costs the tenant nothing extra. Stripe’s card fee, a percentage of the rent with no cap, is charged to the landlord’s Stripe account
- By bank transfer or standing order. Paid as the tenant always has, and recorded by the landlord
Applying, referencing and holding deposits
- Applying through a LetCompliance advert is free for the applicant
- Referencing is ordered and paid for by the landlord: a credit check is £12.99 and a full reference £24.99 in LetCompliance. The applicant fills in their own part of a full reference at no cost
- A holding deposit, where the landlord asks for one, is paid by the applicant straight to the landlord. LetCompliance shows the applicant what it is for and records what happens to it; it takes nothing from it
The law on what tenants can be charged
GOV.UK’s “Fees you can charge as part of a tenancy” (updated 7 July 2026, read 20 October 2026) lists what a landlord in England can charge tenants or would-be tenants in connection with a tenancy: the rent once the agreement is signed, a refundable tenancy deposit, a refundable holding deposit of at most one week’s rent, a payment for changing the tenancy at the tenant’s request, a payment when the tenant gives too little notice, utilities, communication services and council tax, a late rent fee, and replacing a lost key or security device. It says you cannot charge any payment that is not on that list.
So a landlord cannot pass the cost of a reference, or of LetCompliance itself, on to a tenant.
What the landlord pays instead
- LetCompliance itself. The free plan keeps one property; paid plans start at Single, £7.99 a month for one property, and the 3-day trial needs no card
- Stripe’s fee on each rent payment collected by Direct Debit or card, charged to the landlord’s own Stripe account, with no commission from LetCompliance on top
- Each reference ordered, paid per check, with no subscription needed for the check itself
None of those costs reaches the tenant, and the tenant portal comes with every plan, the free one included.
What a tenant sees, and what they do not
The portal link is scoped to one tenancy. A tenant never sees the landlord’s other properties, other tenants, finances or tax figures. Right to Rent copies are never shown in the portal. A landlord can withdraw a link at any time.
Common questions from tenants
Tenants sometimes worry that a portal means a fee is coming. It does not, and the landlord can say so when sending the link. A tenant who would rather not use the portal can carry on by email and phone; the portal is there to make things easier, not to replace talking to the landlord.
Do tenants need to download an app?
No. The portal is a web page opened from a link, on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install.
Can a landlord charge a tenant for referencing?
Not in England. Referencing is not on GOV.UK’s list of payments a landlord can charge, so the landlord pays.
Can my landlord make me pay rent by Direct Debit?
How rent is paid is agreed between the landlord and tenant, usually in the tenancy agreement. If you would rather pay another way, ask; a landlord using LetCompliance can record rent paid by transfer just as well. A Direct Debit can be cancelled through your bank.
Is there a fee for paying rent by card?
Not for the tenant. The card fee is charged to the landlord’s Stripe account.
The honest limits
- The rent, the deposit and any holding deposit are still the tenant’s to pay, as with any let
- Messages and repair reports reach the landlord, not LetCompliance; LetCompliance does not answer them
- The tenant portal is part of the landlord’s account. If the landlord stops using LetCompliance, the tenant deals with them directly
