On her phone
The charge she saw as due now reads paid, with the receipt beside it.
Rent collection without the chasing
Direct Debit into your own Stripe account, with no commission on the rent. Each payment is recorded on the tenancy and in your tax figures, so you can see at a glance who has paid and who owes.
What you stop doing every month
LetCompliance collects rent by Bacs Direct Debit into the landlord’s own Stripe account. The tenant authorises it once from a link, each collection starts on the due date, and every payment is recorded against the tenancy and in Finance. LetCompliance takes no commission on the rent; Stripe charges its own Direct Debit fee.
0%commission on your rent
Paying an agent to collect it
Agents’ own price lists charge 9.6% to 16.8% of the rent to collect it, VAT included. Here it goes into your own Stripe account, and LetCompliance takes none of it.
Checking the bank on rent day
Once the tenant has set up the Direct Debit, each collection starts on the due date without a reminder from you, and the payment is marked paid on the tenancy when Bacs confirms it.
Wondering who has paid
The Rent page puts every tenancy in one list, whoever owes most at the top, with the arrears worked out from the same ledger as your rent statements.
Typing rent into a spreadsheet
Every payment is posted to Finance as rent received, with Stripe’s fee logged as an expense beside it, so the figures for your tax return build up as the rent comes in.
One month’s rent, from due to paid
Chloe Barnes’s rent at 6 Saxby Walk, in the sample account, on 16 Oct 2026 and the day after. She paid by bank transfer and said so from her portal; a Direct Debit payment ends in the same place, with nobody needing to say anything.
In between, her landlord was told, and nothing was recorded until the payment was confirmed.
On your Rent page
Confirming her payment moved the month’s collected figure, with nothing to update by hand.
Set up once, collected every month
Direct Debit runs through your own Stripe account, so the rent never passes through LetCompliance.
Connect your Stripe account
Once, from the Rent page. A new Stripe account or one you already have both work.
Ask the tenant to set up the Direct Debit
They get a link and authorise it on Stripe’s own page with their email address, with no account to create. Every tenant not yet asked can be sent a request in one go.
Collection starts on the due date
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.
Late rent is flagged, and chased if you choose
A payment that fails shows against the tenancy and counts as owed. Switch on the arrears chase and the tenant gets a polite email in your name on the interval you pick, with replies coming to you.
A new Direct Debit waits for the tenant’s bank to accept it, usually about three working days, and rent that falls due before then is not taken by it.
Rent is one part of the let. The rest is in the same login.
The rent sits on the same tenancy as everything else, so nothing is typed in twice.
Rent arrears
Who owes what, with a reminder before rent is due and an arrears chase, each off until you switch it on.
Sample account with made-up details, 17 Oct 2026 The tenant portal
Tenants see their rent and receipts, report repairs and message you, with no password to remember.
Sample account with made-up details, 17 Oct 2026 Accounting and Making Tax Digital
Rent received feeds your income, and the quarterly updates for Making Tax Digital read the same figures on paid plans.
Sample account with made-up details, 16 Oct 2026 The tenancy and its agreement
The rent and the rent day come from the tenancy, drafted and e-signed in the same account.
Sample account with made-up details, 16 Oct 2026
From £7.99 a month, with no commission on the rent
Collecting rent by Direct Debit is on the 3-day trial and every paid plan; in an agency workspace it goes to the agency’s own Stripe account, connected in Agency settings. Plans are priced by portfolio size, not per tenancy or per room.
LetCompliance takes 0% commission on rent. It goes into your own Stripe account, which pays it out to your bank, and never passes through LetCompliance. Stripe charges 1% of each Direct Debit payment with a 20p minimum and a £4 cap, and £5 for a disputed payment. On a £1,200 monthly rent 1% would be £12 a payment, so the fee is the £4 cap. These are the rates Stripe published on stripe.com/gb/pricing/local-payment-methods in October 2026, and Stripe can change them. Stripe’s pricing page
Rent paid by standing order, tracked on the tenancy
The tenant’s standing order can stay exactly as it is. LetCompliance tracks the rent on each tenancy, with a charge for every rent day, and you record what arrives: mark it received, or import your bank statement and confirm the matches. Standing order rent and Direct Debit rent show together on the one Rent page.
A rent ledger on every tenancy
Each tenancy has a rent charge for every rent day, however the tenant pays. The charge is on the tenancy a week before it falls due, or sooner once the rent before it is marked paid. Once its due date passes with nothing recorded against it, it shows as overdue. The arrears figure and the rent statement read from that one ledger, and each payment you record goes into Finance as rent received.
Mark it received when it lands
Mark paid on the tenancy records a payment against its charge, and asks the day the money arrived unless the rent is due that day. The tenant sees it paid, with a receipt, in their portal. A payment short of the rent goes in as a part payment, and the rest stays owed. On the Rent page, Mark all received on their due dates records the rent due by today that is waiting for you, across every property, each as received on its own due date, once you confirm. Choose which lets you leave out any that have not arrived. The income goes into Finance on the date the rent is recorded as received, so rent that came in on a different day is better recorded with Mark paid, or from the bank statement, which uses the bank’s date. Some rent waits for you to record it one at a time, such as a part-paid month, rent you marked by hand as Overdue or Missed, and rent at a property with a Section 8 case open. A tenant can also tell you from their portal that they have paid, and nothing is recorded until you confirm it.
Or import the bank statement
There is no live bank connection: the statement comes in as a CSV file you download from online banking and upload on Bank statements. A line of money in for the exact amount of a rent charge, to the penny, dated from 10 days before the rent was due to 31 days after, is offered as that rent. Where two charges fit, the one whose tenant is named in the line comes first. A smaller line is offered as part of a rent only when other lines around the due date add up with it to the rent exactly, or a name on the tenancy is in its description. Confirm all files only the lines that fit one charge with confidence, and leaves the rest for you to decide, among them part payments, possible repeats of an earlier import and lines that could be either of two charges. Nothing is recorded until you confirm it. The help answer on reconciling rent with your bank statement sets out every rule, with a worked example.
Sample account with made-up details, 18 Oct 2026
When Direct Debit is the better route
A standing order is the tenant’s own instruction to their bank: a set amount on a set date, which they can change or cancel there at any time. It pays what they set, so after a rent increase it is the tenant who has to change it, and if it stops, the first sign is rent that does not arrive.
A Direct Debit takes the rent due on the tenancy, so after a rent increase the new rent is collected under the same Direct Debit, with nothing for the tenant to change. The tenant can still cancel it at their bank at any time, as the Direct Debit Guarantee says. If they do, Stripe reports it and LetCompliance emails you. A collection that fails shows on the tenancy as owed.
The Guarantee is offered by every bank and building society that pays Direct Debits: if a payment is taken in error, the tenant is entitled to a full and immediate refund from their bank.
LetCompliance and Stripe take nothing on a standing order payment, and for a tenant who has always paid on time, a standing order may be all you need. To move a tenant across, ask for the Direct Debit from the tenancy, or ask every tenant not yet asked in one go. The tenant keeps the standing order until their bank has accepted the Direct Debit, usually about three working days, and then cancels it before it pays any rent the Direct Debit will collect. If a standing order payment has already gone out for that rent, mark the rent paid on the tenancy before its due date: the Direct Debit collects only rent still unpaid.
Sources, each read on 31 October 2026: The Direct Debit Guarantee (Pay.UK) (opens in a new tab) and Direct Debits, standing orders and recurring card payments (MoneyHelper) (opens in a new tab).
Rent charges and Mark paid on the tenancy come with every plan. The Rent page and Bank statements come with the 3-day trial and every paid plan.
Rent collection questions, answered
Straight answers on the money, the timing and what the tenant sees.
Still have a question?
What should I check in software that collects rent by Direct Debit?
Whether it takes the rent at all: some software only reads your bank feed after the tenant has paid, while a Direct Debit is authorised once and then collected each time the rent falls due. Where the rent lands: in your own account, or with the provider first. What it costs: a commission on the rent, or a plan and the payment fee. What the tenant has to do: create an account, or authorise a Direct Debit from a link. And what happens after: whether each payment posts to the tenancy and into your figures. In LetCompliance the rent is collected by Bacs Direct Debit into your own Stripe account, no commission is taken, the tenant needs no account, and every payment posts to the tenancy and to Finance.
How much does rent collection cost, and which plans include it?
Collecting rent by Direct Debit is on the 3-day trial and every paid plan: £7.99 a month for one property (Single), £14.99 for up to 3 (Solo), £19 for up to 10 (Portfolio), £29 for up to 20 (Portfolio Plus) and £49 for any number (Professional), with no VAT added. In an agency workspace the rent goes to the agency’s own Stripe account instead, connected in Agency settings. Plans are priced by portfolio size, not per tenancy or per room, and LetCompliance takes no commission on the rent. Stripe charges 1% of each Direct Debit payment with a 20p minimum and a £4 cap, and £5 for a disputed payment. If your trial or plan ends with no paid plan in place, nothing is collected for a week while you choose one; after that the Direct Debit is cancelled and your tenant is told to ask you how to pay from then on.
How does the tenant pay?
By Direct Debit. You send a request, and the tenant authorises it on Stripe’s own page from the link, using their email address. They do not create an account or choose a password, and the Direct Debit Guarantee covers them, as it does any UK Direct Debit. Each payment leaves their account about two working days after the rent is due.
When does the money reach my bank?
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. So no arrival date is promised. A new Direct Debit also waits for the tenant’s bank to accept it, usually about three working days, and rent that falls due before then is not taken by it.
Does LetCompliance hold my rent?
No. LetCompliance takes 0% commission on rent. It goes into your own Stripe account, which pays it out to your bank, and never passes through LetCompliance. Stripe charges 1% of each Direct Debit payment with a 20p minimum and a £4 cap, and £5 for a disputed payment. On a £1,200 monthly rent 1% would be £12 a payment, so the fee is the £4 cap. These are the rates Stripe published on stripe.com/gb/pricing/local-payment-methods in October 2026, and Stripe can change them. Stripe’s fee on each payment is recorded in Finance as an expense for you.
Do I need my own Stripe account?
Yes, and that is what keeps the rent out of LetCompliance’s hands: it is paid into a Stripe account in your name. You do not need one before you start. Set up payouts, on the Rent page, leads to Stripe’s own set-up, where you create a Stripe login or sign in with one you already have, and Stripe asks for your details and the bank account it pays the rent out to.
What happens when a Direct Debit payment fails?
Stripe reports it once the Bacs cycle has run, and the charge shows as failed against the tenancy and counts as owed. If you have switched on the arrears chase, the tenant gets a polite reminder in your name, with replies coming to you.
Can I produce a rent statement for an accountant or a deposit dispute?
Yes, for any tenancy: month by month, what was charged, what was paid and the balance carried forward, with the totals and the longest unbroken run of unpaid months. It uses the same rule as the arrears figure everywhere else, so the statement and the screen agree.
Can I still record rent paid another way?
Yes. Rent paid by bank transfer or standing order goes on the same tenancy, marked paid by hand or matched from your bank statement, so one ledger holds every payment however it was made.
What happens to the Direct Debit when the rent goes up?
The same Direct Debit collects the new rent. Send a Section 13 notice on Form 4A from LetCompliance (paid plans), with the earliest lawful start date worked out for you, and each charge due from the new rent’s start date is raised at the new amount and collected under the Direct Debit the tenant already authorised. The tenant does not set anything up again.
Can I collect rent without a paid plan?
The free plan is £0 for one property and keeps rent tracked on the tenancy with receipts, the tenant portal with repairs, the certificate dates with email reminders and the 0 to 100 compliance score. Making Tax Digital and Direct Debit collection need Single.
