On your applications list
His card read Viewing invited until he answered, then Viewing confirmed, with nobody ringing round to agree a time.
The right tenant, from one list
Every applicant fills in the same form from your link, with their job, income and Right to Rent asked up front. Viewings are confirmed by the applicant from an email, and the one you choose moves on to their reference and their tenancy without being typed in again.
What you stop doing to find the right tenant
LetCompliance is tenant application software for UK landlords. Applicants fill in one online form from a link, with no account to create, and every application lands in one list with their job, income, move-in date and Right to Rent status. Viewings are confirmed by the applicant from an email, and the applicant you choose moves on to referencing and their tenancy without their details being typed in again.
1click from an application to its reference form, filled in
Typing an applicant in again
Order a reference from an application and the form opens with their name, email, the property and its rent already in. Make them the tenant and their name, email, phone and move-in date become the tenant’s details.
Writing every reply yourself
You and the applicant are both emailed when an application arrives. Approve it and they hear that you would like them to view; decline it and they are sent a polite update, written for you.
Answers you cannot compare
Every applicant answers the same questions from your link, with no account to make: their job, income, move-in date, guarantor and Right to Rent status, then who will live there, pets and smoking. The details a reference needs can be given now or left until later.
Chasing a time to view
Book a time from the application and the applicant is emailed it. They confirm from the link or say which times suit them instead, you are emailed the answer, and both of you get a reminder on the morning.
One applicant, from viewing to reference
Owen Fletcher’s application for Flat 3, 27 Kingsley Road, Sheffield, in the sample account. He applied from the flat’s link on 16 Oct 2026, was invited to a viewing and confirmed it from the email the same day.
In between, the viewing sat at the top of your Viewings page, confirmed, ready to add to your own calendar.
Then on to his reference
Order a reference from his application and the form opens with his name and email in, linked to his application so the result comes back to his record.
How to take tenant applications online
Four steps from the first enquiry to the tenant you choose, on a computer or a phone.
Share the application link
Create a link for the property and send it, or let the Apply button on your public listing send people to it. Applicants need no account, and you and they are emailed when an application arrives.
Compare every applicant in one list
Each answers the same questions, so income, move-in dates and where each viewing has got to sit side by side, with search and filters once the list grows.
Book the viewing and let them confirm
Book a time from their application and they are emailed the invitation. They confirm from the link or say which times suit them instead, and both of you are reminded on the morning.
Move the one you choose on
Order a reference with their details in, request a holding deposit, then make them the tenant. Their name, email, phone and move-in date become the tenant’s details, and the advert can come down in the same step.
The form asks for the applicant’s own Right to Rent status. It is not the Right to Rent check, which you make before the tenancy starts.
Applications sit between the advert and the tenancy
So the applicant you choose carries on into the reference and the tenancy on the same record, and nothing is typed in twice.
Adverts with an Apply button
A public listing for the property sends people to the same form, or to a shorter Request a viewing form, and both arrive in the same list.
Sample account with made-up details, 18 Oct 2026 Viewings on your calendar
Each viewing sits on the month with its state, and adds to your own calendar.
Sample account with made-up details, 18 Oct 2026 Tenant referencing
A full reference is £24.99 and a guarantor’s £19.99, ordered from the application and billed to you, never the applicant. If you want a person to read the figures, a credit risk analyst’s Tenant Risk Report is £79.
Sample account with made-up details, 18 Oct 2026 The tenancy agreement
Once they are the tenant, the agreement is drafted for the property and signed online, and each property shows where its agreement stands.
Sample account with made-up details, 18 Oct 2026
From £7.99 a month, with applications on every plan
Applications, and making an applicant the tenant, are on every plan. Viewings, holding deposits, the waiting list and adverts are on the 3-day trial and every paid plan, priced by portfolio size, not per applicant.
References are paid for when you order one: £24.99 for a full reference, £19.99 for a guarantor and £12.99 for a credit check on its own, billed to you and never to the applicant. How referencing works
How to choose a tenant
Choose a tenant by asking every applicant the same questions, checking the rent is affordable on their income, taking up references, meeting them at a viewing and making the Right to Rent check before the tenancy starts. The fairest test is one you could explain to every applicant, set before the first one applies.
One form for everyone
The same questions are what let you compare people, and they keep the decision on the tenancy. The form here asks every applicant the same things, nothing about children or benefits, and shows them how their details are used before they send it.
Affordability on the actual rent
Set one income test for everyone and count every kind of income the same way, benefits included, as the government’s guidance asks. To test a figure, check what rent an income supports.
References, read properly
A credit check, an employer and the current landlord tell you more than a payslip alone, and a reference ordered from the application starts with their details in. It also pays to know how fake payslips and references are spotted.
The viewing
A viewing is where both sides decide. Booked from the application, its time, the applicant’s answer and the reminders stay with their record instead of a text thread.
Right to Rent, before the tenancy
In England every adult who will live there is checked before the tenancy starts, whatever their nationality. The form asks for their status; the check itself is yours, and the Right to Rent check, step by step walks through it.
A holding deposit once you have chosen
A holding deposit of up to one week’s rent takes the home off the market while the reference and the agreement are done. Here it is requested from the application, held to that cap, with a reminder before its deadline.
The rules on choosing a tenant in England, in brief
What the law asks of a private landlord in England between the advert and the tenancy, each rule read at its source. Wales and Scotland have rules of their own.
Right to Rent
Before a tenancy starts, the landlord checks that every tenant aged 18 or over can legally rent in England, including anyone not named on the agreement. Checking only the people you think are not British citizens is against the law.
Source: GOV.UK, Check your tenant’s right to rent (opens in a new tab)
Children and benefits
Since 1 May 2026 a landlord must not do anything meant to put someone off renting because they have children or receive benefits, from showing the home to signing the agreement. Income can still be weighed against the rent, with the same test for everyone. Read what tenant screening the law allows.
Source: GOV.UK, Rental discrimination under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (opens in a new tab)
The asking rent
A written advert states one rent, not a range, and a landlord cannot ask for, encourage or accept an offer above it. For setting the figure, see how to price under the bidding ban.
Source: GOV.UK, Rental bidding: a guide for landlords (opens in a new tab)
No fees for applying
In England a landlord must not charge any fee connected with a tenancy, arranging or granting it included, unless the Tenant Fees Act 2019 permits it, and paying for a reference is one of the charges it bans. A holding deposit is permitted, up to one week’s rent.
Source: GOV.UK, Tenant Fees Act 2019: statutory guidance (opens in a new tab)
When a holding deposit goes back
Unless you agree another day in writing, the deadline for agreement is the fifteenth day of the period that begins on the day it was received, so that day counts as day one. The deposit is repaid within 7 days if the landlord decides not to let or that deadline passes, with exceptions such as false or misleading information from the applicant, and if the tenancy goes ahead, unless the applicant agrees it goes towards the first rent or the deposit.
Source: Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 2 (opens in a new tab)
No rent before signing
Since 1 May 2026 a landlord cannot ask for, encourage or accept a payment of rent before the tenancy agreement is signed.
Source: GOV.UK, Renters’ Rights Act: an overview for landlords (opens in a new tab)
Read on GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk on 18 Oct 2026. This is not legal advice.
What finding a tenant costs: an agent, a spreadsheet or software
An agent finds a tenant for a one-off fee: Purplebricks lists 90% of the first month’s rent and Andrews a month’s rent plus VAT, at least £1,200. An inbox and a spreadsheet cost nothing but time. LetCompliance takes applications on every plan and runs the rest of the let from £7.99 a month. To put a figure on your own rent, see what an agent would take from it. A good application starts with a good advert, and the guide to advertising a rental covers it.
A letting agent
- What it costs
- From 90% of the first month’s rent
- How applicants apply
- Through the agent
- Who arranges the viewings
- The agent
- What you keep on record
- What the agent passes on
A spreadsheet
- What it costs
- Nothing
- How applicants apply
- By email or text, in their own words
- Who arranges the viewings
- You, by phone and message
- What you keep on record
- Whatever you type in
LetCompliance
- What it costs
- Applications on every plan, the rest from £7.99 a month
- How applicants apply
- One form from your link, with no account
- Who arranges the viewings
- You book it, and the applicant confirms by email
- What you keep on record
- Every answer, the viewing and your decision
Tenant application questions, answered
Straight answers on the form, choosing between applicants, viewings, fees and what it costs.
Still have a question?
What is a tenant application form?
The form a prospective tenant fills in to apply for a rented home: their contact details, job, income, when they want to move in and the details a reference will need. In LetCompliance it is an online form at a link for each property, with no account to make, and every completed form lands in one list.
What should a rental application form ask in the UK?
The same things of every applicant: name and contact details, employment and income, the move-in date, whether there is a guarantor, Right to Rent status, who will live there, pets, smoking and the reason for moving. Date of birth, address history and the current landlord are what a reference needs. Leave out whether they have children or receive benefits, as neither can be held against them.
How do I choose between two tenants?
Decide on the same footing for both: whether the rent is affordable on their income, what their references say, how the viewing went and when they can move in, and note the reason. In LetCompliance both applications sit side by side, and the one you do not choose can be sent a polite update or kept on your waiting list.
What is tenant screening software?
Software that collects applications and checks applicants before a tenancy starts, from the application form to references, credit and affordability. LetCompliance keeps the application, the viewing and the reference on one record, orders the reference from the application, and records the Right to Rent check on the tenant you choose.
Do applicants need an account?
No. They open the link, fill in the form and send it. They are emailed to say it arrived, and again when you approve or decline it.
How do viewings work?
Approve an application and the applicant hears that you would like them to view. Book a time from the application and they are emailed the invitation, which they confirm from its link, or decline it and say which times suit them. You are emailed their answer, and both of you get a reminder on the morning of the viewing.
Can I charge an applicant to apply?
No. In England the Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans every fee connected with a tenancy that it does not list as permitted, so a landlord cannot charge for an application or a reference. A holding deposit of up to one week’s rent is allowed once you have chosen someone, and references ordered in LetCompliance are billed to you.
How much can a holding deposit be?
No more than one week’s rent, which is the year’s rent divided by 52. It is repaid within 7 days if you decide not to let to them or the deadline for agreement passes, unless an exception applies, and if the tenancy goes ahead, unless they agree it goes towards the first rent or the deposit. LetCompliance holds the amount to that cap, emails the applicant the payment details and their rights, and records where it went when you make them the tenant.
When do I do the Right to Rent check?
Before the tenancy starts, for every adult who will live there, named on the agreement or not, in England. For someone with time-limited permission to stay, it is made in the 28 days before the tenancy begins. The form asks for their status up front so you know what to expect, but it is not the check itself.
Can I accept an offer above the asking rent?
No. Since 1 May 2026 a landlord in England cannot ask for, encourage or accept an offer above the rent in the advert. If you make an applicant the tenant in LetCompliance at a rent above the advert’s, it warns you.
How much does tenant application software cost?
Applications, and making the applicant the tenant, are on every plan. Viewings, holding deposits, the waiting list and adverts are 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. A full reference is £24.99 when you order one.
Can I take applications 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.
