How long does tenant referencing take, and which company should you use?

Tenant referencing is a UK-wide commercial process, but the fee rules differ sharply between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Right to Rent is England-only, and the main legal risk is usually who pays for checks, not which referencing brand is used.

How long does tenant referencing take?

Tenant referencing usually takes 2 to 5 working days, but Goodlord’s own live pages give two different 72-hour completion figures: its blog says “91% are completed within 72 hours,” while its product page says “30% of Goodlord’s references are returned instantly, 70% within 24 hours, and 90% within 72 hours.” There is no statutory tenant-referencing deadline in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland; the England holding-deposit rule is a separate clock, where “the deadline for agreement” is “the fifteenth day” after the holding deposit is received. Renting reference checks take longer when an employer, previous landlord, guarantor, bank or applicant is slow to respond. Goodlord also says that “a typical tenant referencing process usually takes two to five working days,” HomeLet says referencing “can take anywhere from three to ten days,” and NRLA’s Goodlord-powered member service says references average 26 hours. Guarantor referencing can take the same time as tenant referencing, or longer if the guarantor delays documents.

Which tenant referencing company should you use?

Use the tenant referencing company that matches your route to market: Goodlord or NRLA/Goodlord suits landlords using agent-style workflows, OpenRent suits self-managing landlords who want a direct online purchase, and there is no law in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland that requires a particular provider. England is the clearest fee trap: government guidance says, “You cannot require a tenant obtain a reference through a third-party reference service as a condition of granting a tenancy,” and professional referencing is normally a landlord cost. Scotland is process-heavy for agents: the Letting Agent Code says, “You must agree with the landlord what references you will take and checks you will make on their behalf,” and a named third-party referencing service “must not charge the tenant a fee.” Wales treats unlisted payments as prohibited, and Northern Ireland is the outlier because Housing Rights says a landlord can pass on a credit-check cost to the applicant “without any extra charges.” NRLA tenant referencing reviews should therefore be read as product feedback, not legal approval.

What does Goodlord referencing involve?

Goodlord referencing involves collecting the applicant’s information, checking identity, credit, income and residential history, applying Goodlord’s affordability criteria, and giving the letting agent a report and recommendation rather than making the landlord’s final decision. Goodlord describes the product this way: “Goodlord collects your referencing information and reviews your details and supporting evidence to assess your suitability for the tenancy,” then says it assesses “four key areas” and produces “a report for your letting agent.” Its affordability rule is commercial, not statutory: Goodlord says an applicant must show annual income of “at least 2.5 times the annual rent,” or “3 times the annual rent” for a guarantor. In England only, Right to Rent is a statutory immigration check; the Home Office says the Scheme is “currently in force only in England,” and Goodlord also tells applicants that Right to Rent rules apply only in England. In Scotland, agents must explain who will check what and get written permission.

What do you do when Goodlord referencing goes wrong?

No statute governs appealing a commercial reference; the practical routes are UK GDPR rectification for inaccurate personal data, the Consumer Credit Act route for credit-file errors, and Goodlord’s free first reassessment of a closed reference. UK GDPR gives the applicant “the right to obtain from the controller without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate personal data,” and from 5 February 2026 the one-month response period runs from the statutory “relevant time,” because the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 says the applicable period is “one month beginning with the relevant time.” If the problem is on a credit-reference file, ICO says, “If your credit file is inaccurate, you can raise your complaints with the relevant CRA you obtained your file from,” and the Consumer Credit Act gives a separate correction route. Goodlord’s agent help says, “The first reassessment is free of charge,” but “Essential references cannot be reopened.” A failed Goodlord reference is not itself a legal ban on letting; Goodlord says the landlord usually makes the final decision.

Is there software that runs referencing for you?

Yes, tenant referencing software can run most of the workflow for a landlord or agent, but it does not remove the different UK fee rules: England bans tenant-paid referencing fees, Wales makes a prohibited payment an offence, Scotland requires agreed checks and written permission for agent-led checks, and Northern Ireland may allow a no-markup credit-check recharge to the applicant. Goodlord’s agent product says, “We handle all of your tenant referencing for you,” while OpenRent sells landlord-facing referencing and says “92% of UK landlords reference their tenants.” No UK rule forces a self-managing landlord to use software or to run employer and credit references, although NRLA says, “You can carry out the checks yourself or employ someone to carry them out for you.” In England, the Tenant Fees Act makes any non-permitted payment prohibited, and MHCLG guidance says this includes “fees for referencing and credit checks, guarantor fees and administration.” Abodient can hold lease records, deposit amounts and the chosen deposit scheme against each letting, which matters because referencing results should feed into the tenancy record rather than sit in a separate email trail.

Last reviewed August 2026.

Sources

• Tenant Fees Act 2019 Schedule 2 — “In this Schedule ‘the deadline for agreement’ means the fifteenth day of the period beginning with the day on which the landlord or letting agent receives the holding deposit.” Source
• Goodlord blog, tenant referencing times — “91% are completed within 72 hours.” Source
• Goodlord tenant referencing product page — “30% of Goodlord’s references are returned instantly, 70% within 24 hours, and 90% within 72 hours.” Source
• Goodlord tenant referencing product page — “In the lettings industry, a typical tenant referencing process usually takes two to five working days, and often longer in sectors like retail, banking, or the public sector, where corporate processes can be slow.” Source
• HomeLet tenant referencing guide — “The tenant referencing process can take anywhere from three to ten days, although HomeLet’s VISTA tenant referencing solution offers an unrivalled turnaround, with 70% of references completed in real-time.” Source
• NRLA tenant checks — “On average, references are returned in just 26 hours, with one in three completed instantly.” Source
• Tenant Fees Act 2019 section 3 — “For the purposes of this Act a payment is a prohibited payment unless it is a permitted payment by virtue of Schedule 1.” Source
• MHCLG Tenant Fees Act guidance for landlords and agents — “No. You cannot require a tenant obtain a reference through a third-party reference service as a condition of granting a tenancy, but a tenant could opt to obtain such a reference voluntarily.” Source
• Letting Agent Code of Practice (Scotland) Regulations 2016 schedule paragraph 57 — “You must agree with the landlord what references you will take and checks you will make on their behalf.” Source
• Letting Agent Code of Practice (Scotland) Regulations 2016 schedule paragraph 59 — “If you have contracted a third party to check references, or require prospective tenants to use a specific third party, the third party referencing service must not charge the tenant a fee (see also paragraphs 47 to 49 on charging fees).” Source
• Housing Rights Northern Ireland, finding tenants — “You can pass the cost on to the applicant, but without any extra charges.” Source
• Goodlord, what is Goodlord referencing — “Goodlord collects your referencing information and reviews your details and supporting evidence to assess your suitability for the tenancy.” Source
• Goodlord, what is Goodlord referencing — “We assess the information gathered across four key areas and produce a report for your letting agent outlining our findings and our recommendation regarding your suitability.” Source
• Goodlord, what is Goodlord referencing — “This means that, to meet our affordability criteria, you must demonstrate an annual income of at least 2.5 times the annual rent (or 3 times the annual rent if you are acting as a guarantor).” Source
• Home Office Right to Rent code of practice — “The legislation underpinning the Right to Rent Scheme (in this code the restrictions and civil penalty provisions are referred to as ‘the Scheme’) is currently in force only in England.” Source
• Goodlord, what is Goodlord referencing — “Please note that Right to Rent regulations apply only to tenants renting in England.” Source
• Letting Agent Code of Practice (Scotland) Regulations 2016 schedule paragraph 58 — “If you are to check references and make other checks, you must explain to the applicant and any guarantor what information you will check and who will do the checking, and get their written permission.” Source
• UK GDPR Article 16 — “The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning him or her.” Source
• Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 section 76 — “In Article 12, ‘the applicable time period’ means the period of one month beginning with the relevant time, subject to paragraph 3.” Source
• ICO, credit files — “If your credit file is inaccurate, you can raise your complaints with the relevant CRA you obtained your file from.” Source
• Goodlord agent help, re-open a reference — “The first reassessment is free of charge.” Source
• Goodlord agent help, re-open a reference — “Essential references cannot be reopened.” Source
• Goodlord tenant referencing product page — “The final decision about whether to proceed with the tenancy is usually made by the landlord, using the information provided in the tenant referencing report.” Source
• NRLA, robust tenant referencing — “You can carry out the checks yourself or employ someone to carry them out for you.” Source
• MHCLG Tenant Fees Act guidance for landlords and agents — “This includes fees for referencing and credit checks, guarantor fees and administration.” Source
• Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019 section 2 — “It is an offence for a landlord to require a prohibited payment to be made to the landlord, or any other person—” Source
• Goodlord tenant referencing product page — “We handle all of your tenant referencing for you.” Source
• OpenRent tenant referencing — “92% of UK landlords reference their tenants.” Source