About
Why RenterCheck exists
Buying a house involves a survey, searches and a solicitor. Renting one often involves a twenty-minute viewing, a holding deposit the same afternoon, and a signature before anyone has looked anything up.
Most of what a renter would want to know is already public. Energy performance, flood designations, what the property last sold for, whether the company on the agreement is real and up to date with its filings. It is just spread across half a dozen government services, none of which were built for someone standing outside a flat deciding whether to hand over a deposit.
RenterCheck puts what we can establish in one place, says where each figure came from, and says plainly when a check could not be completed.
From the founder
Why I started RenterCheck
I started RenterCheck because I felt renters deserved a better way to understand what they were committing to.
I’ve spent years working for a vehicle history check provider, where thousands of people check cars every day to uncover potential risks before buying. It made me question why checking a rented home wasn’t just as straightforward.
Renters will often hand over thousands of pounds in rent and a deposit after just one short viewing. Yet getting a clear picture of the landlord, the property, the surrounding area and the tenancy agreement can mean searching across multiple websites—or simply trusting what they’ve been told.
There are plenty of services that check the renter’s credit history, employment and ability to pay. Those checks serve a purpose, but renters are often in a vulnerable position too. They’re making a major financial commitment and choosing somewhere to call home.
I wanted to make those important checks easier. That’s why I built RenterCheck: to help renters ask the right questions, spot potential concerns and make a more informed decision before signing an agreement or handing over their money.
James Marquette, founder of RenterCheck
What we do
- Show what named public datasets record about a specific property in England.
- Calculate the statutory deposit limits exactly as the legislation defines them.
- Tell you where every figure came from and when we retrieved it.
- Say when a check failed, instead of quietly reporting an absence of data as good news.
What we will not do
- Rate, score or review landlords and letting agents.
- Publish an estimated rent we cannot trace to real comparable lettings.
- Keep your tenancy agreement. If you upload it for checking, only our findings are saved, never the document or its text.
- Tell you a property is safe. We have no inspection data, and nobody should act as if we do.
Where we are up to
RenterCheck is early. The free property check is live. Complete RenterCheck, the paid report, adds:
The money
- The rent compared with similar homes nearby, with the adverts behind it
- Monthly costs: council tax, energy, water and broadband
- The deposit and upfront payments checked against the legal limits
The landlord and the home
- The registered owner, from HM Land Registry
- HMO licensing and council licensing schemes
- Planning applications for the building and nearby
- Your tenancy agreement checked against the report
The area
- Flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water
- The nearest schools, with Ofsted and exam results
- Stations, bus stops and how often the buses run
- The nearest GP, pharmacy, supermarket and park
- Your journey to work, and what it costs
- Mobile signal from each network
- Broadband speeds predicted at the address
- Road and rail noise, and air pollution
Before you sign
- Questions for the letting agent, ready to send
If the free check is useful to you, the most helpful thing you can do is tell us what was missing. hello@rentercheck.co.uk