Property · free template

Tenant Reference Request

Reference request sent to a tenant's current landlord or employer, covering rent history, conduct and confirmation of income.

A ready-to-use real estate & property form for agents, lettings teams and property managers: 13 questions, 2 pages, 2 conditional rules.

Questions: 13
Pages: 2
Layouts: classic
Conditional rules: 2
Typical time: 5 min

Preview it in the gallery

Searches this template answers

Also filed under

Tenancy & maintenance

Live preview and test console

This is the real form. Answer it to test the 2 conditional rules — nothing is sent or stored.

Page 1 of 2 — Reference request

Every question on this page is currently visible.

What happens after submit: nothing is stored in this preview. On your own copy, every response triggers an instant email notification and lands in your response dashboard, ready to export or forward.

Happy with it? Take a copy into your workspace — every question, rule and setting comes with it.

Who this template is for

Tenant Reference Request is built for agents, lettings teams and property managers who need to pre-qualify enquiries and gather documents up front.

Agents, lettings teams and property managers working in real estate & property.
Teams who need to pre-qualify enquiries and gather documents up front without writing code or paying for a custom build.
Anyone replacing viewings booked with people who were never eligible with one structured record per enquiry.
Respondents are buyers, renters and landlords — the form asks them 13 questions across 2 screens.

Why this form is useful

It removes the cost of viewings booked with people who were never eligible and turns each submission into a record your team can act on immediately.

4 questions are required, so submissions arrive complete instead of needing a follow-up email.
It collects a verified email address so replies and confirmations land.
It captures a phone number for urgent follow-up.
It pins the request to a specific date.
Conditional logic hides 2 questions until they are relevant — shorter forms convert better than long ones.
Splitting the form across 2 pages keeps each screen short and shows respondents how much is left.
Every response is stored, searchable and exportable, so nothing depends on one person's inbox.

How to use this template

From copy to live form is a few minutes of work, and every step is reversible.

1Press “Use this template” — a fresh copy of Tenant Reference Request lands in your workspace, ready to edit.
2Rename or delete any question, and change what is required. Nothing here is fixed.
3Open Notifications and add the email addresses that should be alerted on each submission; add an auto-reply to the respondent if the form collects an email address.
4Publish it, then either share the link directly or paste the embed snippet into your site — the embedded form resizes to fit and loads no marketing or advertising trackers.
5Watch responses land in Submissions, where you can filter, label and export them to CSV or PDF.

Logic and conditions blueprint

Exactly how this form behaves as it is answered — 2 conditional rules ship with it.

Features advanced show logic: if “Reference type” is Landlord reference, the form dynamically exposes “Was rent paid on time?”. Otherwise that question never appears.
Features advanced show logic: if “Reference type” is Employer reference, the form dynamically exposes “Confirmed annual income (£)”. Otherwise that question never appears.
All 2 rules are editable in the Logic tab, and the built-in checker warns about rules that contradict each other.

About this template

This is the form sent out, not filled in by the applicant — it goes to a prospective tenant's current or previous landlord, or their employer, to confirm what the application claims. The landlord section asks for the tenancy dates, rent amount and whether it was paid on time, whether there were any complaints or property damage, and whether the referee would let to that tenant again — a direct question that often reveals more than the specific-answer fields around it. The employer section, used when confirming income rather than tenancy history, asks for job title, length of employment, employment status (permanent, fixed-term, probationary) and confirmation of the stated income. Both sections close with a space for any additional comments the referee wants to add unprompted. Because it's a third party filling this in about someone else, the form states plainly at the top who is asking and why, and the tenant's applications-stage consent to references being taken should already be on file — from the Tenancy Application Form — before this is sent.

What this form asks

Every question is editable — rename it, make it optional, or delete it entirely.

Page 1 — Reference request

Applicant namerequired
Reference typerequired
Referee namerequired
Referee emailrequired
Referee phone

Page 2 — Reference details

Tenancy start date
Tenancy end date (if applicable)
Was rent paid on time?
Were there any complaints or property damage?
Confirmed annual income (£)
Employment status
Would you let to this tenant again / re-employ them?
Additional comments

13 questions in total.

How the form changes as it's filled in

This template ships with 2 conditional rules, grouped into 2 behaviours driven by 1 question. Everything below is already set up — edit or delete any rule once the template is in your workspace.

Driven by “Reference type”

Reveals questions
If “Reference type” is Landlord reference, the form reveals “Was rent paid on time?”.
Reveals questions
If “Reference type” is Employer reference, the form reveals “Confirmed annual income (£)”.

Set it up step by step

1
Confirm consent before sending
Check the applicant has already agreed to references being taken on the Tenancy Application Form before this goes out to a third party.
2
Send the right section for the right referee
Landlords and employers are asked different questions — the logic rule reveals only the relevant fields once the reference type is chosen.
3
Pay attention to the open comment field
A hesitant or brief answer to "would you let to them again" combined with an unprompted comment often tells you more than the tick-box answers.
4
Follow up by phone if a reference is slow or vague
A quick call can clarify an ambiguous written reference faster than waiting on a second form submission.

Mistakes to avoid

Sending this before the applicant has actually consented to references being taken.
Treating a vague or hesitant reference as equivalent to a clear positive one instead of following up.
Skipping the employer reference entirely when income needs independent confirmation, not just a payslip.

What it pairs with

Most teams don't run this form on its own. These are the forms and systems it sits next to.

What to do with the responses

Cross-check the reference against the applicant's own answers on the Tenancy Application Form and follow up directly with the referee if anything is unclear or missing.

Works in this layout

Browse classic templates

Forms that overlap this one

These pages cover the same subject ground as the tenant reference request, matched on the words people actually search for.

Frequently asked questions

Who fills this in — the tenant or the referee?

The referee — their current or previous landlord, or their employer — completes it, based on the applicant's consent already recorded on the Tenancy Application Form.

How is this different from the general Reference Check Form?

This one is built specifically for tenancy referencing, with landlord- and employer-specific sections; the Reference Check Form is a more general-purpose reference request for other contexts.

What if the referee won't confirm income?

Ask for a payslip or employment letter directly from the applicant instead, and note on the form that income wasn't independently confirmed by the employer.

Should I reference a guarantor the same way?

Yes — send this same form to a guarantor's employer or landlord once you've received their details on the Guarantor Application Form.

Is the Tenant Reference Request template free to use?

Yes. You can preview and test Tenant Reference Request on this page without an account, and take a copy into your own HelloForms workspace on the free plan. There is nothing to install and no card required to publish it.

What does the Tenant Reference Request template ask for?

It asks 13 questions across 2 pages, 4 of which are required. Every question is listed in full further down this page, and each one can be renamed, reordered, made optional or deleted after you copy the template.

Can I edit the Tenant Reference Request form after copying it?

Yes — the copy is entirely yours. Change wording, add or remove questions, switch between the classic layout, restyle it to match your brand, and set who gets notified on each submission.

How does the conditional logic in this real estate & property form work?

2 conditional rules ship with the template: Features advanced show logic: if “Reference type” is Landlord reference, the form dynamically exposes “Was rent paid on time?”. Otherwise that question never appears. Features advanced show logic: if “Reference type” is Employer reference, the form dynamically exposes “Confirmed annual income (£)”. Otherwise that question never appears. All 2 rules are editable in the Logic tab, and the built-in checker warns about rules that contradict each other. All rules are editable in the Logic tab.

Where do responses to the Tenant Reference Request form go?

Submissions land in your workspace under Submissions, where you can search, filter, label and export them to CSV or PDF. You can also email a notification to your team on every submission and send the respondent an auto-reply.

Can I embed the Tenant Reference Request form on my own website?

Yes. Publish the form and paste the embed snippet into any page or share the direct link. The embedded form resizes to fit its container and loads no advertising or marketing trackers inside the iframe.

More forms teams pair with the tenant reference request.

Related categories

All Real Estate & Property templates