Company landlord verification: the £220 fee and your alternative

Why does verification cost £220, and is there a cheaper option? Every company landlord submitted for verification is assessed for its ownership structure, and some are classified as complex - a classification that costs £220 to process. Because this cannot be determined in advance, the £220 fee applies to all company verifications, not only those that turn out to be complex. 

The legal basis

Under UK law, a landlord doesn't have to be the property's legal owner - they just need authority to grant the tenancy. A director acting on a company's behalf can validly stand as landlord, because the tenancy is binding through the company's authorisation, not personal ownership.

This is standard company and agency law: a company can only act through people, and a director acting within their normal authority legally binds it.

So Calmony offers verifying a nominated director instead of the full company. We offer this - we don't instruct it. It's a decision for you and your client. Some landlords will still prefer full company verification for their own records.

Director as landlord, company as payee

A company can nominate a director to act as the individual landlord, verified as an individual rather than requiring full company verification - and rent can still be paid into the company's bank account.

This is legitimate because the director has inherent authority to act on the company's behalf, and rent can still be paid into the company's account since the company remains the actual owner and economic beneficiary. Being the named landlord and being the payee are separate roles - the director's authority covers granting the tenancy, while payment can still flow to whoever actually owns the property.

Why full company verification is £220

Griffin (our provider) checks the ownership structure of every company submitted. It becomes a complex ownership check - and costs us £220 - if:

• Any shareholder is overseas
• Any shareholder is another company
• Any director is overseas

We can't know in advance which companies will trigger this, so the £220 applies to all company verifications.

*Active = received or paid funds in the last 6 months.

The alternative: verify a director instead

Verifying a nominated director as an individual landlord satisfies AML compliance in full - no need to also check the company's ownership.

Best when:

• The company structure is simple but could still trigger complex classification
• You want a predictable cost
• The director is UK-based (overseas directors still incur the higher fee)