DocuTenant vs NRLA templates
The short answer
The National Residential Landlords Association is a membership body, and its template library is one benefit among many. The one you cannot get anywhere else is the advice line: expert advisors you can telephone about your own situation. If that is what you want, join them. Our documents go wider and cover Scotland, which the NRLA does not do itself.
What the NRLA is
The largest membership organisation for private residential landlords in England and Wales, representing over 110,000 members by its own account. Membership includes a downloadable document library, a telephone advice line staffed by its own advisors, the free Portfolio management software, training and accreditation, tax investigation insurance and policy campaigning. It is a trade body that provides templates, not a document company.
Everything on this page about the NRLA was read from their own site on 24 August 2026. Neither product’s price is listed here, because prices change and a stale one helps nobody. Check theirs on their site and ours on our pricing page.
Feature by feature
| Feature | the NRLA | DocuTenant |
|---|---|---|
| Tenancy agreement, England (assured periodic) | the NRLA, Tenancy agreement, England (assured periodic): yes | DocuTenant, Tenancy agreement, England (assured periodic): yes |
| Tenancy agreement, Wales | the NRLA, Tenancy agreement, Wales: yes | DocuTenant, Tenancy agreement, Wales: no |
| Scottish documentsThe NRLA covers England and Wales. Its join page offers a partnership add-on with the Scottish Association of Landlords rather than Scottish documents of its own. | the NRLA, Scottish documents: no | DocuTenant, Scottish documents: yes |
| Rent increase on Form 4A | the NRLA, Rent increase on Form 4A: yes | DocuTenant, Rent increase on Form 4A: yes |
| Section 8 notice on Form 3ASection 8 guidance is named; whether the NRLA supplies its own fillable Form 3A or points to the government form is not stated on its public pages. | the NRLA, Section 8 notice on Form 3A: partly, see the note | DocuTenant, Section 8 notice on Form 3A: yes |
| Guarantor deed | the NRLA, Guarantor deed: yes | DocuTenant, Guarantor deed: yes |
| Pet request and consent | the NRLA, Pet request and consent: yes | DocuTenant, Pet request and consent: yes |
| Arrears letter series | the NRLA, Arrears letter series: yes | DocuTenant, Arrears letter series: yes |
| Inventory | the NRLA, Inventory: yes | DocuTenant, Inventory: yes |
| Deposit prescribed informationNot named as an NRLA template on its public pages. It may exist behind the member login. | the NRLA, Deposit prescribed information: partly, see the note | DocuTenant, Deposit prescribed information: yes |
| Documents generated from your stored recordsNRLA templates are downloads. Its Portfolio software stores property data but is not described as pre-filling documents. | the NRLA, Documents generated from your stored records: no | DocuTenant, Documents generated from your stored records: yes |
| Free preview before joiningThe NRLA library is behind the member login. | the NRLA, Free preview before joining: no | DocuTenant, Free preview before joining: yes |
| Telephone advice line | the NRLA, Telephone advice line: yes | DocuTenant, Telephone advice line: no |
| Training and accreditation | the NRLA, Training and accreditation: yes | DocuTenant, Training and accreditation: no |
| Tax investigation insurance | the NRLA, Tax investigation insurance: yes | DocuTenant, Tax investigation insurance: no |
| Making Tax Digital filingAvailable as a paid upgrade to NRLA Portfolio, not in base membership. | the NRLA, Making Tax Digital filing: partly, see the note | DocuTenant, Making Tax Digital filing: no |
| Campaigns on landlords’ behalf | the NRLA, Campaigns on landlords’ behalf: yes | DocuTenant, Campaigns on landlords’ behalf: no |
Choose the NRLA if
- You want to phone someone about your specific situation. The NRLA advice line is staffed by its own advisors and the organisation says it answered over 130,000 questions in 2025. Nothing we build replaces that, and we would not pretend otherwise.
- You want tax investigation insurance, accreditation, training or a body that lobbies government on your behalf. Those come with membership and have nothing to do with documents.
- You let in Wales.
- You want free management software with your membership. Portfolio is included and tracks compliance dates.
- Honestly: most serious English landlords should probably be members regardless of what document tool they use. The two things are not in competition.
Choose DocuTenant if
- You let in Scotland. The NRLA covers England and Wales and offers a partnership with the Scottish Association of Landlords rather than Scottish documents of its own.
- You want the document produced rather than downloaded. Their library is files you fill in; ours generates from the property and tenancy you have already entered.
- You want to see the document before paying anything. Their library is behind the member login; our template documents preview free.
- You want the prescribed forms drafted as prescribed forms, with a published review date against the legislation.
- You want PDF and DOCX out of the same generator, with your own logo on it.
This is the least competitive comparison on the site
We should say this plainly, because a comparison page that pretends otherwise is not worth reading.
The NRLA is not really our competitor. It is a trade body. The templates are one benefit inside a membership that also buys you an advice line, insurance, training, a research operation and political representation. A landlord choosing between us and them on the strength of the document library alone is comparing the wrong things.
Where we do overlap, the difference is downloads against generation, and England-and-Wales against England-and-Scotland. That is a genuine difference and it matters to some people. It is not a reason to cancel a membership.
If your budget only stretches to one and you let in England, think about which problem is more expensive when it goes wrong: not having the right document, or not having anyone to ask. For a lot of landlords the answer is the second one.
What we could not check
The NRLA document library sits behind a member login, so everything above comes from its public pages. Two consequences worth stating.
First, the library may well contain documents we have listed as "not named publicly". Deposit prescribed information is the obvious candidate. We have marked those as unverified rather than absent, because we cannot see inside.
Second, the NRLA's own public pages give two different counts of what is in there: "130+ documents and guides" on the join page, "100+ guides, templates and resources" on the homepage. Both are marketing claims and neither is a document-type count comparable to our 47. Do not read across between the numbers.
Try a document free, no signup
Pick a document, fill in a few details and see a real preview on screen. No account, no card, no email. You only need to sign up if you want to download it.