Comparison
HouseFile vs spreadsheets
Most landlords manage compliance in Excel or Google Sheets — and honestly, a well-kept spreadsheet beats no system at all. Here’s where it genuinely works, and where it quietly fails you.
| Capability | Spreadsheet | HouseFile |
|---|---|---|
| Track documents & expiry dates | ✓Yes — if you keep it updated by hand | ✓Automatic — expiry tracked per document, per property |
| Reminders before certificates expire | ✗Only if you build them and check them | ✓Email reminders built in |
| Share documents with tenants | ✗Separate emails or printouts — scattered across inboxes | ✓One secure link per tenancy, always current |
| Prove a tenant received a document | ✗No — a sent email proves sending, not receipt | ✓Timestamped opens and explicit tenant acknowledgments |
| Court-ready evidence pack | ✗Assemble it yourself from emails and folders | ✓One-click compliance report PDF with the full audit trail |
| Survives you being busy | ✗The system is you — miss a week, miss a renewal | ✓Deadlines and nudges keep running whether you check in or not |
| Cost | ✓Free | ✓From £4.99/month after a free 14-day trial |
The honest version
If you have one property, a reliable memory, and tenants who never dispute anything, a spreadsheet plus a tidy folder of PDFs can work. Plenty of landlords ran that way for years — under Section 21, you rarely had to prove anything.
That’s the part that changed. With Section 21 abolished, every possession claim runs through Section 8 grounds, and courts examine whether documents were served. A spreadsheet can tell you the gas certificate was renewed — it cannot show a judge that the tenant received it on a particular date. That gap between “organised” and “provable” is exactly what HouseFile exists to close: every document delivered through a tenant link, every open timestamped, every acknowledgment recorded, all exportable as a court-ready PDF.
Not sure where you stand today? Try the free Renters’ Rights Act readiness checker or generate a compliance checklist for your property type — both work fine alongside a spreadsheet.
Keep the spreadsheet if you like — add the proof.
Import your documents once; HouseFile handles reminders, tenant delivery and the audit trail from there.
Start your free 14-day trialNo card required · Proof, not paperwork.