Landlord Tax Ledger

If the property has any gas appliances, a Gas Safe registered engineer must check them every 12 months and give you a gas safety record, often called a CP12.

• Give existing tenants a copy within 28 days of the check, and new tenants a copy before they move in.
• A check done up to 2 months before the due date keeps the same renewal date, so you don’t lose any months.
• Keep each record for at least 2 years. Keeping them all is simpler.
• Check the engineer’s Gas Safe ID card. Their number should be on the record.

Log it under Safety dates and the ledger works out the next due date.

HSE gas safety guidance for landlords

A qualified electrician must inspect and test the fixed wiring at least every 5 years, or sooner if the report says so, and give you an Electrical Installation Condition Report.

• Give existing tenants a copy within 28 days, and new tenants a copy before they move in.
• If the council asks for a copy, send it within 7 days.
• If the report finds work that’s needed, have it done within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so, and keep written proof it was finished.
• Keep a copy to give the next electrician.

Electrical safety standards guidance on GOV.UK

You need a valid EPC before you advertise or let the property, and you must give the tenant a copy. An EPC lasts 10 years.

• Rented homes must be rated E or above, unless you have registered a valid exemption.
• The government plans to raise the minimum to C by 2030. If you’re planning work anyway, ask what would lift the rating.
• A new EPC after improvement work can help when you re-let.

Minimum energy efficiency standard on GOV.UK

• Fit a smoke alarm on every storey that has a room used as living space, including bathrooms and halls.
• Fit a carbon monoxide alarm in every room with a fixed appliance that burns fuel, such as a boiler or wood burner. Gas cookers don’t count.
• Check they all work on the first day of each new tenancy, and note that you did.
• Repair or replace an alarm as soon as you’re told it’s faulty.

Smoke and CO alarm guidance on GOV.UK

• Put the deposit in a government-approved protection scheme within 30 days of receiving it. The schemes are the DPS, mydeposits and TDS.
• Within the same 30 days, give the tenant the scheme’s prescribed information: how the deposit is protected and how to get it back.
• The deposit can’t be more than 5 weeks’ rent if the yearly rent is under £50,000. A holding deposit can’t be more than 1 week’s rent.
• If you miss these steps, a court can order you to pay the tenant up to 3 times the deposit.

Tenancy deposit protection on GOV.UK

In England, check that every adult who will live in the property has the right to rent in the UK, before the tenancy starts.

• See the original documents with the tenant there, or use the Home Office online check with their share code.
• Keep a dated copy for the whole tenancy and for a year after it ends.
• If someone’s permission runs out, you must do a follow-up check before it ends.

Check your tenant’s right to rent on GOV.UK

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 changed most private tenancies in England from 1 May 2026.

• Fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies became periodic tenancies with no end date. Tenants can leave with 2 months’ notice.
• Section 21 “no fault” evictions ended. To get the property back you use Section 8 with a legal reason, such as selling, moving in yourself or rent arrears. Notice periods are longer.
• Rent can go up only once a year, using a Section 13 notice. The tenant can challenge it at a tribunal.
• You must advertise a rent and can’t accept bids above it. You can’t ask for more than a month’s rent in advance.
• Tenants can ask to keep a pet, and you can’t refuse without a good reason.
• You can’t refuse tenants because they have children or get benefits.
• Landlords had to give existing tenants the government’s information sheet by 31 May 2026. New tenancies need the terms in writing.
• Still to come: a register of private landlords, a landlord ombudsman, and a Decent Homes Standard for private rentals.

Renting out a property on GOV.UK

Many councils need a licence for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), and some need one for every rented home in certain streets, which is called selective licensing. Letting without a needed licence can mean a large fine, and you may have to pay rent back.

Check your council’s website, or ask them, for the property’s address.

HMO licences on GOV.UK

You can take off costs that are only for running the rental: insurance, letting agent fees, repairs, safety checks, ground rent and service charges, cleaning and gardening, accountancy, advertising, and bills you pay while it’s empty.

• Repairs put something back as it was, like for like. Using a modern equivalent, such as double glazing in place of single, still counts as a repair.
• Improvements add something new or make it better, such as an extension, a loft conversion or a first-time kitchen. You can’t claim these against rent, but keep the receipts because they reduce Capital Gains Tax when you sell.
• Replacing furniture and appliances like for like in a furnished let can be claimed, minus anything you got for the old item. Buying them for the first time can’t.
• You can’t claim mortgage capital repayments, your own time, or the personal share of anything you also use yourself.

Working out your rental income on GOV.UK

• If your total property income before costs is £1,000 or less, you usually don’t need to tell HMRC about it.
• If it’s more, you choose: take off your actual costs, or take off a flat £1,000. You can’t do both.
• The allowance only helps when your costs and mortgage interest are below £1,000. The Overview tab compares the two for you.

Property and trading allowances on GOV.UK

For homes you let, mortgage interest and other finance costs aren’t taken off your profit. Instead, HMRC takes 20% of them off your tax bill.

• Only the interest counts, not capital repayments. Your lender’s yearly statement shows the interest.
• Basic-rate taxpayers end up about the same as before. Higher-rate taxpayers get less relief than they used to.
• If the credit is limited in a year, the unused part carries forward to the next year.

How the finance cost relief works on GOV.UK

• For trips to manage or repair your rentals you can claim 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles in the tax year, then 25p. This is the rate from 6 April 2026. For 2025 to 2026 and earlier years it was 45p, then 25p.
• Mileage replaces fuel, insurance and servicing for that car, so don’t claim those as well.
• Keep a log of the date, where you went and why. The Mileage tab is that log.
• Trips to view properties you might buy don’t count.

Simplified expenses for vehicles on GOV.UK

• Each owner puts only their own share of the income and costs on their own tax return.
• Married couples and civil partners are taxed 50/50 by default, even if they own unequal shares. To be taxed on your real shares, send HMRC Form 17 with proof of how you own it.
• Other joint owners are taxed on their actual shares, or on what they’ve agreed.
• Set your share in the Properties tab and every figure here uses it.

Making Tax Digital means keeping digital records and sending HMRC a summary every quarter, using software that works with HMRC.

• It applies when your property and self-employment income before costs adds up to more than £50,000 (from April 2026), £30,000 (from April 2027) or £20,000 (from April 2028). HMRC uses your income from 2 years earlier to decide.
• Quarterly updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, and a final return by 31 January.
• Landlord Tax Ledger shows your quarterly totals but can’t send them to HMRC yet. You’d need HMRC-recognised software for that.

Check if Making Tax Digital applies to you on GOV.UK

• Keep records for at least 5 years after the 31 January deadline for that year’s return.
• Keep receipts and invoices, bank statements, tenancy agreements, your mortgage interest statements and your mileage log.
• Clear photos or scans are fine. Attach them to each cost in Rent and expenses, and the Compliance tab shows any costs still missing one.

• 5 April: the tax year ends.
• 5 October: register for Self Assessment if this is your first year of letting.
• 31 October: paper returns due.
• 31 January: online returns due, and any tax owed. First payment on account, if you make them.
• 31 July: second payment on account.

How to file online, step by step