Accountants for landlords

For most individual landlords, the core job is working out the taxable profit from the rental business each year and putting it on a Self Assessment return. That means adding up the rent received, deducting the costs HMRC allows, dealing with mortgage interest separately, and making sure the result sits correctly alongside any salary, pension or other income.

Around that core sit a few occasional jobs: reporting a sale of a let property, deciding how to treat a big repair against an improvement, checking whether jointly owned property is split correctly, and, more recently, setting up the digital records that Making Tax Digital needs. Landlords with several properties often also want a simple running view of profit through the year so the tax bill in January is not a surprise.

The need varies a lot by situation. Some common examples:

• an accidental landlord who moved in with a partner and let out their old flat
• someone with three or four buy-to-let houses, each with its own mortgage and agent
• a couple who own a let property jointly and are not sure how to split the income
• a landlord selling a former rental who needs to work out the gain and report it quickly
• someone renting out a room or a parking space for a small amount each year

The first and last examples may need little or no help, while a portfolio landlord or a sale often benefits from someone checking the numbers.

Allowable expenses include general maintenance and repairs, water rates, council tax, gas and electricity you pay, landlord insurance, letting agent and management fees, ground rents and service charges, and accountant's fees. GOV.UK is clear that capital improvements, such as adding an extension or replacing a kitchen with one of a higher specification, are not allowable against rent, and nor is the full amount of your mortgage payment.

For residential property, finance costs such as mortgage interest are not deducted from rental income. Instead, relief is restricted to the basic rate of income tax, which has been fully in place from 6 April 2020. In practice GOV.UK works the interest out as a tax reduction of 20%, rather than a deduction at your top rate. Separate property income rates of 24%, 44% and 49% from 2027 to 2028, for taxpayers outside Scotland, were announced at the Budget on 28 October 2026 and are not yet law. How the mortgage interest reduction will work alongside them has not been confirmed, so we do not quote a rate for that year.

The property allowance is a tax exemption of up to £1,000 a year. If your rent is £1,000 or less you may not need to report it, and above that you can deduct £1,000 instead of your actual expenses if that works out better.

A landlord with one property, a simple letting agent statement and no mortgage can often complete the property pages of a return without help, especially using the guidance on GOV.UK. The work is mostly adding up a year of figures.

People tend to bring in an accountant when the stakes go up: when selling a property and facing the 60-day deadline, when a large bill raises the repair against improvement question, when income moves someone into higher rate tax, or when Making Tax Digital starts. Gross property income counts in full towards the MTD threshold, before expenses, so a landlord with substantial rent but thin profits can still be caught. Our page on Making Tax Digital for Income Tax explains the start dates.

If you do use an accountant, you are still legally responsible for your own tax and should check the return before it is sent.

Landlord work ranges from a single flat to a large portfolio, so pin down the details before you agree:

• Is the fee per property, per return or a flat annual amount?
• Will you deal with a property sale and the 60-day CGT report, and is that extra?
• How do you want rent and expense records from me, and do you work with my letting agent's statements?
• Which MTD software will you use when I need it?
• Are you supervised for anti-money laundering, and by whom? HMRC or a professional body must supervise every accountancy service provider.
• Who will prepare my return, and who checks it?

Ask for scope and fees in writing.

Fees depend on how many properties you have and whether there is a sale in the year. Sleek's 2026 guide puts a single buy-to-let return at roughly £275 to £325 plus VAT, but local firms set their own fees. Our guide to accountant costs has more context.