Best free landlord software (UK, 2026)

Top picks

If you read nothing else

The three that come out highest on the axis this page covers. Every tool is reviewed in full further down, with what it does badly as well as what it does well.

Rank 01Best free tier for a single-property landlordRuns the whole tenancy

LetCompliance

The whole let from £7.99 a month, with a real free plan for one property.

Pricing: From £7.99/mo (Single, one property) or £14.99/mo (Solo, up to 3), up to £49/mo unlimited; one property can also stay on the free plan (2026).
Best for: A landlord with one property who wants the certificates and reminders handled at no cost, with the whole let and Making Tax Digital one paid plan away, including anyone leaving Property Hawk.

Read the review

Rank 02Best free tier for income and expense tracking

Landlord Studio MTD Go

Free bookkeeping tier of a paid platform.

Read the review

Rank 03Best free tier for finding a tenant

OpenRent

Free to advertise, then priced per service.

Read the review

Method

How we picked

We compared the free tier of every tool below, from each provider’s own pricing page, as a landlord with one rental would use it, and checked three things: what you actually get for nothing, the exact point the free tier stops (usually a property count or a paywalled feature), and the monetisation model behind the free offer (referral fees, referencing charges or an upgrade path). We took every limit from the provider’s own pricing page rather than a third-party roundup, because those contradict each other constantly: for Rentila alone, three separate guides claimed one, two and unlimited properties. We also excluded Property Hawk from the ranking because it told users to move to another platform, with Property Manager shutting down at the end of July 2026. See the FAQ on what its users should do. This is a desk comparison, not a hands-on trial. LetCompliance publishes this guide and ranks itself first; every other entry says what it does better. Free-tier limits and pricing change often, so verify the current terms on each provider before you commit. Checked on 24 September 2026.

Our editorial standards

Tools ranked: 4
Feature rows compared: 7
Last reviewed: 24 September 2026

At a glance

The comparison in one table

Scroll sideways on a phone. A tick means the tool does it as standard and a label gives the detail from the provider’s own site. “Not listed” means the provider’s own feature or pricing list does not show it, and a dash means it was not checked. A cross appears only for LetCompliance and for a spreadsheet.

Feature	01LetCompliance	02Landlord Studio MTD Go	03OpenRent	04Rentila
Free for more than one propertyLetCompliance keeps one property on its free plan, and a second needs a paid plan, from £14.99 a month for up to three. Rentila’s free tier is also one property. Landlord Studio MTD Go is the most generous on count at three units, though it charges £5 for each MTD submission, caps document storage at 10, leaves out bank feeds and limits reports to basic.		Up to 3 units	N/A (marketplace)	1 unit
0–100 compliance score (free)		Not listed	Not checked	Not checked
Certificate expiry reminders (free)		One-off reminders	Not checked	General reminders
Income / expense tracking (free)	Paid plans		Not checked
Section 8 / Section 13 draftingOpenRent offers free Section 8 notices in England; on LetCompliance, Section 8 and Section 13 are on the paid plans, not the free plan or the 14-day trial.	Paid	Not listed	Section 8 free (England)	Not checked
No card required to start			Not checked	Not checked
Monetisation model	Paid plans for MTD and 2+ properties	Pro upgrade; £5 per MTD submission	Paid per service	Paid plans

The full ranking

Every tool, in order, with its gaps

Nothing here is listed without something it does badly. A round-up with no gaps is an advert.

LetCompliance

Best free tier for a single-property landlordRuns the whole tenancy

The whole let from £7.99 a month, with a real free plan for one property.

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LetCompliance is paid software from £7.99 a month that runs the whole let, and it keeps a real free plan for one property, with no card. The free plan is not a stub: a live 0 to 100 compliance score, certificate tracking for Gas Safety, EICR and EPC with reminders before they expire, document storage, a deposit-protection deadline tracker, the maintenance board and a passwordless tenant portal. The spreadsheet import and a read-only link for your accountant are on the free plan too. The honest limit is what it leaves out: a second property, rent collection by Direct Debit, the signed tenancy, adverts, Making Tax Digital, the Section 8 and 13 notices and the SA105 Tax Pack, with company-owned properties kept out and property losses carried forward, are on the paid plans (Single, one property, is £7.99/mo; Solo, up to 3, is £14.99/mo). Every new account also gets 14 days of the premium tools first, so you can try rent collection and the lettings funnel before deciding. It is #1 here because, per property, its free plan covers the most of what actually matters, but if you want several properties free, Landlord Studio MTD Go covers three units.

Strengths

Paid plans from £7.99 a month run the whole let; one property can stay on the free plan, with no card.
Live 0 to 100 compliance score, not just a reminder list.
Certificate tracking + expiry reminders for Gas / EICR / EPC and deposit deadlines.
A passwordless tenant portal on the free plan too: your tenant reports repairs with photos, submits meter readings and messages you, with no app and no password.
Making Tax Digital on every paid plan from £7.99 a month: quarterly updates for UK property income sent to HMRC, with receipts read for you to confirm.
A read-only link for your accountant and the spreadsheet import on the free plan too.
14 days of the premium tools up front, so you can try rent collection and the lettings funnel.

Gaps

Free tier is one property only: a second property needs a paid plan.
Section 8 / Section 13 drafting needs a paid plan from the start; Direct Debit rent collection is in the 14-day trial, then a paid plan.

Pricing: From £7.99/mo (Single, one property) or £14.99/mo (Solo, up to 3), up to £49/mo unlimited; one property can also stay on the free plan (2026).
Best for: A landlord with one property who wants the certificates and reminders handled at no cost, with the whole let and Making Tax Digital one paid plan away, including anyone leaving Property Hawk.

Landlord Studio MTD Go

Best free tier for income and expense tracking

Free bookkeeping tier of a paid platform.

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Landlord Studio MTD Go is the free entry plan of Landlord Studio, and it is strongest on the money side: income and expense tracking, receipt capture and simple reporting that make self-assessment less painful. It is a capable free bookkeeping tool. The limits are that bank feeds, advanced reports and more than three units sit behind the paid Pro plan; compliance support on the free plan is one-off reminders (recurring and lease-expiry reminders are on Pro), and possession notices are not listed on its pricing page.

Strengths

Free income and expense tracking, receipt scanner and mileage tracker for up to 3 units.
Tenant portal, maintenance requests and property listings on the free plan too.
A sensible free on-ramp if you may upgrade later.

Gaps

Bank feeds, advanced reports and more than 3 units need Pro (£15/mo +VAT).
Section 8 and Section 13 notices are not listed on its pricing page; MTD submissions cost £5 each on the free plan.

Pricing: Free for 3 units on MTD Go, with MTD submissions at £5 each; Pro £15/mo +VAT (£12/mo billed yearly), 3 units + £1.20 +VAT per extra unit. Verified on landlordstudio.com, 24 September 2026.
Best for: A landlord whose main need is bookkeeping: tracking income, expenses and receipts for self-assessment.

OpenRent

Best free tier for finding a tenant

Free to advertise, then priced per service.

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OpenRent is free to advertise on its own site, then charges per service: £29 inc VAT for portal advertising (Rightmove is a £70 upgrade), £58 for Rent Now (contract drafting, online signing, deposit registration and first month’s rent collection), £30 per reference and £10 a month for ongoing rent collection. During the tenancy it offers free Section 8 notices (England), automatic serving of tenancy documents, and paid certificates, inspections and Management Plus at £19 a month. The free layer is the advert; most tenancy tools are paid per service.

Strengths

Free to advertise and collect enquiries.
Published per-service prices: referencing £30, Rent Now £58, rent collection £10 a month.
OpenRent says its landlords find tenants within 7 days on average.

Gaps

Rent collected through OpenRent passes through OpenRent first; the first month’s rent is released once tenants move in.
Referencing (£30 each) and portal listing (£29, Rightmove +£70) are paid; the free tier is the OpenRent advert.

Pricing: Free to advertise on OpenRent; £29 inc VAT portal advertising (Rightmove +£70); Rent Now £58; referencing £30 a reference; rent collection £10 a month (2026).
Best for: A landlord who mainly needs to fill a void quickly and cheaply without a high-street agent.

Rentila

Cheapest step up once you outgrow free

One property free, then the cheapest paid tiers here.

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Rentila’s free tier is one unit (two tenants, two tenancies, four inventories, 50 MB, one user) with e-signature, bank account import and templates included. Paid plans on its UK site are Silver at £5.90 a month for 2 to 5 units and Gold at £11.90 for unlimited units, excluding VAT, or £59 and £119 a year. It is a European platform with a UK site, and it is not on GOV.UK’s list of Making Tax Digital software.

Strengths

E-signature and a bank connection included on the free tier.
Silver covers 2 to 5 units for £5.90 a month and Gold is unlimited for £11.90 (excl. VAT).
15 days of full access when you sign up.

Gaps

Free tier is one property only, and also caps tenants and tenancies (two each).
Not on GOV.UK’s list of Making Tax Digital software.
Free plan is single-user with 50 MB of storage.

Pricing: Free for 1 unit; Silver £5.90/mo or £59/yr (2 to 5 units); Gold £11.90/mo or £119/yr (unlimited), excluding VAT. Verified on rentila.co.uk, 24 September 2026.
Best for: A cost-driven landlord with a handful of properties who files MTD with other software.

FAQs

What buyers ask about this list

Is Property Hawk still free, and what should its users do?

Property Hawk told its users it is shutting down Property Manager at the end of July 2026 and that they should move to another platform. If you have used it for tenancy records, rent history and compliance certificates, export everything before access ends and move to another tool. The step-by-step Property Hawk migration guide on this site walks through the export, and LetCompliance imports the properties from a spreadsheet. Its free users are the reason this guide exists: for a single property, LetCompliance is the closest free replacement with more compliance depth (a live 0-100 score, certificate reminders); for several properties on a budget, Landlord Studio’s free MTD Go plan covers three, and Rentila’s paid tiers are the cheapest way to cover more. Do not leave your records in a service that is shutting down.

Is there genuinely free landlord software in the UK?

Yes. Several tools have a real, indefinite free tier: LetCompliance (one property, with certificate tracking, a live compliance score and a tenant portal; paid plans from £7.99 a month), Landlord Studio MTD Go (free for three units, with MTD submissions at £5 each) and Rentila (free for one property, with e-signature included). OpenRent is free to advertise a property and charges for add-ons. Note that Property Hawk, long the best-known free option, told users to move to another platform, with Property Manager shutting down at the end of July 2026. The catch with the rest is usually the property count or a paywalled feature, not a hidden card charge.

What is the best free landlord software for one property?

For a single property, LetCompliance’s free plan covers the most: a live 0 to 100 compliance score, Gas / EICR / EPC tracking with expiry reminders, document storage, a deposit-deadline tracker and a tenant portal, with no card, and its paid plans from £7.99 a month run the rest of the let, Making Tax Digital included. The maintenance board, the spreadsheet import and a read-only link for your accountant are on the free plan too. If you mainly need bookkeeping rather than compliance, Landlord Studio’s free MTD Go plan is a strong alternative.

What is the catch with free landlord software?

It is usually one of three things: the free tier caps you at a certain number of properties (LetCompliance at one, others at a small portfolio), the useful features are paywalled (drafting, rent collection, richer reporting), or the free part sits inside services you pay for (OpenRent prices each service). The honest question is not "is it free" but "where does free stop for me".

Can free landlord software handle the Renters’ Rights Act 2025?

Partly. OpenRent offers a free Section 8 notice tool for England, with validity checks. Otherwise free tiers are good for tracking certificates and rent, and Section 13 and fuller possession paperwork are usually paid. LetCompliance includes Section 8 and Section 13 drafting on its paid plans, from £7.99 a month; the free plan and the 14-day trial do not include it.

Do free landlord tools include tenant referencing?

Generally no. Referencing is a paid add-on because the credit reference agency charges a fee per report (typically £20–£30). OpenRent, for example, is free to advertise but charges £30 per reference. Remember you cannot pass a referencing fee to the tenant: it is a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, so the cost is the landlord’s.

Is a free plan enough, or should I pay?

For a single, straightforward tenancy a good free tier is often enough to stay on top of certificates and rent. Paying earns its keep when the stakes rise: a Section 8 possession, a Section 13 rent increase, several properties, or wanting rent collected by Direct Debit with the arrears trail built for you. One missed EICR (up to a £40,000 penalty) or a botched notice costs far more than a year of any of these tools.

Editorial discipline

LetCompliance is our product, and we rank it first on every list because it runs the whole let. That is our view, not a neutral test, so every other entry says what it does better than we do and links to it. Prices and feature rows are checked against each provider’s own website when a round-up is reviewed, and the review date at the top of this page tells you when that last happened. Read our standards.

Run a let through it

The quickest way to judge software is to put one let through it

From £7.99 a month for one property. Add a property and the whole let runs in one place: the advert and the applicants, the tenancy and the signatures, the rent and the arrears, the repairs, the certificates and the notices, and the numbers ready for SA105 and MTD at the end of it.

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