What does "compliance software" mean for a UK landlord?
It is software that tracks the legal artefacts every assured tenancy in England relies on, Gas Safety record (CP12), Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), deposit protection and Prescribed Information, Right to Rent checks, smoke and CO alarms, fire risk where required, HMO licensing, and the written statement of terms due before a new tenancy is entered into. The output you need on day one of a contested possession is a court-ready PDF bundle of every certificate plus an audit log proving you served them on the tenant.
Is free landlord software any good, or do you have to pay?
It depends what "free" gives you. Most free tools handle reminders adequately but stop there — and Property Hawk, long the best-known free option, is closing its free service at the end of July 2026, so its users need a new home. LetCompliance is genuinely free forever for a single property — a live 0-100 compliance score, certificate tracking, reminders and document storage, with no card and no time limit — and only charges once you add a second property. What no free tier we tested includes is the post-1-May-2026 drafting: a Section 8 notice with the correct Schedule 2 ground wording, and the deposit paperwork that actually bars a possession order if you get it wrong. The maths is simple: one missed EICR carries a £30,000 civil penalty and an unprotected deposit blocks a Section 8 order until you return it, so a free tier that tracks those for you already pays for itself, and the paid drafting tools cost less than one botched notice.
Do any of these tools file MTD ITSA directly to HMRC?
Of the seven, only Landlord Vision is HMRC-recognised for direct MTD ITSA submission today. Hammock (not on this list because it is filing-first, compliance-light) is also recognised. LetCompliance ships an MTD-dated quarterly summary and SA105-shaped Tax Pack that drop into either of those products or into your accountant’s workflow.
Which of these has the best Section 8 drafter?
Of the platforms we tested, only LetCompliance ships a full Section 8 drafter (14 grounds with particulars) and Section 13 rent-increase notice. Arthur, Landlord Studio, Landlord Vision and Latch do not generate possession notices; Property Hawk ships a basic letter template only. For self-managing landlords, this is the single biggest delta in the test.
How often is this ranking re-tested?
Quarterly. We re-buy or re-trial each tool, run the same six-week portfolio test, and bump the lastReviewed date at the top of the page. Pricing, MTD recognition and feature deltas change frequently, most recent verification: 2026-04-19.
Can I use more than one of these tools at once?
Yes, most serious portfolio landlords run two: a finance / filing tool (Landlord Vision or Hammock) for Open Banking and MTD, and LetCompliance (or Arthur) for compliance and Section 8 readiness. We export CSVs both ways and keep the lanes separate on purpose.
