Running your let · 11 guides
The day-to-day of running a rental, not just staying compliant: how to let a property step by step, reduce void periods, collect rent reliably, keep good tenants, handle maintenance, and manage the whole let from advert to renewal. Practical, operations-first guides for landlords who run their own properties.
What 820 live tenancies on LetCompliance reveal about 2026: properties let in 3 to 5 days, average rent of £1,050 outside London and £1,920 in it, rent arriving with about 5% slippage, and a 72/100 average compliance score. A data snapshot across the whole let, not just compliance.
Every empty week is rent you never get back. The 2026 system for landlords and agents to advertise, screen and let fast: where to list, the photos and copy that fill viewings, how to price within the rent bidding ban, and how to go from advert to signed tenancy in days.
67% of UK landlords use spreadsheets to track compliance. Here's why that's dangerous, and what the alternative looks like.
UK full-management fees run 10–18% + VAT, roughly £2,000–£3,600/year on a typical £1,500 pcm let. Self-managing saves it but you absorb every compliance risk. Side-by-side cost, time and tribunal-evidence comparison so you can decide in 10 minutes.
The whole job, start to finish: advertise, take applications, view, reference, sign the tenancy, hand over the right documents, protect the deposit, collect the rent, and stay compliant. The end-to-end 2026 letting process for a self-managing landlord — in the order it actually happens.
An empty property is the most expensive thing a landlord owns — no rent, and often a council tax bill too. The practical 2026 playbook for cutting voids: advertise before the old tenant leaves, keep a waiting list, price to let, and turn a property around fast.
Standing order, Direct Debit, cash, an app? How you collect the rent decides how often it arrives late and how much chasing you do. The 2026 comparison for landlords, the one-month rent-in-advance cap, and how to make paying the easy option.
Everyone writes about getting rid of bad tenants. Keeping a good one is worth far more — every year they stay is a void you did not have and a re-let you did not pay for. The 2026 guide to tenant retention: what makes good tenants leave, and how to make them stay.
A repair reported and forgotten is how a £120 job becomes a disrepair claim. The 2026 system for handling maintenance: logging the report, your legal repair duties, triaging by urgency, briefing contractors, and keeping the paper trail that protects you.
Being a landlord is really a set of recurring deadlines — gas, EICR, EPC, deposit, Right to Rent, rent reviews and tax — each with its own clock. The 2026 calendar of what falls due and when, so nothing lapses into a fine because you did not know it was a deadline.
Re-typing the same data into three tools, referencing that happens somewhere else, compliance you track from memory, reports that take an evening — if any of these sound familiar, your setup is costing you more than the software would. The seven signs it is time to switch, for landlords and agents.
One login for the whole let
LetCompliance runs the whole tenancy from one login: advertise and reference tenants, e-sign the agreement, collect the rent, track it all with a live 0–100 compliance score, and export your SA105 tax figures.