New Rules for Landlords in 2027: Every Date, in Order

Most of what changes for landlords in 2027 starts on one day, 6 April 2027. Making Tax Digital reaches landlords whose qualifying income was over £30,000, and rental profit gets its own rates of income tax. Around that day, the PRS Database rolls across England one region a month, with the last registration deadline on 14 November 2027. New-style EPCs and Awaab's Law for private lets are planned, with no fixed date.

Not every date is law yet, so each one below carries its status. Law means an Act or regulations already made set the rule and the date. Draft means GOV.UK has published the date but the regulations that set it are still in draft. Announced means the government has said it will happen and the legislation is still to come. Planned and consultation mean the timing itself is not fixed. Every date was read at source on 5 November 2026. This guide covers England; it explains the rules and is not advice on your own position.

Every 2027 date, in order

Landlord Ombudsman membership, Making Tax Digital over £20,000 and the 2030 energy standard all come later. They are at the end of this guide.

Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027

From 6 April 2027, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to you if your qualifying income for 2025 to 2026 was more than £30,000. This is law. The Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 set the qualifying amount for 2025 to 2026 at £30,000 and test each tax year against your income two years before it (SI 2026/336, regulations 23 and 27).

Qualifying income is your rent and any self-employment income before expenses, so the test is turnover, not profit. On a let you own with someone else, only your share counts.

HMRC uses the 2025 to 2026 return, due by 31 January 2027, and writes to the people it finds over the threshold. GOV.UK says that if no letter comes, checking is still your job.

The first year's deadlines

Your first year under Making Tax Digital runs from 6 April 2027 to 5 April 2028. Each quarterly update covers the year so far, not just the last three months:

The tax return for 2027 to 2028 is still due by 31 January 2029.

The penalty easement

At the Budget on 28 October 2026 the government announced that those required to join in April 2027 will get no late submission penalty points on their quarterly updates for 2027 to 2028 (HMRC's Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates, OOTLAR, paragraph 2.36). The updates still have to be sent before the tax return can be filed, and the tax return deadline is unchanged. It is announced, not yet law.

Making Tax Digital from April 2027 works through the £30,000 test in full, and HMRC's figures show how many landlords join in 2027 and 2028.

Tax on rental profit from 6 April 2027

From the 2027 to 2028 tax year, property income has its own rates of income tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, set apart from the 20%, 40% and 45% on earnings. Two sets of figures are in circulation, and only one is law today:

• Law today: the Finance Act 2026, section 7, sets the property basic rate for 2027 to 2028 at 22%, the property higher rate at 42% and the property additional rate at 47%, 2 points above the rates on earnings. Legislation.gov.uk listed no outstanding changes to it on 5 November 2026.
• Announced: the Budget on 28 October 2026 announced 24%, 44% and 49% from 6 April 2027 instead, 2 points more, to be legislated in the Finance Bill 2026-27 (OOTLAR paragraph 1.2 and its rates annex). HMRC's policy paper of 29 October 2026 says the same, and that section 7 "set the rates for 2027 to 2028".

Until the Finance Bill 2026-27 becomes law, 22%, 42% and 47% are the rates on the statute book. For 2026 to 2027, rental profit is still taxed at 20%, 40% and 45%.

The Section 24 reduction on mortgage interest moves with the property basic rate from 2027 to 2028 (Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 s.274AA(5), as amended by the Finance Act 2026). That is 22% under the law today, and 24% if the Finance Bill passes as announced. For 2026 to 2027 it stays at 20%.

Each figure is the tax on the rental profit, from which mortgage interest is not deducted, less the Section 24 reduction. At the announced rates, which are not yet law (Finance Act 2026 sets 42% and 22%, leaving £4,980), £15,000 at 44% is £6,600, and £6,000 at 24% takes off £1,440, leaving £5,160. The examples assume a salary already uses the personal allowance and the reduction is not cut back by its limits. On those conditions the announced rates add 2% of your profit after mortgage interest to the 2027 to 2028 bill, compared with the law today, and 4% compared with this year. Landlord tax 2026/27 and the April 2027 rise covers the bands and reliefs, the Section 24 calculator works this year's reduction on your own figures, and Budget 2026 for landlords has the rest of the Budget.

The PRS Database through 2027

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 sets up the Private Rented Sector Database, which GOV.UK runs as the Register your rental property service. It opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands, reaches a new region each month, and gives each region three months to register its let properties. GOV.UK's guidance of 29 October 2026 gives these dates, and the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 give the same start dates. Those regulations had not been made when legislation.gov.uk was searched on 5 November 2026, so the dates stay draft until they are.

The deadline follows the region the property is in, not where you live. During the rollout only properties that are let, or become let, have to be registered, and from 15 December 2026 you can register before your region opens. GOV.UK says that later, empty properties will have to be registered before they are marketed, and gives no date for that yet.

The fee in 2027

The fee is £65 a property a year. During the rollout it is pro-rated, and days before 15 November 2027 are not charged. GOV.UK's own examples:

The formula is £65 divided by the days in the year, times the days to renewal less the days before 15 November 2027, rounded down to the penny. Every property you register after the first shares its renewal date.

Penalties

GOV.UK's guidance gives a penalty of up to £7,000 for failing to register yourself and your property, and up to £40,000 for knowingly or recklessly giving false information, or for continuing or repeated breaches. GOV.UK says that from 15 December 2026, once the area's registration period opens, tenants can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order where a landlord knowingly or recklessly gives the service false or misleading information, or carries on breaching its requirements more than 28 days after a council penalty for that breach (Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 98 and section 92(2)). Not being registered is not enough on its own.

PRS Database registration has each region's dates and what the register asks for, and the registration guide covers the steps.

The Renters' Rights Act in 2027

The tenancy changes started on 1 May 2026: periodic tenancies, the end of Section 21 for private tenancies, the new possession grounds and the new rent increase rules. For 2027, the Act's dated change is the database above. None of the three commencement regulations made for England, bringing provisions in on 27 December 2025, 1 May 2026 and 22 June 2026, sets a date in 2027.

• Landlord Ombudsman. Membership comes after the database. The government's implementation roadmap of 13 November 2025 expects it to be required in 2028, not 2027. See the Landlord Ombudsman.
• Decent Homes Standard. The government's response of 28 January 2026 says the new standard will apply from 2035 in both the social and private rented sectors. See the Decent Homes Standard for private lets.
• Council licensing runs on its own dates. Several selective and additional schemes start or end in 2027, listed council by council in new landlord licensing schemes in 2026 and 2027.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 guide sets out the rules already in force.

New EPCs and the 2030 energy standard

Today a let home needs an EPC rating of E or above unless an exemption is registered. Two changes are planned, and neither has a date fixed in law:

• New-style EPCs, second half of 2027. On 10 March 2026 the government moved the launch of the reformed EPCs, worked out on the Home Energy Model in place of SAP, to the second half of 2027. It has not set a day.
• The 2030 standard. The government's response of 21 January 2026 plans for every private tenancy to meet a higher standard by 1 October 2030, with spending capped at £10,000 a property. It aims for the regulations to come into force in 2027; none had been laid when legislation.gov.uk was searched on 5 November 2026. A home rated C or above on the Energy Efficiency Rating of an EPC lodged before 1 October 2029 is to count as compliant until that EPC expires or is replaced.

One date here is already set. The 0% VAT rate on installing energy-saving materials in homes ends on 31 March 2027, and the 5% rate applies from 1 April 2027 (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6; OOTLAR paragraph 2.22). That matters if insulation or a heat pump is already on your list.

EPC C rating and the 2030 plan explains the proposal, and the MEES 2030 checker tests a property against it.

Awaab's Law for private lets

Awaab's Law sets time limits for dealing with damp, mould and other serious hazards, and it already applies to social landlords. For private tenancies, the Renters' Rights Act 2025 gives the power to extend it (section 60, not yet in force). The government's consultation on how to do that runs from 9 October 2026 to 11.59pm on 18 December 2026. It sets no start date, says the earliest feasible implementation date would be 2027, and raises phasing it in.

Until regulations are made, no Awaab's Law timescale binds a private landlord. The repair duty under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the hazard rules still apply today. Awaab's Law for landlords covers the proposal, and the Awaab's Law timer shows the social sector timings as a guide.

Smaller changes in 2027

• 20 January 2027, rental income data. HMRC's consultation on letting agents and tenancy deposit schemes reporting property income data to it closes at 11.59pm. It is a proposal; no new reporting duty exists yet. What HMRC can already see, and what the consultation would change.
• 1 April 2027, ATED. The Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings, paid mainly by companies that own UK homes worth more than £500,000, rises by 3.5%, in line with the September 2026 Consumer Prices Index, as announced at the Budget. A home valued at £500,001 to £1 million goes from £4,600 to £4,750 a year (OOTLAR paragraph 2.17 and its rates annex). Reliefs and exemptions can apply.
• 6 April 2027, mileage. The flat rate for business miles in a car or van after the first 10,000 goes from 25p to 35p a mile. It is announced, to be made by statutory instrument (OOTLAR paragraph 2.7), and the mileage calculator marks it so.
• 6 April 2027, the £3,000 allowance. The trading allowance, for trading and miscellaneous income, is announced to rise from £1,000 to £3,000 (OOTLAR paragraph 1.5). It is not the property allowance, which is a separate £1,000.

What is not in 2027

What to do before 6 April 2027

1. 1Work out your 2025 to 2026 qualifying income. Add your rent to any self-employment turnover, before expenses, taking your share where a let is jointly owned. Over £30,000 means Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027.
2. 2File the 2025 to 2026 return by 31 January 2027. It is the return HMRC uses to decide.
3. 3Keep the records digitally from 6 April 2027, so the first update is ready by 7 August 2027.
4. 4Plan 2027 to 2028 at both sets of rates. 22%, 42% and 47% are the law; budget for 24%, 44% and 49% in case the Finance Bill passes as announced.
5. 5Note your region's PRS Database dates and register each let property before its deadline.
6. 6Treat the EPC and Awaab's Law items as ones to watch. Neither binds a private landlord until its regulations are made.

Ready for April 2027

Join Making Tax Digital from the records you already keep. LetCompliance runs the let from one login: the tenancy, the rent and the repairs, with each cost filed against its property as it happens. On a paid plan, from £7.99 a month, LetCompliance is recognised by HMRC for Making Tax Digital and sends your quarterly updates for UK property income to HMRC from those same records. For the register, each property counts down to its own region's PRS Database deadline, and its register pack answers what the service asks for from the records already kept. You register on GOV.UK yourself.