Buy-to-let by council 2026: notes for buy-to-let-by-council-2026.csv

Source: LetCompliance, letcompliance.com/buy-to-let-by-council
Free to use with credit and a link: name LetCompliance as the source and link to letcompliance.com/buy-to-let-by-council.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (ONS Price Index of Private Rents; HM Land Registry UK House Price Index).

WHAT THE FIGURES ARE
- The home: one 2-bed home in each area at the ONS average 2-bed rent (September 2026), let all year to one household. Its price is the UK HPI average for flats and maisonettes (August 2026).
- Landlord A owns the home outright, with no mortgage. Its columns start nomortgage_.
- Landlord B puts down a 25% deposit and borrows the rest, 75% of the area’s average flat price, on an interest-only mortgage at 4.82%, the latest published average (UK Finance, Q2 2026), before the 5 November 2026 Bank Rate rise. Its columns start mortgage_. The 25% deposit is an assumption: the usual minimum, and most landlords owe less.
- Basic rate: Other income (earnings or the State Pension) of £12,570, which uses the Personal Allowance: rental profit is taxed from the basic rate.
- Higher rate: Other income of £50,270, which uses the Personal Allowance and the basic rate band: rental profit is taxed from the higher rate.
- 2026_27_law: 2026-27 tax rates (law).
- 2027_28_march2026_rates: 2027-28 at the rates Parliament set in March 2026 (22%/42%), set aside for now by the Budget resolution.
- 2027_28_budget_rates: 2027-28 at the Budget rates of 28 October 2026 (24%/44%) (announced, not yet law): approved by MPs as a Budget resolution, not yet in an Act. Every column with 2027_28_budget_rates or budget_effect in its name is at the Budget rates (24%/44%) (announced, not yet law): label it in full wherever it is shown.

COSTS COUNTED
- The PRS Database fee of £65 a year (GOV.UK fee; on the published record, the regulations still await Commons approval), counted at its full yearly rate. The record: the Lords approved on 4 November 2026; the Commons result is not yet published; the regulations are not yet made.
- Gas, electrical and energy certificates at £129.25 a year; deposit protection at £0; Making Tax Digital software at £0.
- A council selective licence where one is counted: the standard fee spread over five years, assuming the home is inside the licensed area. outside_licensing_area_* gives a home outside it. Where a scheme, or one of its designations, ends before 6 April 2028, licence_note_* says so: a licence bought now can cost more a year than shown.
- Not counted: repairs, insurance, an agent, empty months and any rise or fall in the home’s value.

THE CASH PUT IN
- deposit_25pct plus stamp_duty_higher_rates is cash_in_mortgage (landlord B); the price plus stamp duty is cash_in_no_mortgage (landlord A). Stamp duty is at the rates for additional homes, rounded down to the whole pound as HMRC does; legal, survey, lender and broker fees are not counted.
- *_return_on_cash_pct: the % a year on the cash put in, before any rise or fall in the home’s value. Not a yield on the price, not a forecast and not advice.
- mortgage_at_5_66pct_*: landlord B at 5.66% (Moneyfacts Compare, Best buy-to-let mortgage rates (average rate table 'According to Moneyfacts data, as of 1 August 2026')).

READING THE FILE
- Money is in pounds with two decimal places, with no £ sign and no commas. A blank cell means unknown or not applicable.
- Scenario columns read {landlord}_{view}_{band}_{measure}.
- Counties, metropolitan counties and combined authorities: the rent is a LetCompliance estimate (rent_basis = estimate). No council licence is counted at those levels or for regions and England.
- Not ranked: Luton, its selective licence fee is not published (applications are paused); City of London, ONS publishes no rent for it; Isles of Scilly, ONS publishes no rent for it.
- Not tax advice: speak to an accountant about your own figures.

Method and every source: letcompliance.com/buy-to-let-by-council#method. Data built 5 November 2026; ONS and UK HPI next publish new figures on 18 November 2026.