Help centre
How to run your let in LetCompliance
Short answers to the things people actually get stuck on, each one written against the screen it describes. If a question is missing, ask and we will add it.
Recognised by HMRC for Making Tax Digital- Answers
- 64
- Categories
- 9
- Updated
Type to search. Every answer is on this page.
4 answers
Getting started
Signing up, bringing your portfolio across, and what the trial does when it ends.
- Do I have to add a property before I can use LetCompliance?No. You can finish signing up without entering a property, and add one later from Properties. The setup wizard asks for a first property because most people want the compliance score straight away, but every step after your name can be left for another day.
- What is Landlord chat, and who can read what I post?A board inside LetCompliance where landlords using it ask each other questions and share what worked. Every signed-in landlord can read what you write, so keep tenant names, addresses and phone numbers out of it. Open Help and choose Landlords.
- How do I import my properties from a spreadsheet?Open Properties, choose Import, and upload a CSV. The import reads your column headings rather than their order, so you do not have to rearrange anything. It needs an address, a town and a postcode; everything else is optional.
- What happens when my 14-day trial ends?Nothing is deleted and you are not locked out. For 14 days, with no card, the premium tools are open; five stay on paid plans even then. When it ends you move to the free plan: one property, with its score, reminders and Making Tax Digital, for good.
18 answers
Properties and tenants
Adding properties, HMOs let by the room, and giving a tenant their own login-free portal.
- How do I set up an HMO that is let by the room?Set the property type to HMO. That unlocks rooms with their own labels and rents, and lets several tenancies run at once against the same address, while Gas Safety, EICR and EPC stay at property level where they belong.
- How do I give my tenant access to their documents?Open Tenants and share the portal link for that tenancy. The tenant portal needs no password and no account: the link itself is the key, and it shows them their own documents, requests and rent position.
- How do I add a guarantor to a tenancy?Open the property, go to the tenancy and choose Guarantors. Add each guarantor’s name, relationship, email and phone, and tick Signed guarantor deed on file once it is signed. A guarantor is recorded against the tenancy, not one tenant, and a tenancy can have more than one.
- How do I record a deposit and protect it in time?Record the deposit on the property, with the scheme you protected it in and the date. The law gives you 30 days from receipt to protect it and to give the tenant the prescribed information, and the deadline is recorded so it cannot quietly pass.
- Where do I record who supplies the utilities and who pays?On the property, open Utilities and add electricity, gas, water, broadband, council tax or anything else, with who pays each one and the supplier. The supplier and who pays show in the tenant portal and the move-in email; account numbers and notes stay private.
- What has to go in the move-in pack?The statutory documents a tenant must receive before or at the start of the tenancy: Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, the deposit prescribed information and the written statement of terms. Send them together and each one is logged as its own row.
- How do I do a Right to Rent check?Record the check against the tenant, including a Home Office share code where they have one, and the date it needs doing again. A follow-up check is only required where the tenant has time-limited permission to be in the UK.
- How do I end a tenancy properly?End it from the property’s tenancy panel. That closes the tenancy with its real end date, stops the rent schedule, and keeps the whole record intact so the deposit, the documents and the history stay attached to the property.
- What is the handover pack, and why would I fill one in?It is the note that lets somebody else keep your let running if you suddenly cannot: where the rent goes, who the tenants are, which certificates are due and who to ring. It asks only for what nobody else could know, because everything already in your account is pulled in automatically.
- Can I email all my tenants at once?Yes. Message all tenants sends one email to every current tenant. You cannot send it until you have seen the recipient list, because an email to everyone is not something you can take back.
- How do I download a list of my tenants’ contact details?On Tenants, choose Contact list. You get a spreadsheet of every current tenancy: property, room, tenant, email, phone, tenancy dates, rent and guarantor. It holds personal data, so the file says so, and every download is written to your activity log.
- How do I ask my tenant for a meter reading or a document?On Tenants, press Ask on the tenant’s row and choose a meter reading, a document, details to confirm or something else. They get an email, the request sits at the top of their portal until they answer, and their reply shows on the same row.
- How do I handle a repair request from a tenant?Requests land in the tenant inbox from the tenant portal, dated on arrival. You reply, assign a contractor from your own register, and the whole exchange stays against the property instead of scattering across texts and voicemails.
- How do I do a check-in and check-out inventory?Build the check-in at the start of the tenancy, room by room with photos, and the check-out at the end. The two are compared automatically, so what changed is a list rather than an argument between two sets of photographs.
- How do I keep track of keys?The Keys register records every set for every property: how many exist, who holds each one, and when it changed hands. It is a small feature that answers a question landlords are otherwise guessing at.
- Where do I plan maintenance and keep a repair history?Planned maintenance holds the jobs you know are coming, a boiler service, gutters, decorating, so they are budgeted rather than a surprise. The repairs and warranty log holds what has been done, by whom, what it cost and what is still under warranty.
- How do I log one job that covered several properties?Log the repair on one property and answer Did the same job cover other properties? Tick the others, then say whether it was one invoice for the lot or that price per property. Each property gets its own record and its share of the cost, worked out to the penny.
- Can one insurance policy cover several properties?Yes. Add the policy on one property under Insurance, then answer Does this policy also cover other properties? and tick them. It is recorded once, every covered property shows it, and you get one renewal reminder instead of one for each.
5 answers
Finding a tenant
Advertising, applications, viewings, referencing and holding deposits.
- How do I advertise a property to let?Create an advert from Adverts. You get a shareable listing page with an Apply button, the material information checklist that agents are required to complete, and a live compliance badge drawn from the property’s real certificate dates.
- How do I handle applications and viewings?Applications arrive from your advert as structured records rather than emails. Viewings are booked and tracked separately, and anyone you cannot house right now can go on the waiting list instead of being lost.
- How do I reference a tenant or a guarantor?Order a reference from Referencing. It is a credit-backed check run through a regulated UK credit reference agency, covering the tenant or a guarantor, and the result comes back into the tenancy record rather than as a loose PDF.
- Can I take a holding deposit, and how much?Yes, and it is capped at one week’s rent. Record it against the applicant so the amount, the date and what happens to it are documented, because the rules on when it must be repaid are strict and the deadline is short.
- Can my property appear publicly, or is the advert just a link?Both. Every advert gives you a shareable link you control. You can also opt an advert in to the public listings on our site, which is off by default and reversible at any time.
9 answers
Documents and notices
The tenancy agreement, Section 8, Section 13, and proving what you served and when.
- Which tenancy agreement will I get, an AST or a periodic one?The builder picks it from the tenancy dates rather than asking you to know. For a tenancy starting on or after 1 May 2026 in England you get an assured periodic tenancy, because the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 ended new fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies from that date.
- How do I draft and serve a Section 8 notice?Open Section 8 notice under Compliance, pick the property and the grounds, and the notice is drafted on Form 3A with the statutory wording for each ground reproduced in full. You then serve it and the send is recorded with a timestamp.
- How do I raise the rent on a periodic tenancy?Use the Section 13 notice builder. For a private assured tenancy it produces Form 4A, sets the earliest date the increase can take effect, and records when the notice was served. Rent can be raised once in any 52-week period.
- How do I prove I sent a document to my tenant?Send it from inside the product and a row is written to the activity log for each attachment, with the time, the recipient and the document type. You can export the whole log as a dated PDF or CSV at any point.
- A tenant has asked to keep a pet. What do I have to do?Respond in writing within 28 days. The request and your response are recorded with dates, and the clock is tracked, because the consequence of simply not replying is not neutral.
- What is the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet and do I still need to serve it?It is a statutory document that had to go to tenants who were already in place, with a catch-up deadline of 31 May 2026. If you missed it, serve it now and record the proof: the penalty for the breach reaches £7,000.
- Do I need to give my tenant a privacy notice?Yes. Taking a tenant’s identity documents, referencing them and holding their data makes you a data controller under UK GDPR, and a privacy notice is how you meet the duty to tell them what you hold and why.
- I have served notice. How do I keep track of the case?The Possession page holds the case: which notice was served, when, the earliest date proceedings may begin, and the evidence attached to it. The dates come from the notice rather than from your memory of it.
- A tenant is causing trouble. What are my options?Antisocial behaviour has its own possession grounds, and unlike rent arrears they can be used straight away: notice and proceedings on the same day. Record every incident with its date first, because these grounds are decided on the evidence far more than on the notice.
7 answers
Rent and money
Collecting rent, reading the ledger, and what happens when a payment is missed.
- How do I collect rent through LetCompliance?Rent is collected by Direct Debit, set up per tenant with their agreement. It runs on its own payment rail, entirely separate from your subscription billing, and the money goes to your bank account rather than through ours.
- What happens when a tenant misses a rent payment?The arrears position updates the day a payment is missed and keeps a running total. Every reminder and contact is logged against the tenancy, and if arrears reach the level where Ground 8 applies, the figures are already there to support the notice.
- Can I record rent I collect myself, outside the app?Yes. Direct Debit is optional, not compulsory. Record each payment against the tenancy as it arrives and the ledger, the arrears position and the rent receipts all work exactly the same way.
- Can I connect Xero or my bank?Not with a live connection. Import your bank statement as a CSV file on Bank statements, export a Xero-compatible CSV of your rent and costs from Finance, and set up Direct Debit rent collection under Payouts, which pays into your own bank account.
- How do I import a bank statement?Download your transactions from online banking as a CSV file and drop it on Bank statements. Then match each line to a rent payment, add it to Finance, or set it to Nothing to record. Importing the same statement twice adds nothing twice.
- Where do I record income and expenses?On Finance, against the property they belong to. Every expense you record flows through to your SA105 preparation and your Section 24 figure, so recording it once during the year replaces the January reconstruction entirely.
- What does Insights tell me that the dashboard does not?Insights reads across the whole portfolio rather than one property: yield, where your money is going, and how the properties compare. Valuation sits alongside it so the return is measured against what the property is worth now, not what you paid.
13 answers
Compliance and tax
The 0 to 100 score, certificate deadlines, and preparing your SA105 figures.
- Why is my compliance score not 100?The score is calculated from the dates on your certificates, not from whether you have ticked something off. An expired Gas Safety record scores zero for that item on the day it expires, whether or not anything else has changed.
- Can I get reminders by text message?Yes, on a paid plan. Add a UK mobile in Settings and choose SMS or Both. Reminders then arrive as a text, and if a text cannot be sent it comes by email instead. On the free plan reminders come by email, plus one welcome text if you give a mobile when you sign up.
- How do I get my figures for my tax return?The Tax page prepares your SA105 figures from your records, with the Section 24 restriction and a CSV for your accountant, for a Self Assessment return you or your accountant submit. Under Making Tax Digital, quarterly updates are sent from the MTD page instead.
- Does my property need a council licence?It depends on the property and the council. Larger HMOs need a mandatory licence anywhere in England, and many councils run additional or selective schemes that catch ordinary single lets in particular streets. The property record links you to your own council’s scheme.
- Where can I see every certificate renewal across my properties?Certificate renewals lists every gas safety, EICR, EPC, fire risk and legionella certificate across your properties, soonest first, including any with no date on file. Filter by type and by how far ahead to look, and download it as a CSV for an engineer.
- Where do I record smoke alarms, CO alarms and appliance testing?On the property, in the safety panel. These are the cheap duties that are expensive to have missed, and they sit alongside the certificates rather than in a separate list you forget exists.
- Do I need to register on the PRS Database?Yes, if you let a home in England on an assured or regulated tenancy. The service opens on 15 December 2026 and each region has its own deadline between 14 March and 14 November 2027. It costs £65 a property a year. The PRS Database page shows each property’s deadline.
- How do I record a property inspection?Create an inspection against the property, with photos and notes room by room. It becomes a dated record of the condition on that day, which is what any later argument about damage or disrepair actually turns on.
- A deposit dispute has been raised. What do I send the scheme?Build the dispute pack from Reports and packs. It assembles the check-in, the check-out, the comparison, the tenancy documents and the dated record of what was sent and when, into one file with the property and tenancy identified on every page.
- How does Making Tax Digital for Income Tax work here?Your income and expenses are recorded through the year and totalled cumulatively across the quarters, which is the shape MTD expects. Connect your HMRC account once and send each quarterly update from the MTD page. LetCompliance is recognised by HMRC for UK property income, and it is free for one property.
- Why won’t HMRC let me connect for Making Tax Digital?Usually because the Government Gateway account you signed in with is not yet signed up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Sign up once on GOV.UK, with the same Government Gateway ID you use for Self Assessment, then press Connect again. A failed attempt changes nothing on your HMRC account.
- How do I send my tax return through Making Tax Digital?After the tax year ends, open the MTD page, answer the three questions about your other income and year-end claims, then run the final declaration by 31 January. HMRC works out the Income Tax and National Insurance due; you read it and confirm. It can be amended afterwards.
- My EPC is band D. Do I have a problem?Not today. A property let in England and Wales has to meet band E now, and the direction of travel is band C for the rented sector. The Energy page holds your ratings and expiry dates so you can plan improvements rather than react to a deadline.
1 answer
Done-for-you services
The jobs you can hand over rather than do: photography, inventories, viewings and referencing.
2 answers
Letting agents
Landlord clients, branches, staff, statements and your Client Money Protection report.
- Can I use this as a letting agent rather than a landlord?Yes. There is a full agency mode: landlord clients each with their own properties, branches, staff accounts with their own logins, and the whole letting workflow underneath. It is a flat monthly fee rather than a per-property charge.
- How do landlord statements and the CMP report work?Statements show each landlord client what came in, what went out and what is owed, per property and per period. The CMP report pulls the client money position into the shape a Client Money Protection scheme asks for.
5 answers
Account and billing
Plans, invoices, cancelling and your data.
- What do I get on the free plan?One property, for good, with no card: the compliance score, certificate deadlines with email reminders, the document vault, the tenant portal, a new tenancy agreement each month and Making Tax Digital. Rent collection, adverts, e-signing, notices and the tax pack need a paid plan.
- Which plan do I need?Count your properties. One is Single at £7.99 a month, or free if all you need is compliance tracking and Making Tax Digital. Solo is £14.99 for up to 3, Portfolio £19 for up to 10, Portfolio Plus £29 for up to 20 and Professional £49 for any number. Agencies with staff or client money use the Agency plan, £129.
- Can my partner or accountant get copies of my emails?Yes. In Settings, under Copies to someone else, add up to three addresses and choose which kinds of email each one gets. Each person confirms from a link before anything is sent to them, and can stop the copies at any time. They get emails only, not a login.
- How do I cancel my subscription?Open Billing and use the portal link. Cancelling is one click, it takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for, and you keep access until then. You do not have to email anyone or give a reason.
- How does Refer and earn work?Share your referral link. When somebody signs up through it and becomes a paying customer, you both get rewarded. The reward is issued once per referred account and it is tracked automatically.
Elsewhere
If the answer is not in the product
This centre covers the software. The law behind it, and the person who will read your question, are one click away.
Looking for the law rather than the software?
This centre covers the product. For the underlying rules, deadlines and penalties, the guides and the glossary are written against the legislation and cite it.
Your question is not here
Ask it. A person reads every message, and a question that took you more than a minute to find an answer to is a question that belongs on this page. Most of what is above started that way.
Ask us
