On the tenancy
Her rent stayed pending until her landlord confirmed it, then it was marked paid on the date she gave.
Snap the receipt, the books keep up
Photograph a receipt and its supplier, amount, VAT and date are read into a draft for you to confirm. Rent you mark paid is posted as income by itself, and every cost lands on its property in the tax return’s own categories.
What you stop doing when the tax year ends
Landlord expense tracking records each property’s rent and costs as they happen, in the tax return’s own categories, so the year’s figures are ready when it ends. In LetCompliance a photographed receipt is read into a draft for you to confirm, rent you mark paid is posted as income by itself, and a bank statement import suggests a match for each line it can place.
1photo, and the fields are filled in for you
Typing in receipts
Photograph a receipt, or choose several at once, and the supplier, amount, VAT, date and invoice number are read into a draft with its property and category suggested. A likely duplicate is flagged first: the same amount within a week, or the same invoice number.
Copying rent into a spreadsheet
Rent you mark received on the Rent page, or that arrives by Direct Debit, is posted to Finance as rent received, against its property and on its date. A repair’s cost logged on the tenant’s report is posted as maintenance the same way.
Working out which box a cost goes in
Each category maps to a box on the SA105, the property pages of the tax return. Replacing a fridge or a carpet has its own category, an extension is kept out of the costs, and mortgage interest is held apart for the 20% tax reduction it gives.
Rebuilding the year in January
Every entry sits on its property and its date, and the year runs from 6 April to 5 April, so each property’s totals are there when it ends. Export them as a CSV, as a CSV laid out for Xero, or with every receipt in one PDF.
From rent marked paid to the year’s figures, with nothing typed
One rent in the sample account. Chloe Barnes paid her October rent of £975 for 6 Saxby Walk, Bristol on 16 Oct 2026, and her landlord confirmed it that evening.
In the year’s figures
Marked paid, it was posted to Finance as rent received for 6 Saxby Walk, Bristol, and the year’s income rose by £975 without anyone typing it in.
Set up once, then confirm as you go
Nothing reaches your figures until you confirm it: a receipt that has been read is a draft, and a bank line is a suggestion.
Add your properties and tenancies
Each rent you mark received, or that is collected by Direct Debit, is then posted to Finance as income against its property.
Photograph receipts as they arrive
On your phone, take a photo or choose several at once; on a computer, drop in a PDF of up to 4 MB. Each becomes a draft to check, with its property and category suggested.
Import a bank statement
Download a CSV from your online banking and a match to a rent or a cost is suggested for each line it can place, with a rule for a payee you see every month.
Confirm, and the year adds up
Confirmed entries count in the tax year from 6 April, in the tax return’s categories, ready to export or to hand to your accountant.
A cost that repeats, such as an insurance premium, opens as a draft on the same day each period, for you to confirm the amount.
The books are one part of the let. The rest is in the same login.
The rent, the repairs and the tax figures share one record of each property, so nothing is typed in twice, and the certificate and deposit dates are watched in the background.
Rent collection by Direct Debit
The rent is collected from the due date into your own Stripe account, with no commission, and each payment posts to Finance as income by itself.
Sample account with made-up details, 17 Oct 2026 Repairs and maintenance
Log a repair’s cost on the tenant’s report and it is added to Finance as maintenance against the property, so it is never entered twice.
Sample account with made-up details, 21 Oct 2026 Making Tax Digital
On paid plans the quarterly figures are worked out from the same confirmed entries, in HMRC’s categories, and LetCompliance is recognised by HMRC for UK property income.
Sample account with made-up details, 16 Oct 2026 Your accountant
Export a CSV, one laid out for Xero, the SA105 figures or every receipt in one PDF. Or, on every plan, give your accountant a read-only link to the figures, the ledger and the receipts for any tax year, with no account to set up.
Sample account with made-up details, 18 Oct 2026
From £7.99 a month, the books kept as you go
Finance, receipt reading and bank statement import come with the 3-day trial and every paid plan. The Tax pack with its SA105 figures, the Section 24 calculator, the mileage log and Making Tax Digital are on every paid plan, not the trial. Plans are priced by portfolio size, not per entry.
Rather your accountant finished the return? They see the same figures, the ledger and the receipts through a read-only link, on every plan. How accountant access works
How to track rental property expenses
To track rental property expenses, record each cost when you pay it, with the date, the amount, the property and a category, and keep the receipt behind it. Record the rent the same way and check both against the bank each month. When the tax year ends on 5 April, the totals by category are the figures the tax return asks for.
Capture the receipt when you pay
A photo on your phone is enough. The supplier, amount, VAT and date are read into a draft for you to check, and the receipt is saved with your documents. The guide to repair receipts covers what to keep and why.
Put it on its property, in its category
Pick the property, or split one bill across several, then the category. Repairs, replacing furnishings and improvements each have their own, because the tax return treats them differently, and the full list of allowable expenses by SA105 box draws the line with examples.
Match the bank every month
Import a statement and each line it can place is matched to a rent or a cost for you to confirm, and a line that may already be counted is left for you to decide. A payee you see every month, such as your insurer, can be filed by a rule you set once.
Read the year when it ends
Income, costs and profit for each property, laid out in the SA105 boxes. To see what the tax on it comes to, try the rental income tax calculator.
Allowable expenses for landlords, in brief
What the tax return lets you take off the rent, and what it does not, each rule with its source.
Wholly and exclusively for the let
A cost is allowable when it was paid wholly and exclusively for renting out the property: repairs and maintenance, insurance, letting and management fees, ground rent and service charges, bills you pay for the property, cleaners and gardeners, and accountant’s fees.
Source: GOV.UK, Work out your rental income when you let property (opens in a new tab)
Repairs are deducted, improvements are not
Replacing a bath, a washbasin or a toilet like for like is a repair. An extension, or a kitchen of a higher specification, is capital: it is not set against the rent, though it may reduce Capital Gains Tax when you sell.
Source: GOV.UK, Work out your rental income when you let property (opens in a new tab)
Replacing furnishings has its own relief
Replacing furniture, appliances or kitchenware you already provided in a let home is deducted, up to the cost of a like-for-like item. Buying it for the first time is not.
Source: Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, section 311A (opens in a new tab)
Mortgage interest is a tax reduction
For a home let in your own name, mortgage interest and other finance costs are not deducted from the rent: they give a tax reduction at the basic rate, 20%. See what that does to your bill with the Section 24 calculator.
Source: GOV.UK, Tax relief for residential landlords: how it’s worked out (opens in a new tab)
Mileage at the simplified rates
From 6 April 2026 a car or van is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after that, and a motorcycle 24p. The landlord mileage calculator works out a year’s claim.
Source: GOV.UK, Simplified expenses: vehicles (opens in a new tab)
The property allowance, or your costs
Instead of deducting costs, you can take the £1,000 property allowance off the rent, but not both in the same year.
Source: GOV.UK, Work out your rental income when you let property (opens in a new tab)
Keep the records for five years
The records behind a return are kept until the fifth anniversary of the 31 January after the tax year, so those for 2026 to 2027 until 31 January 2033.
Source: Taxes Management Act 1970, section 12B (opens in a new tab)
Making Tax Digital uses the same categories
From 6 April 2026, if your qualifying income, rent and any self-employed income before expenses, was over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 return, you keep digital records and send quarterly updates. Each record needs a date, an amount and a category, and the categories are the Self Assessment ones.
Source: GOV.UK, Create digital records for Making Tax Digital (opens in a new tab)
This is not tax advice. The buy-to-let tax guide covers the rest of the year’s tax, and rent from past years that was never declared goes through the Let Property Campaign.
What keeping the books costs, three ways
Full management by an agent costs 12% to 21.6% of the rent on agents’ own price lists, VAT included. A spreadsheet costs only your time, and under Making Tax Digital it needs bridging software beside it; the spreadsheet or software comparison weighs when one is still enough. LetCompliance is from £7.99 a month for one property.
An agent on full management
- What it costs
- 12% to 21.6% of the rent
- Who records each cost
- The agent, for what it pays from your rent
- How the rent gets in
- Collected by the agent, less its fee
- At the end of the tax year
- The agent’s statements, for you or your accountant
A spreadsheet
- What it costs
- Your time
- Who records each cost
- You, typed in from each receipt
- How the rent gets in
- Typed in from the bank
- At the end of the tax year
- Totals you add up, then copy to the return
LetCompliance
- What it costs
- From £7.99 a month for one property
- Who records each cost
- You confirm a draft read from the receipt
- How the rent gets in
- Posted by itself once marked paid
- At the end of the tax year
- The SA105 figures, a CSV, and every receipt in one PDF
Landlord expense questions, answered
Straight answers on what you can claim, the records to keep and what each plan includes.
Still have a question?
What expenses can landlords claim?
Costs paid wholly and exclusively for the let: repairs and maintenance, letting agent and management fees, landlord insurance, ground rent and service charges, council tax and bills you pay for the property, the wages of cleaners and gardeners, accountant’s fees, and costs such as advertising for a tenant. Improvements are not deducted, and mortgage interest on a let home works as a tax reduction instead.
Can I claim mortgage interest on a rental property?
Not as a cost, for a home let in your own name. The interest, and the fees for getting the loan, give a tax reduction of up to 20% of them instead, and the part of each payment that repays the loan never counts. LetCompliance keeps it in its own category and shows it in box 44 of the Tax pack. On a commercial property it is deducted in full.
Is a new kitchen a repair or an improvement?
It depends on the standard. A kitchen replaced with one of a higher specification is an improvement: it is not set against the rent, though it may reduce Capital Gains Tax when you sell. One broadly the same as the old is normally a repair, as is a bath, washbasin or toilet replaced like for like, and is deducted. An extension is an improvement.
Can I claim for replacing a fridge or a sofa?
Yes, in a let home, under replacement of domestic items relief: furniture, furnishings, appliances or kitchenware you already provided. Buying an item for the first time is not covered, and an upgrade is relieved only up to the cost of a like-for-like item. It has its own category in LetCompliance and its own box, 36, on the tax return.
How do I keep track of rental property expenses?
Record each cost when you pay it, with the date, the amount, the property and a category, and keep the receipt. In LetCompliance you photograph the receipt and confirm the draft it becomes, rent marked paid is posted as income by itself, and a bank statement import suggests matches for the lines in between.
Can I use a spreadsheet for my rental income and expenses?
For a Self Assessment return, yes. Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax a spreadsheet can still hold the records, but it has to be linked to software that sends the quarterly updates, often called bridging software. LetCompliance keeps the records and works the quarterly figures out from them, on paid plans.
How long do landlords need to keep receipts?
Until the fifth anniversary of the 31 January after the tax year, so the receipts for 2026 to 2027 are kept until 31 January 2033, and longer if HMRC is checking that return. A receipt photographed into LetCompliance is saved with your documents.
Can I claim mileage as a landlord?
Yes, for journeys made only for the let, such as to an inspection or a repair. From 6 April 2026 the simplified rates are 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles by car or van, then 25p, and 24p a mile by motorcycle. The mileage log on paid plans works the claim out at those rates.
Does LetCompliance read receipts for me?
Yes. Photograph a receipt or upload a PDF and the supplier, the amount including VAT, the VAT, the date and the invoice number are read, with a property and a category suggested. Each result is saved as a draft and counts only once you confirm it, and a likely duplicate is flagged first.
Which plans include expense tracking?
Finance, receipt reading and bank statement import are on the 3-day trial and every paid plan: £7.99 a month for one property (Single), £14.99 for up to 3 (Solo), £19 for up to 10 (Portfolio), £29 for up to 20 (Portfolio Plus) and £49 for any number (Professional), with no VAT added. The Tax pack, the Section 24 calculator, the mileage log and Making Tax Digital are on every paid plan, not the trial.
Can I track expenses without a paid plan?
The free plan is £0 for one property and keeps rent tracked on the tenancy with receipts, the tenant portal with repairs, the certificate dates with email reminders and the 0 to 100 compliance score. Making Tax Digital and Direct Debit collection need Single.
