On the document list
On 18 Oct 2026 the list held 3 documents. The next morning a gas safety record uploaded on its renewals row sat on top, filed on 6 Saxby Walk, Bristol with its type and its date, and the log wrote the upload at 04:26.
Record keeping with no paper chase
Every message, notice, document and rent payment is dated and kept with the let it belongs to, as you work. When a tenant or your accountant asks, the file downloads in one go, and no agent takes a cut of your rent along the way.
What you stop doing when someone asks to see the paperwork
Landlord record keeping means being able to show, later, what happened on a let and when: the agreement and what was served with it, the deposit, the certificates, every rent payment, repair and message. LetCompliance keeps each one with the property and tenancy it belongs to, dated as it happens, and writes each upload, send, payment and tenancy change to an activity log that cannot be edited or deleted from the account. When a tenant or an accountant asks, the log downloads as a PDF or a CSV and up to 40 documents merge into one PDF.
40documents merged into one PDF, in one go
Attaching files one by one
Tick the documents someone asked for and download them as one PDF, or up to 100 at once as a zip with a folder for each property. Right to Rent copies are always left out of both.
Searching your inbox for the date
Uploads, documents sent, rent payments and tenancy changes are written to the activity log the moment they happen, in UK time, against the property. Filter it to one property and its history reads in order, each entry with its day and time.
Wondering whether it arrived
A document sent for signing shows when it was sent, delivered, opened and signed, and Opened means the tenant opened the document itself, not just the email. A bounce goes to the top of the list with the reason the tenant’s mail server gave.
Rebuilding the figures for someone else
Reports gathers what you hand to a lender or an accountant, starting with money in and out for a period and by property. View it on screen, then keep a copy. Reports come with the trial and every paid plan.
Written down the moment it happened
Two records of the sample account between 16 and 19 Oct 2026: a certificate filed on 6 Saxby Walk, Bristol, and the rent there marked paid, each dated by the account as it happened, with nothing typed up afterwards.
In between, the activity log wrote that rent moving from pending to paid on Fri, 16 Oct 2026 at 19:48, as it happened.
On the rent ledger
Chloe Barnes’s October rent of £975 read pending on the evening she said she had paid. Once it was confirmed it read paid, with the day it was due and the day it was paid.
How record keeping works in LetCompliance
There is nothing to file by hand: the record builds from the ordinary work of the let, on a computer or a phone.
Run the let as normal
Upload a certificate, send the agreement, record the rent, log a repair or reply to a tenant. Each lands on the property and the tenancy it belongs to, with the day it happened.
Each action is logged as it happens
The server writes the entry at that moment and fixes its time. Nobody can edit or delete it from the account, and it stays even if the property is deleted.
Sent documents report back
A document sent for signing adds when it was delivered, opened and signed, or why it bounced, with a SHA-256 fingerprint of the file as sent. One handed over in person is recorded with the day you gave it.
Download the file when asked
Filter the log to one property and download it as a PDF or a CSV, merge up to 40 documents into one PDF, or take up to 100 as a zip.
Signing with delivery tracking comes with the 3-day trial and every paid plan. A document sent as a plain attachment is logged as sent, with the time and who it went to.
The rest of the let fills the record in
Every part of the let writes to the same property, so the answer to when something happened is in one place.
Tenancy agreements, signed and kept
Drafted from the tenancy and signed on the tenant’s phone, the agreement says on the property when it was signed and where the signed copy is kept, with an audit certificate on it: how it was signed, the name, the time and a fingerprint of the document as sent.
Sample account with made-up details, 18 Oct 2026 Rent, dated to the day
Each payment sits on its tenancy with the day it was due and the day it was paid, the tenant sees it with its receipt in their portal, and a rent statement downloads from the Rent page on the trial and paid plans.
Sample account with made-up details, 17 Oct 2026 Repairs, from report to fixed
A repair the tenant reports keeps the day it came in, each update and the contractor sent to it, and the day it was closed, while the tenant follows it in their portal.
Sample account with made-up details, 16 Oct 2026 The figures for your tax return
The same rent and expenses add up into the quarterly updates for Making Tax Digital on a paid plan, so the records HMRC asks for are the ones you already keep.
Sample account with made-up details, 16 Oct 2026
From £7.99 a month, with every record kept
The activity log, its downloads and your documents are on every plan. Signing with delivery tracking, the rent statement and the reports come with the 3-day trial and every paid plan, priced by portfolio size, never by document.
HMRC asks for the records behind each tax return to be kept for at least 5 years after its 31 January deadline, and Settings downloads every record in the account as one file whenever you want a copy of your own. Keeping records, on GOV.UK
How long should landlords keep records?
Keep the rent and expense records behind each tax return for at least 5 years after its 31 January deadline, which for 2025 to 2026 means until at least the end of January 2032. Safety records follow rules of their own, and a claim on a contract can be brought for six years from when it arose, so the tenancy file is worth keeping at least that long after the tenancy ends.
Rent and expenses: 5 years after the deadline
HMRC asks for accurate records of rent and expenses, kept at least 5 years after each 31 January deadline, and can charge a penalty when they are not accurate, complete and readable. Under Making Tax Digital the same records are kept in software, and what HMRC’s recognition of LetCompliance covers has its own page. The receipts guide sets out which repair receipts to keep and for how long.
Sources: GOV.UK, Income Tax when you rent out a property (opens in a new tab); Taxes Management Act 1970, section 12B (opens in a new tab); GOV.UK, Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (opens in a new tab)
Gas safety records: until two more checks
Keep the record of each check until two further checks of that appliance have been made, or for 2 years from the last check if the appliance is taken out. Each tenant gets a copy within 28 days of the check, and a new tenant before moving in.
Source: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36 (opens in a new tab)
Electrical safety report: until the next one
Keep a copy of the report until the next inspection is due or has been done, whichever is later, unless a newer report replaces it, and give the next inspector a copy.
Source: Electrical Safety Standards Regulations 2020, regulation 3 (opens in a new tab)
Right to Rent copies: the tenancy and one year after
Keep copies of each tenant’s documents for as long as they are your tenant and for one year after, with the date you made the copy.
Source: GOV.UK, Check your tenant’s right to rent: make copies (opens in a new tab)
The tenancy file: six years, the time for a claim
A claim on a contract cannot be brought more than six years after it arose, so the agreement, the deposit paperwork, the notices and the messages are worth keeping that long after the tenancy ends.
Tenants’ personal data: no longer than needed
Personal data may be kept only as long as the purpose it was collected for needs it, so set a period for each kind of record and say what it is in the privacy notice you give tenants.
Read on GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk on 19 Oct 2026, for England; Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have rules of their own. This is not legal advice.
Landlord documents to keep, and where each one lives
A landlord keeps the tenancy agreement and what was served with it, the deposit paperwork, the safety certificates, Right to Rent copies, the inventories, the rent and expense records, notices with how they were served, and the repairs and messages along the way. In LetCompliance each sits with the property and tenancy it belongs to, dated as it happens. For what a new tenant must be handed on day one, see the move-in documents checklist.
The tenancy and the tenant
The agreement signed on the tenant’s phone, kept with when it was sent, delivered, opened and signed; one handed over on paper marked as served, with the date. Each tenant’s Right to Rent check sits on their record with its date.
The deposit and the inventories
When the deposit was received and protected and when the Prescribed Information was given, each with its date; the check-in and check-out reports on the trial and every paid plan; and at the end, deductions with the working attached.
Safety certificates
Gas safety, EICR and EPC filed on the property, with the dates read from each upload, and every certificate on a property downloaded as one PDF when someone asks.
Rent and expenses
Every payment dated on its tenancy, and on the trial and paid plans every expense on its property, with the receipt photographed. Rent from earlier years that never reached a tax return can still be put right through the Let Property Campaign.
Notices
A Section 8 or Section 13 notice sent from the app is logged as served, with who it went to, and a Section 8 notice handed over or posted is recorded with the date and how.
Repairs and messages
Each repair keeps its report, its updates and its contractor, with their dates, and messages with a tenant stay in one thread for the tenancy, each with its day and time.
What keeping the records costs: an agent, a spreadsheet or software
Full management, where an agent runs the let and keeps the file, costs 12% to 21.6% of the rent on agents’ own lists. A spreadsheet and a folder of PDFs cost nothing, and depend on you filing each thing on the day. LetCompliance keeps the record as you work from £7.99 a month for one property. To put a figure on your own rent, work out what an agent would take.
A letting agent
- What it costs
- 12% to 21.6% of the rent
- Who keeps the record
- The agent, in their own system
- Who can change it afterwards
- It depends on the agent’s system
- What you hand over when asked
- What the agent sends you
A spreadsheet and a folder
- What it costs
- Nothing
- Who keeps the record
- You, on the day you remember
- Who can change it afterwards
- Anyone with the file
- What you hand over when asked
- Whatever you can find
LetCompliance
- What it costs
- From £7.99 a month for one property
- Who keeps the record
- Written as you work, on the property
- Who can change it afterwards
- No one, for the activity log
- What you hand over when asked
- The log as a PDF or CSV, documents as one PDF or a zip
Landlord record keeping questions, answered
Straight answers on what to keep and for how long, and on the record LetCompliance keeps for you.
Still have a question?
How long should landlords keep records?
For tax, at least 5 years after each year’s 31 January deadline: the 2025 to 2026 records, due by 31 January 2027, until at least the end of January 2032. Gas safety records until two more checks are made, an electrical report until the next one is due or done, and Right to Rent copies for the tenancy and one year after.
What documents should a landlord keep?
The tenancy agreement and what was served with it, the deposit protection and Prescribed Information, the safety certificates, Right to Rent copies, the inventories, every rent payment and expense, notices with how and when they were served, and the repairs and messages. In LetCompliance each sits with the property and tenancy it belongs to, with its date.
Why does the date matter more than the document?
Because almost every landlord has the document. Far fewer can show when it went out and to whom, and that is the part an argument turns on. A certificate in your downloads folder says you had one; a dated entry against that tenancy says what you did with it.
Can the activity log be edited?
No. Entries are written by the server with the time fixed when they are written, and there is no way to edit or delete them from the account, for you, a colleague or LetCompliance through the app. They stay even if the property is deleted.
Is delivery tracked for every email?
Delivery and bounces are tracked for documents sent for e-signature, which is on the trial and paid plans. Certificates sent as ordinary attachments, and move-in pack emails, are logged as sent, with the time and recipient, but their delivery is not tracked.
What if I served something outside the app?
A tenancy agreement served in person or by post can be marked as served with the date and a note, so the record does not have a gap where you handed something over. Move-in documents handed over on paper are recorded as given by hand, with the day you gave them.
Can I download all my records at once?
Yes. The activity log downloads as a PDF or a CSV; up to 40 documents merge into one PDF and up to 100 download as a zip, a folder for each property; and Settings exports every record in the account as one file. Right to Rent copies stay out of the bulk downloads.
What records does a landlord need for HMRC?
Records of the rent received and the expenses paid, accurate enough to work out the profit you pay tax on, kept for at least 5 years. Rent sits on each tenancy and, on the trial and paid plans, expenses come from a photographed receipt, with Reports totalling both by period and by property.
Do you claim this will win a case?
No. What a court or a deposit scheme makes of any evidence is for them to decide. What LetCompliance can say is what the record is: dated, written by the server and not editable afterwards.
What does it cost?
The activity log, its exports and document storage are on every plan. E-signature with delivery tracking, the rent statement and the reports come with the 3-day trial and every paid plan, from £7.99 a month.
Can I keep records 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.
