Manage your UKrental from abroad,in your own time.
The rent comes in, a repair gets reported and your tenant hears back while you are asleep. LetCompliance runs the whole let on UK time, from the advert to the tax figures, and has it on your phone when your day starts, with no agent taking a share of the rent.
Managing a UK rental property from abroad means running the let on UK time from wherever you live. LetCompliance collects the rent by Direct Debit, takes your tenants’ repair reports with photos and tells them each one has reached you, sends the job to a contractor from your phone and keeps every rent and cost for HMRC, from £7.99 a month and with no letting agent.
A new tenant, found and signed from abroad.
Advertise the home from one link, take every application in one list with the applicant’s income and move date, and invite the ones you like to a viewing. Order a reference on the one you choose, and the tenancy agreement is filled in from your records and signed on their phone, with nothing to print or post.
Each tenant pays by Direct Debit, collected for every rent day into your own Stripe account, or pays by transfer and tells you from their portal, and you confirm it with a tap. Every tenancy shows as up to date or with what it owes, so the month is one look at your phone instead of a UK bank statement read in another time zone.
A repair at night, sent to a contractor in your morning.
Your tenant reports the fault from their phone with photos and is told straight away that it has reached you. It waits in your tenant inbox with the response times beside it, and from there it goes to your contractor with a link to quote and update the job, which you approve from wherever you are.
Sample account with made-up details, 17 and 21 Oct 2026
Your figures for HMRC, kept as you go.
Rent and costs are kept by property and tax year, with receipts read from a photo. Tax an agent or tenant took off the rent under the Non-resident Landlord Scheme has a place of its own, so it reaches your return as tax already paid, and the quarterly updates for Making Tax Digital go to HMRC from the same records.
Your tenant reports the fault in their portal with photos, and from the repair you send the job to a contractor on your list, with a link to quote and update it.
In the background: the gas safety, EICR and EPC dates read from your certificates with a reminder before each, the deposit’s protection deadline, the Right to Rent checks and your address for notices in every agreement. How compliance is kept
Sample account with made-up details, 16 and 17 Oct 2026
From £7.99 a month, not 12% of your rent.
An agent’s percentage comes off every rent, wherever you live. Single is £7.99 a month for one property and Solo £14.99 for up to three, with the same tools on both.
Full management costs 12% to 21.6% of the rent on agents’ own lists: £1,728 to £3,110.40 a year on a rent of £1,200 a month.
£1,728£3,110.40
£95.88
Running that let yourself here costs£95.88a year.
Billed yearly, the Single plan is £63.92.
An agent also goes to the viewings and visits the property for you.
To manage a UK rental from abroad, keep everything that needs no one in the building in one place on your phone, and book the jobs that need a person one at a time. Every date in a let is a UK date, so what matters is that each job reaches you and your tenant without waiting for a UK office to open.
Set the let up, before you go or from where you are
Add the property, the tenancy and the tenant, upload the certificates and send your tenant the portal link. From abroad there is no one to hand the small jobs to, so read what running a let without an agent involves first. Leaving an agent? How to switch or leave your letting agent covers the notice and the handover. Once no agent collects the rent, a tenant paying you more than £100 a week must take the tax off, unless HMRC has told them in writing that you can be paid in full.
Let it without flying back
Advertise from one link, take the applications in one list and order a reference on the one you choose. A viewing needs someone at the door: a local agent or someone you trust.
Collect the rent and see it land
Each tenant agrees a Direct Debit once, or tells you from the portal that they paid by transfer, and you confirm it. Tax taken off under the scheme is recorded as tax already paid.
Handle repairs from your phone
A tenant’s report lands in your tenant inbox with photos and a response time, and goes to your contractor from the repair.
Keep the figures for HMRC
Rent and costs are kept by tax year, receipts read from a photo, and the quarterly updates for Making Tax Digital sent from the same records.
Sample account with made-up details, 16, 17 and 21 Oct 2026
The scheme covers landlords whose usual place of abode is outside the UK: normally, an absence of 6 months or more. You can be UK resident for tax and still be inside it.
A letting agent must take basic rate tax off the rent, after expenses they paid, and so must a tenant who pays you directly more than £100 a week. They pay it to HMRC within 30 days of each quarter’s end, and give you form NRL6, a certificate of it, by 5 July each year.
An individual applies on form NRL1, online or by post, and no more than 3 months before leaving the UK if you are about to move. Once approved, the rent can be paid in full from the date on HMRC’s notice, usually the first day of the quarter it arrived in. Until then a tenant paying you more than £100 a week must take the tax off, so apply before the rent is collected whole.
You declare the rent on Self Assessment, with the property and residence pages, unless HMRC tells you not to. HMRC’s own online service cannot take it, so it goes by post by 31 October, through commercial software or by an accountant, and what was taken off the rent before it reached you counts against the bill.
HMRC’s notes to the property pages put the rent before any tax was taken off in box 20, and the tax taken off in box 21 (read 1 November 2026). In LetCompliance, tick I’m a non-resident landlord on the Tax page (paid plans). Then, in the tenancy’s payment history, mark each month’s rent paid in full and add the tax your tenant or agent withheld. You type it from what you were paid or the NRL6; it is never worked out as 20%. The month reads paid, not arrears, and the tax is one Finance entry, Tax deducted at source, for box 21. It works in your own landlord account, not in an agency workspace.
If you were not UK resident, only UK property and UK self-employment income on your return count towards the threshold, never foreign property income. Over £50,000 means Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2026, and over £30,000 from 6 April 2027. With the residence pages (SA109) on your 2024 to 2025 return, GOV.UK exempts you for 2026 to 2027, and Budget 2026 announced an exemption for “expected non-resident customers”, not yet defined.
A landlord must give the tenant, by notice, an address in England and Wales where notices can be served, and rent is treated as not due until it is given. A Section 48 notice gives it in writing, and a tenancy agreement that names the address does too.
Read on GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk on 18 October 2026. Tax across two countries turns on where you live, so this is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Managing a UK property from abroad: what it costs
A letting agent’s full management costs 12% to 21.6% of the rent on agents’ own published lists. A spreadsheet costs nothing, but from another time zone it collects nothing and reminds you of nothing. LetCompliance is priced by portfolio size, never per property, from £7.99 a month; to put a figure on yours, work out what an agent would take from your rent.
A letting agent
What it costs
12% to 21.6% of the rent
The rent
Collected by the agent, tax taken off unless you are approved
Repairs
Arranged by the agent
Someone at the property
The agent goes
A spreadsheet
What it costs
Nothing
The rent
Checked by you in a UK bank account
Repairs
However your tenant manages to reach you
Someone at the property
Whoever you can ask
LetCompliance
What it costs
From £7.99 a month for one property
The rent
By Direct Debit into your own Stripe account, or confirmed from the portal
Repairs
Reported in the portal, sent to your contractor from your phone
Someone at the property
Your own contractor, or someone you trust, when a job needs a person
Ask about your own let
Every let from abroad is a slightly different shape: an agent you have outgrown, a tenant taking tax off you did not know about, a check-in with no one nearby to do it, a home you have not seen in three years. Write what is happening and the reply will say what to do next.
A person reads it, usually within a working day
If the answer is a tool or a page on this site, the reply says so
If the job needs someone local, the reply says what kind of help to look for
Questions overseas landlords ask
About living abroad, the tax, the rent and the price. Something else? Ask a question
What is a non-resident landlord?
For HMRC, a landlord whose usual place of abode is outside the UK; HMRC normally treats an absence of 6 months or more as meaning yours is. It is not the tax residence test: you can be UK resident for tax and still be in the Non-resident Landlord Scheme (GOV.UK, read on 18 October 2026).
Can I manage my UK rental property from abroad?
Yes. Most of a let needs no one in the building: the advert, the signed agreement, the rent, the repairs your tenant reports and the tax records all run from a phone, in one login on UK dates. A viewing, an inventory or an inspection needs a person: a local agent or clerk booked one job at a time, or someone you trust.
Do I need a letting agent if I live abroad?
No, the law does not require one. Full management costs 12% to 21.6% of the rent on agents’ own published lists; the other way is to run the let yourself and book a local agent or clerk, or ask someone you trust, only for the visits that need a person. An agent you keep is the one who takes the tax off your rent under the scheme until HMRC approves you.
Can I rent out my house if I move abroad?
Yes. Before you go, ask your mortgage lender and your insurer, because a residential mortgage or a home insurance policy may not allow a let. Apply to HMRC on form NRL1, up to 3 months before you leave, so the rent can be paid without tax taken off it, and give the tenant an address in England or Wales for notices (Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, section 48). The duties that come with any let still apply from abroad, such as protecting the deposit within 30 days and keeping the gas safety check in date.
What is the least help I need in the UK if I manage from abroad?
No agent is required by law. You need an address in England or Wales where notices will reach you, and someone near the property for the jobs that need a person: letting in a contractor, handing over keys, a viewing, an inventory or an inspection. Those visits can be booked one at a time with a local agent or clerk, or done by someone you trust. The advert, the agreement, the rent, the repairs your tenant reports and the tax records run from LetCompliance on your phone.
Why is tax taken off my rent when I live abroad?
Because of the Non-resident Landlord Scheme. Unless HMRC has approved you to receive the rent in full, your letting agent, or a tenant paying you more than £100 a week, must take basic rate tax off it after expenses they paid, and pay it to HMRC within 30 days of each quarter’s end. It is tax paid in advance, set against your Self Assessment bill.
How do I get my UK rent paid without tax deducted?
Apply to HMRC on form NRL1 if you are an individual, online or by post. Once approved, the rent can be paid in full from the date on HMRC’s notice, usually the first day of the quarter your application arrived in. HMRC will not approve it while your returns or payments are late, and you still declare the rent on Self Assessment.
Do non-resident landlords pay tax on UK rental income?
Yes. UK rent is taxed in the UK wherever you live, declared on a Self Assessment return with the residence pages unless HMRC tells you not to. That return cannot go through HMRC’s own online service, so it is sent by post, through commercial software or by an accountant.
Does Making Tax Digital apply to non-resident landlords?
It can. If you were not UK resident, only your UK property income and UK self-employment income count, never foreign property income. Over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 return means Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2026, and over £30,000 on your 2025 to 2026 return from 6 April 2027. But if your 2024 to 2025 return included the residence pages (SA109), GOV.UK’s exemption page says you need not use it for 2026 to 2027, and Budget 2026 (28 October 2026) announced an exemption until further notice for “expected non-resident customers”, a group not yet defined. LetCompliance is recognised by HMRC for it and sends the quarterly updates from the records it holds.
Who deals with repairs if I live abroad?
You do, from your phone. Your tenant reports the fault in their portal with photos, you are emailed, and from the repair you send the job to your contractor with a link to quote and update it.
Can someone visit my UK property for me?
Yes, for the jobs that need a person: a viewing, an inventory or an inspection, booked with a local agent or clerk, or someone you trust.
How much does it cost to manage a UK rental from abroad?
With a letting agent, full management is 12% to 21.6% of the rent on agents’ own published lists. LetCompliance is one price for each size of portfolio, never a charge per property: Single £7.99 a month for one, Solo £14.99 for up to three, Portfolio £19 for up to ten, Portfolio Plus £29 for up to twenty and Professional £49 with no limit, Making Tax Digital included on each, after 3 days with no card. 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.
Hi there 👋
How can LetCompliance help?
Send a message, read what's new, or find a quick answer below.
