Bookkeeping for landlords

What does a bookkeeper do for a landlord?

A bookkeeper records every pound your properties bring in and every cost they run up, so you always know where you stand and your tax return is quick to finish. This is what we do for you each month:

• Your rent and costs recorded. Every rent payment, letting agent statement, repair bill, insurance premium and service charge, matched to your bank account in your own Xero.
• Your receipts kept. Each bill is stored with the payment it belongs to, so you can show what every cost was for.
• Your figures ready for your tax return. When the tax year ends, your rental income and allowable expenses are totalled and ready for your Self Assessment return, whoever sends it.
• Your Making Tax Digital updates sent. If it applies to you, we send your quarterly updates to HMRC once you have approved them.
• Your VAT returns, if you are registered. We prepare them and file them once you approve them. Which rent counts toward the VAT threshold

That covers the records GOV.UK says a landlord should keep: the dates you let the property, the rent and any service income, your receipts and invoices, and the expenses you pay to run it. GOV.UK, Keeping your pay and tax records: Rental income.

Do I need an accountant as a landlord?

Not for the bookkeeping. No rule says a landlord has to use an accountant, and plenty send their own Self Assessment return. What you do need is a complete record of your rent and costs, and that is the part we take on.

An accountant is worth paying for tax advice: how to own your properties, planning a sale, or a complicated return. If you use one, we keep your books so they have less to sort out.

How is rental income taxed?

You pay tax on your profit, not on the whole rent. GOV.UK: You or your company must pay tax on the profit you make from renting out the property, after deductions for ‘allowable expenses’.

Allowable expenses are things you need to spend money on in the day-to-day running of the property, such as letting agent fees, insurance and maintenance and repairs to the property (but not improvements). A cost that is never recorded is never claimed, so you pay tax on money you did not keep. Keeping every bill is how you stop that. To see the tax on your own rent, with the mortgage interest credit worked out, use our rental income tax calculator.

From 6 April 2027, rental profit has its own tax rates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The law as passed already sets them at 22%, 42% and 47% (law already), and the Budget on 28 October 2026 announced 24%, 44% and 49% in place of them (needs Parliament to pass Finance Bill 2026-27). How much tax you pay on rental income

Landlords in England with tenants on an assured or regulated tenancy also have to register on the government's new landlord register. It opens on 15 December 2026 and costs £65 per property a year, and each region has its own deadline. How the landlord register and its fee work

Letting agents and deposit schemes already report landlords' rent to HMRC once a year. HMRC is consulting, until 20 January 2027, on making that monthly or quarterly, and there is no start date (a plan, could change). If you use a letting agent, we record your rent from their statements every month, so your figures and theirs agree.

Common questions from landlords