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Renting out your property

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1. Tenancy types

The rules about what can happen before or during a tenancy depend on what type of tenancy you have. The type of tenancy also changes how you or your tenant can end it.

The most common type of tenancy is an assured periodic tenancy (APT).

Other types of tenancy include:

  • excluded tenancies or licences
  • regulated tenancies

If you do not know which type of tenancy you have, you can check by using Shelter’s tenancy checker.

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

Assured periodic tenancies

A tenancy is an APT if all of the following apply:

  • you do not live in the property
  • the property is your tenant’s main accommodation
  • your tenant has their own room - they might share a bathroom or kitchen with other tenants

A tenancy is not an APT if:

  • you live in the property
  • the property is purpose-built student accommodation, the tenants are university students, and you’ve signed up to the National Code of practice
  • the tenancy has a fixed term of over 21 years
  • the rent is more than £100,000 a year
  • the rent is less than £250 a year (or less than £1,000 in London)
  • it’s a business tenancy or tenancy of licensed premises
  • the property is a holiday let

Excluded tenancies or licences

You may have an excluded tenancy or licence if you live in the same property as your tenant and share rooms with them, like a kitchen or bathroom. Your tenant will usually have less protection from eviction with this type of agreement.

Regulated tenancies

Tenancies starting before 15 January 1989 may be regulated. Your tenant will have increased protection from eviction and can apply for a ‘fair rent’.

2. Landlord responsibilities

You’re a landlord if you rent out your property.

As a landlord you must:

There are different rules for:

Fire safety

It’s your responsibility to:

Health and safety inspections

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is used by your council to make sure that properties in its area are safe for the people who live there. This involves inspecting your property for possible hazards, such as uneven stairs.

If you own a property and rent it out, the council may decide to do an HHSRS inspection because:

  • your tenant has asked for an inspection
  • the council has done a survey of local properties and thinks your property might be hazardous

HHSRS hazard ratings

Inspectors look at 29 health and safety areas and score each hazard they find as category 1 or 2, according to its seriousness.

You must take action on enforcement notices from your council. You also have the right to appeal enforcement notices.

The council can do any of the following if they find a serious hazard:

  • issue an improvement notice
  • fix the hazard themselves and bill you for the cost
  • stop you or anyone else from using part or all of the property

Financial responsibilities

You may have to pay Income Tax on your rental income, minus your day-to-day running expenses. There are different rules if you are in the Rent a Room Scheme.

You may be able to pay voluntary Class 2 or Class 3 National Insurance.

If you only occasionally rent out your property or part of your home (for example through short-term rental apps), check if you need to tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about this income.

If you have a mortgage on the property you want to rent out, you must get permission from your mortgage lender.

Regulated tenancies

There are special rules for changing rents and terms for regulated tenancies (usually private tenancies starting before 15 January 1989).

3. Making repairs

You must keep your property in good condition, and any gas or electrical systems must meet specified safety standards.

There are different rules for making repairs in Scotland and making repairs in Northern Ireland.

When you can enter the property

You have a legal right to enter your property to inspect it or carry out repairs. You must give your tenant at least 24 hours’ notice, although immediate access may be possible in emergencies. Your tenant has the right to stay in the property during the repairs.

You’re normally responsible for repairs to:

  • the structure of your property
  • basins, sinks, baths and other sanitary fittings
  • heating and hot water systems
  • anything you damage through attempting repairs

If your property is seriously damaged by a fire, flood or other similar incident, you do not have to rebuild or renovate it. However, if you do, you cannot charge your tenant for any repairs made.

Common areas

If you own a block of flats, you’re usually responsible for repairing common areas, like staircases. Councils can ask landlords to fix problems in common areas, or to repair a tenant’s flat that’s been damaged by another tenant.

What happens if repairs are not done properly

If you refuse to carry out repairs, your tenant can:

  • start a claim in the small claims court for repairs under £5,000
  • in some circumstances, carry out the repairs themselves and deduct the cost from their rent

If you do not make repairs to remove hazards, your tenant can ask the council to inspect the property under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and to take any action that is necessary.

If the council finds serious hazards, it must take enforcement action to make sure the hazard is removed.

If the property is temporarily unfit to live in

You can ask your tenant to move out during major repairs. Before this happens, you should agree in writing:

  • how long the works will last
  • the tenant’s right to return
  • details of any alternative accommodation

You cannot repossess a property to do repairs. However, if you’re planning substantial works, or want to redevelop the property, you can apply to the courts for an order for your tenant to leave. The courts are more likely to grant this if you provide alternative accommodation.

Repairs and charging rent

If the repairs are very disruptive, your tenant may be able to claim a reduction on their rent known as a ‘rent abatement’. This will depend on how much of the property is unusable.

You may have the right to increase the rent after carrying out repairs and improvements, depending on the tenancy agreement.

4. Settling disputes

You can often sort out disputes with your tenant without going to court:

  1. Speak to your tenant about your concerns.

  2. If this does not work, write a formal letter setting out the problem.

  3. Use a mediation service, which is usually cheaper and quicker than going to court.

  4. As a last resort, seek independent legal advice to take your tenant to court.

There are different rules for:

If a tenant damages your property   

If you take a deposit from your tenant, you must protect the deposit with a government approved Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) scheme.  

If your tenant damages the property, you may keep some or all of the tenancy deposit to cover the cost of repair.  

Talk to your tenant about how much you are planning to keep. If you and your tenant agree on how much money should be taken from the tenancy deposit, you may take this from the deposit at the end of the tenancy. 

If you and your tenant cannot agree 

If you cannot agree on how much money should be taken from the deposit, you can access free Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) offered by your Tenancy Deposit Scheme. 

A decision will be made based on the evidence you and your tenant provide.

ADR can be faster and cheaper than going to court but you will need to go to court if you want to recover any costs.

Going to court

You can make a court claim if your tenant owes you money. For example:

  • your tenant has not paid you rent
  • you took a deposit from your tenant, they have caused damage and the cost of repairs is higher than the deposit
  • you did not take a deposit from your tenant, they have caused damage and you want them to cover the cost of repairs

You cannot use this process to evict your tenant. Find out more about evicting tenants.

If the claim is for:

  • less than £10,000, you’ll need to attend mediation
  • more than £10,000, the court may offer you mediation

If you and your tenant cannot resolve the dispute through mediation, you will have to attend a hearing.

If you want your tenant to leave  

If you want your tenant to leave your property, you can end the tenancy.

You need to follow specific rules to avoid harassing or illegally evicting your tenant. 

Advice for disputes

You may be able to get free and confidential legal advice. Check if you can get legal aid if you’re in England or Wales.

5. Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

If you let your property to several tenants who are not members of the same family, it may be a ‘House in Multiple Occupation’ (HMO).

There are different rules for HMOs in Scotland and HMOs in Northern Ireland.

Your property is an HMO if both of the following apply:

  • at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than one household
  • toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities are shared

A household consists of either a single person or members of the same family who live together. It includes people who are married or living together and people in same-sex relationships.

Licences

An HMO must have a licence if it is occupied by 5 or more people. A council can also include other types of HMOs for licensing.

Find out if you need an HMO licence from your council.

Risk assessment

The council has to carry out a Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) risk assessment on your HMO within 5 years of receiving a licence application. If the inspector finds any unacceptable risks during the assessment, you must carry out work to eliminate them.

Reporting changes

You must tell the council if:

  • you plan to make changes to an HMO
  • your tenants make changes
  • your tenants’ circumstances change (for example they have a child)

6. Paying tax and National Insurance

When you rent out property you may have to pay tax. You can choose to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions to qualify for the State Pension or certain benefits. 

National Insurance

You may be eligible to pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance contributions if you’re considered ‘gainfully employed’ for National Insurance purposes. For example if:

  • being a landlord is your main job
  • you rent out more than one property
  • you’re buying new properties to rent out

If you’re not sure if you count as ‘gainfully employed’, read paying voluntary Class 2 National Insurance contributions as a landlord.

If you are not eligible, you may be able to pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions instead. For example, if being a landlord is not your main job but you still: 

  • collect rent
  • arrange or carry out repairs
  • maintain common areas 
  • prepare properties between lets
  • advertise for tenants
  • arrange tenancy agreements

Property you personally own

The first £1,000 of your income from property rental is tax-free. This is your ‘property allowance’.

Contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) if your income from property rental is more than £1,000 a year, up to £2,500.

You must report it on a Self Assessment tax return if it’s more than: 

  • £2,500 after allowable expenses 
  • £10,000 before allowable expenses

Register for Self Assessment

If you do not usually send a tax return, you need to register by 5 October following the tax year you had rental income.

Register now

Declaring unpaid tax

You can declare unpaid tax by telling HMRC about rental income from previous years. If you have to pay a penalty it’ll be lower than if HMRC find out about the income themselves.

You’ll be given a disclosure reference number. You then have 3 months to work out what you owe and pay it.

Do not include the £1,000 tax-free property allowance for any tax years before 2017 to 2018.

Property owned by a company

Count the rental income the same way as any other business income.

Costs you can claim to reduce tax

There are different tax rules for:

  • residential properties
  • furnished holiday lettings (rules ended April 2025)
  • commercial properties

Residential properties

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, like:

  • letting agents’ fees
  • legal fees for lets of a year or less, or for renewing a lease for less than 50 years
  • accountants’ fees
  • buildings and contents insurance
  • maintenance and repairs to the property (but not improvements)
  • utility bills, like gas, water and electricity
  • rent, ground rent, service charges
  • Council Tax
  • services you pay for, like cleaning or gardening
  • other direct costs of letting the property, like phone calls, stationery and advertising

If you’re a company paying Corporation Tax, you can claim interest on property loans as an allowable expense. You cannot do this if you’re an individual landlord who pays Income Tax.

Allowable expenses do not include ‘capital expenditure’ - like buying a property or renovating it beyond repairs for wear and tear.

You may be able to claim tax relief on money spent on replacing a ‘domestic item’. This is called ‘replacement of domestic items relief’.

Domestic items include:

  • beds
  • sofas
  • curtains
  • carpets
  • fridges
  • crockery and cutlery

You must have only bought the domestic item for use by tenants in a residential property and the item you replaced must no longer be used in that property.

Furnished holiday lettings before April 2025

Furnished holiday lettings tax rules ended:

  • 1 April 2025 for Corporation Tax and Corporation Tax on chargeable gains
  • 6 April 2025 for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax

If you submit a tax return for tax years up to and including April 2024 to 2025, you may be able to claim certain reliefs and allowances.

You may be able to claim Capital Gains Tax relief, including:

You may also be able to claim capital allowances, including writing down allowances, balancing allowances and charges. You must have added capital expenditure to a capital allowance pool by 5 April 2025. You can continue to claim on the pooled expenditure until it is used up or you make a small pool claim.

You may only be able to claim if all the following applied:

  • the property was offered to let as furnished holiday accommodation for at least 210 days a year
  • was let to the public as furnished holiday accommodation for at least 105 days a year
  • long lets (31 or more days in a row) did not total more than 155 days in a year
  • you charged the going rate for similar properties in the area (‘market value’) at that time

To help with tax returns up to and including the tax year April 2024 to 2025, you can use the capital allowances helpsheet and the furnished holiday lettings helpsheet.

Commercial properties

You can claim plant and machinery capital allowances on some items if you rent out a commercial property - like a shop, garage or lock-up.

Working out your profit

You work out the net profit or loss for all your property lettings (except furnished holiday lettings) as if it’s a single business. To do this, you:

  • add together all your rental income
  • add together all your allowable expenses
  • take the expenses away from the income

Work out the profit or loss from furnished holiday lettings separately from any other rental business to make sure you only claim these tax advantages for eligible properties.

Making a loss

Deduct any losses from your profit and enter the figure on your Self Assessment form.

You can offset your loss against:

  • future profits by carrying it forward to a later year
  • profits from other properties (if you have them)

You can only offset losses against future profits in the same business.

7. Changing a regulated tenancy (fair rent)

There are special rules for changing rents and terms for regulated tenancies (sometimes called ‘fair rents’) which usually started before 15 January 1989.

There are different rules for increasing rents in regulated tenancies in Scotland and rent-controlled tenancies in Northern Ireland.

When you can increase rent

You can only increase the rent up to the maximum set by the Valuation Office (VO) - check the register of fair rents to find out what it is.

You can ask VO to review the rent every 2 years, or earlier if something has affected the value, so that it remains fair. Your rent might increase or decrease.

Download and fill in a fair rent form to get your rent reviewed. Send the completed form to the VOA Network Support Office by post.

VOA Network Support Office
Wycliffe House
Green Lane
Durham
DH1 3UW

Email the VOA Network Support Office if you have any questions about increasing your rent.

VOA Network Support Office
NSOhelpdesk@voa.gsi.gov.uk

If the fair rent increases

You must serve a notice of increase of rent on your tenant. You can charge the new rent from the date it’s registered.

Fill in a ‘notice of increase’ form (available from legal stationers) and send it to your tenant.

You can backdate your notice of rent increase for up to 4 weeks.

Cancel a registered rent

Download and fill in a fair rent form to cancel a registered rent, and send it to the address on the form. For example, if the tenancy stops being regulated, or you and your tenant agree to cancel it.

It may take up to 6 weeks to cancel a registered rent.

8. If your tenant dies without an executor or a will

If a tenant dies without an executor or a will, the process for reclaiming your property depends on if the property is in England or Wales.

You may be fined if you try to repossess a property without following the rules.

If your property is in England

The tenancy is transferred temporarily to the Public Trustee.

You need to give written notice and register it with the Public Trustee to reclaim your property.

You cannot take back a property automatically even if the tenancy was due to end.

If your property is in Wales

The tenancy will end automatically one month after a tenant dies.

You usually do not need to give written notice and register it with the Public Trustee to reclaim your property.

You might need to register a written notice with the Public Trustee if another notice that affects the property has been served. For example, the council has served a notice advising that essential works need to be done.

Talk to a solicitor if you think this might apply to your property.

Giving written notice

Post or deliver a letter to the tenant’s last known address saying you’re giving written notice.

Address the written notice to: “The Personal Representative of [full name of the tenant who died] of [last known address for the tenant who died]”.

If you do not address the written notice in this way, your application could be rejected.

Apply to register the written notice

You need to pay a £40 registration fee. You’ll need a credit or debit card.

Pay to register a notice with the Public Trustee.

When you’ve paid the fee, you can apply to register the notice. You’ll need:

  • the payment reference number
  • an electronic copy of the written notice

Apply to register a notice.

If you cannot use the online payment service or the online application form, email the Public Trustee to find out how you can apply in a different way.

The Public Trustee
todenquiries@ospt.gov.uk

Get a decision about your application

The Public Trustee will register or reject your application. You’ll usually get their decision within 15 working days of sending your application and payment.

If your application is registered, you’ll be told the date it was put in the register.

If your application is rejected, for example because it’s incomplete, you’ll be told why the Public Trustee cannot register it.