Whether you've built a portfolio on purpose or inherited a flat you never planned to let, property tax has become genuinely fiddly. Section 24 taxes your rent before your mortgage, a Capital Gains bill now has to be paid inside 60 days of selling, and Making Tax Digital arrives for landlords from April 2026. We keep the whole thing straight for you — fixed fees agreed upfront, and you deal directly with Bobby Gardiner, not a call centre. Book a free 15-minute call whenever it suits.
Most landlords we meet aren't tax experts — they're busy people with a property or two who just want to know they're doing it right. These are the worries we hear most.
Let's fix it"My tax bill went up but my rent didn't" — Section 24 means you're taxed on your full rent and only get a 20% credit for mortgage interest, so higher-rate landlords can pay tax on money the bank has already taken.
"I sold a rental and now I've got 60 days to sort the tax?" — the report-and-pay clock starts the day the sale completes, and missing it means penalties on top of the Capital Gains Tax.
"I had a holiday let and the rules just changed under me" — the furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished from April 2025, so the reliefs you relied on have gone.
"Everyone keeps telling me to put my properties in a company — should I?" — sometimes yes, often no, and getting it wrong can trigger Capital Gains Tax and Stamp Duty you didn't need to pay.
Everything a landlord needs to stay compliant and keep more of the rent — explained in plain English, with the awkward bits flagged before they become problems.
We pool all your properties into one property business, claim every allowable expense — letting fees, insurance, repairs, ground rents — and file your return correctly. If your gross rents are £1,000 or less, the property allowance means it may not even need declaring; over that, we work out whether the £1,000 allowance or your real costs leave you better off.
Since April 2020 you get no deduction for mortgage interest — just a 20% basic-rate tax credit. We calculate it correctly (it's the lowest of your finance costs, your rental profit, or — broadly — your other income above the personal allowance), carry forward anything unused, and model whether the restriction is quietly tipping you into higher-rate tax.
Sell a residential property and any CGT due — 18% within your basic-rate band, 24% above it, after the £3,000 annual exempt amount — must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion where a taxable gain arises. We handle that standalone return for you, apply Private Residence Relief where it fits, and make sure the deadline never catches you out.
The furnished holiday lettings regime ended in April 2025, so former holiday lets are now taxed as ordinary property. We move you across cleanly — Section 24 now applies, capital allowances give way to replacement-of-domestic-items relief — and check whether the limited transitional rules (such as carried-forward FHL losses) apply to your situation.
From 6 April 2026, landlords whose gross rental income — combined with any self-employment income — is over £50,000 must keep digital records and file quarterly, then £30,000 from 2027 and £20,000 from 2028. We check whether you're caught (it's based on gross income before expenses, and rental and self-employment income are added together), set up the software, and take the quarterly submissions off your plate entirely.
Putting a portfolio into a company can escape Section 24 and cut tax on retained profits — but transferring properties in is a market-value disposal for CGT and can trigger Stamp Duty and the 17% SDLT enveloping rate on company purchases of dwellings over £500,000. We run the numbers honestly, and note that from April 2026 s162 Incorporation Relief must be actively claimed, not assumed.
A no-obligation chat — we learn your business, spot what's costing you, and tell you exactly where we can help.
One fixed fee, agreed in writing before anything starts. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices, no clock-watching.
We do the switch, deal with HMRC, and keep everything filed on time — you deal directly with Bobby, not a call centre.
A qualified, regulated practice — never described as chartered, always straight with you. Bobby's been in accountancy since sixteen.
You know the cost before we start. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices at year end.
You deal with the person doing the work — not a call centre, not a rotating account manager.
Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent means we work with you wherever you are — rooted in Kent, working nationwide.
Section 24 means residential landlords can no longer deduct mortgage or loan interest from rental profit. Instead you're taxed on your full rent, then given a tax reduction worth 20% of your finance costs. For basic-rate taxpayers the effect is broadly neutral, but for higher and additional-rate landlords it can mean paying tax on income the mortgage has already swallowed — and being taxed on gross rents can push you into a higher band. It's applied fully since April 2020, and it's the single biggest reason landlords feel their tax bill has run ahead of their income.
No. There's a £1,000 property allowance, so if your gross property income for the year is £1,000 or less it's fully exempt and you don't need to tell HMRC or declare it. If your gross rents are more than £1,000, you can choose to deduct the £1,000 allowance instead of your actual expenses — whichever gives the better result. You can't use the property allowance, though, if you're claiming the Section 24 finance-cost credit, using Rent-a-Room relief, or letting from a company you control. We'll work out which basis leaves you paying the least.
If Capital Gains Tax is due on a UK residential property, you must file a CGT-on-UK-property return and pay the tax within 60 days of completion — not when you file your normal tax return. For 2026/27 the rates are 18% on gains within your basic-rate band and 24% above it, after your £3,000 annual exempt amount. It's a separate online return, and non-residents have to report every UK property sale within 60 days even where no tax is due. Missing the deadline brings penalties, so it's worth telling us as soon as a sale is on the horizon — ideally before you complete.
The furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished — from 6 April 2025 for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax, and 1 April 2025 for Corporation Tax. Former holiday lets are now taxed just like any other let residential property: mortgage interest is restricted to the 20% Section 24 credit, capital allowances on new spending give way to replacement-of-domestic-items relief, and the CGT business reliefs that made holiday lets attractive have gone. There's a time-limited transitional rule for businesses that genuinely ceased before the abolition date, which we can check applies to your situation.
Sometimes — but it's rarely a no-brainer. Inside a company, mortgage interest is fully deductible against Corporation Tax (so you escape Section 24) and retained profits are taxed at company rates while retained, rather than up to 45% personally — though you pay dividend tax when you draw the profit out (see below). Against that: transferring existing properties in is a disposal at market value for Capital Gains Tax, it can trigger Stamp Duty and the 17% flat rate on dwellings over £500,000, and you'll face extra admin plus that second layer of tax when you draw profits out. Incorporation Relief under s162 can defer the CGT where you're transferring a genuine property business — but from 6 April 2026 it must be formally claimed, not assumed. We model your specific numbers before you commit either way.
Just get in touch and we'll set up a free 15-minute call with Bobby Gardiner (CAT FMAAT) — a real person, not a call centre — to talk through your properties and where you stand. If you'd like us to take the whole thing on, we'll agree a fixed fee upfront so there are no nasty surprises. We're AAT-licensed and Kent-based, and we look after landlords right across the UK through cloud accounting.
Book a free, no-obligation review. We'll show you exactly where we can help — and what it'll cost, upfront.
