Your guide to landlord allowable expenses

With Making Tax Digital for Income Tax now on the horizon, there’s never been a better time to brush up on claiming landlord allowable expenses.

Claiming allowable expenses as a landlord isn’t about avoiding paying tax, it’s about making sure you’re paying what’s fair.

We’re here to help you understand how to claim against your rental income profits and therefore reduce the amount of tax that you owe. As a landlord, you have “allowable expenses” that can be deducted from your rental income, provided they are wholly and exclusively for the purposes of renting out the property.

Here’s what you need to know.

What can I claim for as a buy-to-let investor?

Here’s what you can claim as a landlord in the UK:

• General maintenance and repairs to the property, but not improvements (such as replacing a laminate kitchen worktop with a granite one).
• Water rates, council tax, gas and electricity, ground rents and service charges, direct costs such as phone calls. Although these are usually covered by the tenant, these bills may need to be paid when no tenant is renting the property.
• Insurance - such as landlords’ policies for buildings, contents and public liability – as well as costs of services, including the wages of gardeners and cleaners.
• Professional fees, including those from rent collection services, marketing fees and any other letting agent fees. You can also claim back accountants’, surveyors’, and solicitors’ fees (excluding any that relate to your property purchase) or for renewing a lease for less than 50 years.
• Stationery and advertising for new tenants, plus vehicle running costs (only the proportion used for your rental business), including mileage rate deductions for business motoring costs.
• Subscription costs to a landlord association, e.g. the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

How does an allowable expense affect your tax bill?

Most landlords will file their tax return under the ‘cash basis’. This means your tax return should only include income that's been received during the tax year, and expenses that have been paid during that time.

Keeping an up-to-date and dated record of all your incomings and outgoings is essential - and it’s about to become even more important. Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 will need to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC from April 2026. This threshold widens to include qualifying income over £30,000 from April 2027 and over £20,000 from April 2028. To explore what’s changing and how to prepare, read our blog.

A reliable and trusted letting agent, like us, may help by managing payments of property related invoices on your behalf (excluding mortgage and loan repayments), giving you an accurate, audit-ready record of your expenses.

What can I not claim as an allowable expense?

Some expenses are not deemed to be allowable. These include:

• Personal expenses
• Private phone calls not related to the property rental business
• Clothing purchased for business purposes
• Your total mortgage payments

What’s included in landlords' wear and tear allowance?

Prior to April 2016, if you were letting out a fully furnished property, you used to be able to claim for wear and tear of furnishings, such as cookers, carpets, beds and televisions. The allowance meant that you could claim 10% of the net annual rent each year. This allowance was replaced with ‘Replacement of domestic items relief’, which applies to all rented properties, not just furnished homes.

There are certain conditions, but on the whole, it means that, as a landlord, you can claim back anything that you spend on replacing a 'domestic item’, not its initial purchase. Additionally, it’s worth emphasising that you can't claim tax relief on the cost of fitting a kitchen for the first time or furnishing the property from scratch.

If you consider a part exchange or a complete exchange of a broken item, just keep in mind that the new item needs to be of broadly the same standard and quality as the original.

What are some key allowable expenses all landlords should keep in mind?

Whether you’re new to property investment or a seasoned landlord, the above expenses are some of the key claims that can make a real difference to your tax return. So, don’t forget you can claim back the cost of fuel for travelling between your rental properties, phone calls or texts made in connection with a rental property. It is also possible to claim back the cost of subscriptions to property investment publications, money spent on advertising for new tenants, as well as legal and accountancy fees connected to the buy-to-let.

Get in touch with your local branch if you have any further questions.

We’d like to highlight that this is not tax advice and the tax rules can be complex. We always recommend that you explore your individual circumstances with a professional tax advisor.

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