Landlord expenses you can claim in 2026/27 (and the ones you cannot)

Most landlords hand HMRC more than they need to, not through bad planning but through missed expenses. Here is what you can genuinely claim against rental income in 2026/27, what you cannot, and the distinctions that trip people up.

The everyday costs almost everyone can claim

• Letting agent fees and management charges
• Landlord insurance: buildings, contents and rent guarantee
• Repairs and maintenance: fixing the boiler, repainting, replacing a broken fence like for like
• Service charges, ground rent and utilities or council tax you pay during void periods
• Accountancy fees for the rental business
• Advertising for tenants, referencing and inventory costs
• Phone calls, stationery and reasonable mileage for managing the property

Repairs versus improvements: the expensive confusion

Fixing what exists is a repair and goes against your rent today. Making something better than it was is an improvement and only counts against Capital Gains Tax when you sell. Replacing a rotten single-glazed window with a standard double-glazed one? Usually still a repair, since it is the modern equivalent. Adding an extension? Improvement, every time. Keep the invoices either way: one pile saves income tax now, the other saves CGT later.

Mortgage interest: the Section 24 rule

Individual landlords no longer deduct mortgage interest as an expense. Instead you get a basic rate credit worth 20% of the interest, which stings if you pay tax at 40% or 45%. How much it stings, and whether a company structure fixes it, is exactly what our SPV or personal calculator shows in seconds.

Replacing furniture and appliances

For furnished and part-furnished lets, replacement of domestic items relief covers a like-for-like replacement of sofas, beds, white goods, crockery and similar. The first purchase of an item is not claimable; its replacement is. Upgrade element? You claim only the cost of an equivalent replacement.

The £1,000 property allowance

If your gross rents are tiny, up to £1,000 a year, the property allowance can cover them tax free. Above that, you choose: deduct the flat £1,000 instead of actual expenses, or claim actual expenses. Landlords with a mortgage almost always do better claiming actual costs.

Keep every receipt, claim every pound

This is bread-and-butter work in our property service: expenses reviewed line by line, the repair-versus-improvement calls documented properly, and your return filed early. Book a free consultation and bring last year’s return: we will tell you what it missed.

Keep the numbers handy: download our free UK Tax Rates Card 2026/27, one printable page with every rate a landlord needs.