Making Tax Digital: Lost Amongst the Lettings News

It’s been a busy week or two for lettings industry news. If you’re a landlord, you’re doing well if you’ve managed to keep up.

From Andy Burnham’s No. 10 takeover on July 20 and the speculation that brought about potential future housing policy, to his appointment of Angela Rayner to Cabinet in a return to her role as Housing Secretary, raising more than a few eyebrows as well as fuelling that market speculation, we’ve had a lot to sift through.

As it transpired, controversial as many landlords will think of Rayner’s appointment, she managed to quite quickly do for us what many politicians seem to fail to.

A favour.

She came out live on the BBC on 24 July, within days of her appointment, and immediately ruled out rent controls – something that was bubbling as a rumour and disturbing many landlords.

The favour she did us all isn’t about whether that policy is or isn’t helpful to the industry or to landlords, it is that it was announced so quickly and offered clarity. A little certainty goes a long way.

Andy Burnham did similar, ruling out stamp duty reform this year. There will be speculation this time next year no doubt, but for now it allows property buyers to get on with decision making – including buy-to-let landlords who, as per a controversial but indicative article in The Metro this week, are not leaving in the droves that was imagined, and in fact are starting to show signs of picking up investment activity as rents rise nationally and stocks remain volatile due to the ongoing trouble in the Middle East.

Here in South West London where our own firm is based, rents have risen 8.8% in the past 12 months. Rents on houses as opposed to flats are up by 11.2%.

Even if the overall capital value of property has edged down by 1% over that same period, the yield is strong compared to other types of investment. No wonder it is recapturing the attention of investors – both experienced and new to the game.

Propertymark's latest snapshot, released this week, shows the imbalance between supply and demand which tends to be one of the main drivers of rent increases. Propertymark claims an average of eight prospective tenants are chasing every available property. Demand keeps climbing, and therefore rents keep rising.

Also in the news this week: Section 21 is officially no more. At least, it will be as of 1 August 2026 (I write this on Friday 31 July – officially the very last day that a court can process a possession claim, so long as a valid Section 21 Notice was served before 1 May 2026). From Saturday 1 August 2026, every landlord and agent in England is now operating fully under the Renters' Rights Act. No transitional get-outs, no legacy notices to fall back on.

A lot of lettings news going on in the space of just a few days.

But if you're a landlord, there’s one bit of news that could impact you that seems to be dropping below the radar, and that is Making Tax Digital; it’s coming this week.

The Making Tax Digital deadline is 7 August 2026

If your gross income from self-employment and/or property breaks £50,000, you're now inside the scope of these new rules. We have written about this in the past, to help prepare South London landlords for Making Tax Digital – but now we have reached the first significant deadline date. Your first quarterly submission is due 7 August, covering the period from 6 April to 5 July 2026.

This isn't your annual Self Assessment.

It's a new, additional requirement: a digital summary of income and expenses, submitted through HMRC-recognised software, once per quarter from now on.

Self Assessment is not being replaced. That is still due by 31 January.

MTD sits alongside it, not instead of it.

There are a few things worth knowing if this has crept up on you:

The threshold is gross, not net. It's your combined income from property and/or self-employment before expenses, based on what you declared on your 2024/25 return. Two smaller income streams can easily add up to £50,000 even if neither looks large on its own.
It only gets bigger from here. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028 – even if you are a landlord that escapes it this time, you are likely to be caught before long.
"Digital records" means exactly that. A spreadsheet may still be suitable, but it must form part of a compliant digital system. This may mean connecting it to HMRC-compatible bridging software rather than updating it manually at the end of the year.

If you are suddenly panicking, don’t.

HMRC has confirmed that it will not issue penalty points for late quarterly updates during the first tax year, although penalties can still apply to late tax returns and tax payments.

Landlords who build the habits now, keeping digital records in real time, will find future submissions pretty painless.

For landlords using Your Home Managed

If you are a landlord client of ours, we already hold a substantial part of the information your MTD records will need, including rent received, management fees and maintenance costs processed through your account with us.

This is the backbone of the "income and expenses" summary your software needs to generate each quarter.

If you haven't yet got MTD-compatible software in place, or you're not sure your bookkeeping is in the shape HMRC now expects, don't leave it until the 7th to find out. Talk to us.

In any case, the statements we send you already pull together a clear, accurate breakdown of much of what you or your accountant need, without digging back through months of paperwork under pressure.

Get in touch with the Your Home Managed team if you'd like any advice ahead of the August 7 deadline.