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Felix & Co. Accountants
If you think rental income may not have been correctly reported to HMRC, the Let Property Campaign gives landlords a structured way to put things right voluntarily. This free guide from Felix & Co Chartered Accountants explains exactly how the campaign works, what it means for your tax position, and the steps to take before you contact HMRC.
Prefer to talk it through first? Speak directly with a Chartered Certified Accountant about your rental income and disclosure options.
Book Your Free 15-Minute Consultation →The Let Property Campaign is HMRC’s ongoing disclosure opportunity for residential landlords who have undeclared rental income. It allows landlords — whether based in the UK or overseas — to review their tax affairs, work out what they owe, and report it to HMRC on their own terms, rather than waiting to be identified through an enquiry.
Landlords come to this position in all sorts of ways: renting out a former home after moving abroad, inheriting a let property, misunderstanding what counts as taxable rental profit, or simply never having registered for Self Assessment in the first place. The campaign does not assume dishonesty. It exists precisely because HMRC recognises that most rental tax problems build up gradually rather than deliberately.
Our full guide takes you through the entire disclosure process in plain English, including:
One of the most persistent misconceptions we hear from landlords is that contacting HMRC first will automatically trigger an investigation. In practice, the opposite is usually true. HMRC draws a clear distinction between an unprompted disclosure — where a landlord comes forward before HMRC has taken any action — and a prompted disclosure, made only after HMRC has already made contact.
Unprompted disclosures are generally treated more favourably, with a lower penalty range reflecting the fact that the landlord identified and corrected the issue themselves. Timing matters, and it is one of the main reasons landlords choose to review their position before HMRC asks the question for them.
This is one of the most common things landlords tell us before making a disclosure — and it reflects how HMRC actually assesses most Let Property Campaign cases: not as deliberate evasion, but as a position that needs correcting properly.
How many years of rental income you may need to disclose depends on the reason the error occurred. Broadly, HMRC can go back four years where reasonable care was taken but a genuine mistake was made, six years where the behaviour is considered careless, and up to twenty years where the failure to report is considered deliberate.
Establishing which category applies — and therefore how many years of records you actually need to review — is one of the most important early steps in preparing an accurate disclosure. Getting this wrong in either direction can mean paying more than necessary, or submitting an incomplete disclosure that HMRC later challenges.
A disclosure is only as good as the calculation behind it. Two areas trip up landlords more than any other: mortgage interest and capital versus revenue expenses.
Since April 2017, individual landlords generally cannot deduct mortgage interest directly from rental income. Relief is instead given as a basic-rate tax reduction — a rule change that catches out many landlords preparing figures for a disclosure themselves.
A repair is usually an allowable expense; a capital improvement, such as an extension, generally is not. Mixing the two up is one of the most common reasons a disclosure needs correcting after submission.
Because these figures form the basis of what you tell HMRC, we strongly recommend a proper professional review before submitting anything — particularly where several tax years and properties are involved.
Felix & Co is a UK accountancy practice led by a Chartered Certified Accountant, working with landlords across the country on Let Property Campaign disclosures. We handle the process from start to finish: reviewing your rental history, identifying which years and properties are affected, calculating tax, interest and penalties accurately, preparing a complete disclosure report, and corresponding with HMRC on your behalf so you don’t have to navigate it alone.
It is HMRC’s voluntary disclosure route for residential landlords with undeclared rental income. It allows landlords to review their tax position, calculate what is owed, and report it to HMRC before HMRC identifies the issue independently.
No. Voluntarily correcting your tax affairs is generally viewed more favourably than waiting for HMRC to identify the issue, and it typically results in a lower penalty than a prompted disclosure made after HMRC has already made contact.
It depends on whether the error is considered an innocent mistake, careless, or deliberate — typically four, six, or up to twenty years respectively. A proper review of your circumstances is needed to establish which applies.
Possibly, yes. Owning UK rental property can create UK tax obligations even if you are not UK resident, regardless of whether your letting agent already deducts tax under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme.
This is common. Missing information can often be reconstructed from bank statements, letting agent statements, mortgage certificates and previous tax returns, provided a reasonable and well-explained approach is taken.
Yes. The guide is free to download and there is no obligation to use Felix & Co’s services afterwards. Many landlords use it simply to understand their position before deciding what to do next.
Felix & Co Chartered Accountants · Belix House, 19 Raymill Road East, Maidenhead, SL6 8SW · 01895 348 097 · accounts@felixaccountants.com