According to the English Private Landlord Survey 2021, more than four fifths (85%) of landlords operating as individuals in England own between just one and four properties, with a little under half (45%) owning 1 property. In fact, single property landlords account for 20% of all tenancies in the rental market.
For most of these landlords, owning and renting property is not their primary occupation. At Coconut, we classify these as “non-professional” landlords, for whom property is often considered an investment, not a business. Moreover, these landlords will usually operate as individuals rather than as a company.
Yet whilst the property activities of this sector of taxpayers are not necessarily their primary focus, these landlords still need to track, report and manage their property-related finances – and many will go to an accountant to do so.
However, working with individual landlords comes with its own challenges. With MTD ITSA approaching from April 2026 accountants and bookkeepers need to find a way to ensure that millions of sole traders and landlords are ready to submit quarterly tax updates to HMRC through digital products…but the majority of property-specific accounting software is not designed for their particular needs when it comes to functionality and price.
So, in our latest guide, “The Landlord that Accounting Software Forgot”, we’ll explore:
- the uniqueness of ‘non-professional’ landlords,
- the opportunities and challenges involved in servicing them,
- how these taxpayers will be impacted by MTD ITSA, and
- what accountants and bookkeepers can do to bring them into compliance, whilst also making the most of the major growth opportunity presented by ITSA.
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