Other allowable property expenses
for landlords

Other allowable property expenses is box 29 on the UK property pages. It covers the running costs that do not fit the other boxes: stationery, phone calls, travel to your properties, advertising for tenants, bank charges, and irrecoverable rent if you use traditional accounting. If your property income is under £90,000, you can put all your expenses here as one total.

What goes in this category

• Stationery, phone calls and postage for the letting business.
• Travel to your properties, including mileage rates.
• Advertising for tenants and bank charges.
• Irrecoverable rent, on traditional accounting only.

What does not

• Capital costs of buying, selling or improving property.
• Residential finance costs, which go in box 44.
• Personal expenses.
• Replacement domestic items, which have their own box.

Items in this category

Travel

Travel to your let properties to inspect them, carry out repairs or meet tenants is allowable, as are mileage rates for your own vehicle. HMRC's property manual covers flat rate mileage for landlords. Travel that is partly personal, such as visiting a holiday let you also stay in, needs apportioning.

Phone and office costs

Phone calls, stationery, postage, software and a share of broadband used for the letting business are allowable. GOV.UK says you can only claim calls relating to your property business, not private calls.

Advertising and bank charges

Advertising for new tenants, including portal listings, and bank charges on an account used for rent are allowable here.

Bad debts

If you use traditional accounting and have included rent in income that you will not receive, you can write it off here. On the cash basis, the default for most landlords, unpaid rent is never income.

Subletting premiums

If you sublet a property you rent, part of a premium you paid to your landlord for the lease can be allowable here, according to the SA105 notes.

Working from home

Landlords who run the letting business from home can claim a reasonable share of home running costs. The simplified flat rate for working from home is for trades; landlords work out a reasonable proportion of actual costs.

Things that are never allowable

GOV.UK gives the example of a suit bought for a meeting about your rental business: it is not allowable, because it also keeps you warm. Personal expenses, capital costs and residential finance costs never go here.

One total if income is under £90,000

If your total property income before expenses is below £90,000, you can add up all your expenses, excluding residential finance costs, and enter the total here, instead of using boxes 24 to 29 separately. Making Tax Digital quarterly updates follow the same threshold.

Property allowance

Instead of expenses, you can claim the £1,000 property allowance, which is taken off rental income. It helps only if your expenses are under £1,000. You cannot claim both for the same income.

Licences and registrations

Selective and additional licensing fees for let property, landlord registration fees in Scotland and Wales, and HMO licence fees are allowable running costs of letting.

Records to keep

Keep receipts, a mileage log for property trips, phone bills showing business calls, and bank statements. Keep a note of how you split any mixed costs.

Worked example: a landlord with two flats

A landlord drives 1,200 miles a year to her two flats, claims £660 at the 55p rate for 2026-27, and spends £120 on phone calls and stationery, £240 on tenant advertising and £96 on bank charges. Box 29 is £1,116.

Four questions before a cost goes here

1. Was it for the letting, and only for it? A cost must be incurred wholly and exclusively for the property business. A cost with a personal purpose that cannot be separated is not allowable at all.
2. Is part of it personal? Where a business part can be identified, such as business miles or business calls, claim that part on a reasonable basis and leave the rest out.
3. Is it a running cost or something you keep? Running costs belong in the expense categories. Buying or improving the property is capital and never goes here, though replacing domestic items has its own relief.
4. Is there a specific rule? Some costs are disallowed whatever their purpose, such as fines and client entertaining, and some have their own treatment, such as residential finance costs, which give a 20% tax reduction instead of a deduction.

Jointly owned property

If you own a let property with someone else, each owner reports their share of the rental income and expenses. Married couples and civil partners who live together are usually taxed on equal shares; if you own the property in unequal shares and are entitled to the income in the same shares, you can be taxed on that basis once you declare your beneficial interests to HMRC. Owners who are not married or in a civil partnership usually split profits by their share of the property, unless they agree a different allocation.

Property allowance or expenses

Instead of deducting expenses, a landlord can claim the £1,000 property allowance, which is simply taken off rental income. You cannot claim both for the same income, so the allowance only helps if your allowable expenses are less than £1,000. If your gross property income is £1,000 or less, the allowance covers it and you may not need to report it. Either way, keep records of what you spent, so you can tell which gives the lower profit.

This category in Making Tax Digital

Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, a landlord's quarterly update carries the same property expense categories as the UK property pages of the return, so this category is one line of each update. Landlords with property income only, or with property and trading income together over £50,000, join from 6 April 2026, falling to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. If your property income is under £90,000 you can send a single consolidated expenses figure instead of the categories, but you still need the underlying records.

Cash basis or traditional accounting

The cash basis, the default for sole traders and landlords since 2024/25, counts a cost in the tax year you pay it. Traditional (accruals) accounting counts it when you incur it, whenever you pay, and treats things you buy to keep as capital, relieved through capital allowances. For most costs in this category the only difference is timing; for anything you buy to keep, the basis decides whether it is an expense at all.

Residential finance costs are different

Since 6 April 2020, mortgage interest and other finance costs on residential lets are not deducted from rental income at all. Instead, you get a tax reduction of 20% of those costs, which is worth the same as a deduction to a basic-rate taxpayer and less to a higher-rate one. Finance costs for commercial and other non-residential lets are still deducted in full. That is why the property pages have a separate box (44) for residential finance costs.

How much an allowable cost saves

Landlords pay Income Tax on rental profit but no Class 4 National Insurance, so each pound of allowable expense saves 20p at the basic rate, 40p at the higher rate and 45p at the additional rate. Residential finance costs are the exception: they give a flat 20% tax reduction instead of a deduction.

What £1,000 of allowable expense saves a sole trader in 2026/27

• Basic rate (20% + 6%)£260
• Higher rate (40% + 2%)£420
• Additional rate (45% + 2%)£470
• Allowance taper band (60% + 2%)£620

Records to keep

Keep the invoice or receipt for every cost in this category, with a note of the business purpose wherever it is not obvious, and how you worked out the business share of anything also used privately. From 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 keep digital records and send quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital, falling to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028.

Common mistakes

• Putting residential finance costs here.
• Claiming personal travel or calls.
• Claiming bad debts on the cash basis.

Every other category

The other 7 categories on the UK property pages, in box order:

• Rent, rates, insurance and ground rents (property), SA105 box 24
• Property repairs and maintenance, SA105 box 25
• Non-residential property finance costs, SA105 box 26
• Legal, management and other professional fees (property), SA105 box 27
• Costs of services provided, including wages (property), SA105 box 28
• Travel costs (property), SA105 box 29
• Residential property finance costs, SA105 box 44

The A to Z of expenses lists every item and all 23 categories: the 15 self-employment categories and the 8 for UK property.