Someone inherited a flat, could not sell it and now lets it. Two years later she has a letter about a tax return, a shoebox of receipts, no idea whether the boiler she replaced counts as anything, and three weeks until a deadline.
Accidental landlords are a large share of this work and they almost always arrive late.
Step 1: separate landlords from ordinary self-assessment
Property income brings its own records, its own questions and its own mistakes. A page written for sole traders does not answer any of it.
Step 2: publish the record list
Rent received per property, mortgage interest statements, letting agent statements, repairs and maintenance invoices, insurance, service charges and ground rent, and the dates a property was occupied or empty. One page, with a downloadable list, does most of the work.
Step 3: explain the deadlines plainly
When a return is due, when payments fall and what happens when someone registers late. Dates are publishable facts and the thing landlords most often get wrong.
Step 4: never rule on what is deductible
Whether a particular cost is a repair or an improvement is a judgement with real consequences. A website explains that the distinction exists and that the accountant will apply it to their figures.
Step 5: ask how many properties and how they are held
One flat, a small portfolio, a joint ownership or a company structure are different jobs at different fees. Capturing this at enquiry lets a firm quote accurately.
Step 6: capture the agent arrangement
Whether a letting agent collects rent, what statements they provide and in what form. Agent statements are the single most useful document and the one landlords forget to ask for.
Step 7: handle overseas landlords separately
A landlord living abroad has additional obligations and a different process. Flagging that this is a distinct situation, and getting them to an adviser, avoids a return filed on the wrong basis.
Step 8: price it clearly
A fee per property, or a banded fee by portfolio size, published on the site. Landlords compare on price and the firms that publish get the enquiry.
Step 9: get them in before the deadline
A landlord who contacts you in June can be helped. One who contacts you in January is a rushed job at a busy time. Publishing an early review offer moves the work into quieter months.
Step 9b: ask who else owns the property
Jointly owned property splits income between owners, and each of them has their own return and their own circumstances. Establishing at enquiry whether a property is held alone, with a spouse or with someone else determines how many people the firm is actually acting for and prevents a return being prepared on an assumption nobody checked.
Step 10: prepare for the sale question
Landlords ask what happens when they sell. That is a significant matter with its own rules, and it belongs in a consultation rather than a chat answer.
Step 11: reuse the document discipline
The checklist habit is covered in document checklists tax preparers send every season.
Step 12: fees decide who they call
That is covered in fee questions before hiring a tax preparer, and landlords ask similar practical questions of other advisers, as in landlord and property insurance questions answered and an AI receptionist for letting agents.
Getting started
Publish your record list, deadlines, fees per property and how you work, then capture portfolio details at any hour. SpideyChat for accountants answers from your published pages and never gives tax advice. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.