A landlord's accounting is small in volume and exacting in shape: rent due and received per tenancy, costs in the categories the self-assessment property pages use, finance costs kept apart because they are relieved differently, and a year-end figure per property that the accountant or the return can take without reworking. Generic small-business accounting does none of that natively, and spreadsheets do it until the second property. This page is for the UK buy-to-let landlord choosing accounting software: what the category has to keep, how the products are priced, what the free tiers leave out, and how to judge one for a single property or a small portfolio. The free landlord accounts tool on this site does the year-end arithmetic without an account.
What landlord accounting software uk landlords need it to keep
The rent roll per tenancy with due and received kept apart so arrears can be read. Costs per property in the return's categories: rates and insurance, repairs and maintenance, legal and professional, services, other. Finance costs recorded separately, because relief on them is restricted to the basic rate and given as a reduction from the tax bill rather than as an expense. A year-end summary per property and for the whole portfolio, exportable. Anything the software does beyond that is convenience; anything it lacks from that list is a spreadsheet you will still keep.
How the products are priced
Most landlord software is priced per property or per unit, monthly. Hammock lists Basic at £8 plus VAT per month for one to three properties and Standard at £15 plus VAT per month for four to ten. Landlord Studio lists Pro at $12 per month with three units included and $1 per month for each additional unit, and Pro Plus at $28 per month. Stessa lists Manage at $15 per month paid monthly. RentRollDesk Pro is £9 per month for every property with no per-unit fee. Price each product for your property count and read the annual figure; the pricing pages are linked below.
What free landlord software uk tiers usually leave out
Free tiers typically hold one or two properties, limit the export, or leave out the finance-cost treatment and the year-end summary that make the tool useful in January. They are a fair way to try a product's rent roll. The free calculators and the landlord accounts tool on this site do the yield, the tax estimate and the year-end arithmetic without an account or a property limit, which is a fair test of what a paid product has to add.
Judging the best landlord software for a small portfolio
Enter a real tenancy: a rent due date, a late payment, a part-month start. Enter a real cost against the right category. Enter the mortgage interest and see where it goes. Then ask for the year-end summary and check it against your own figures from the accounts tool here. The product that does those four things without a workaround is the best one for you; the rest of the feature list is decoration.
Property management software is a different question
The best free property management software for small landlords is usually a lettings product: tenant messaging, maintenance requests, document storage, sometimes rent collection. Useful, and not accounting. If the product's accounting is a rent-received list without the return's categories or the finance-cost treatment, you will still need the accounting layer this page describes. Judge the two needs separately even when one product claims both.
Questions people ask about accounting software for landlords
Is accounting software for landlords worth it for one property?
The free tools here cover one property's arithmetic. Paid software earns its place when the rent roll, the costs and the year-end export need keeping in one record across tenancies and years.
What should landlord accounting software uk landlords check about finance costs?
That mortgage interest is recorded apart from other costs and relieved at the basic rate as a reduction from the tax bill. Software that treats it as an ordinary expense will overstate the relief.
Can the best free property management software for small landlords replace accounting software?
Usually not. Lettings tools manage the tenancy; accounting tools produce the return's figures. Check whether the product does the second before relying on it for it.