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Landlords and MTD: joint lets, letting agents and the £30,000 test

By Paul · Last checked against GOV.UK on · How we check facts

Lots of landlords own a property with a partner, a sibling or a friend, and plenty use a letting agent. Both change how Making Tax Digital for Income Tax works for you, mostly in your favour. Here's what HMRC says.

The £30,000 test uses your share

MTD for Income Tax starts from 6 April 2027 if your qualifying income in 2025 to 2026 was over £30,000. Qualifying income is your self-employment and property income added together, before expenses. HMRC calls this turnover.

If you own a property with someone else, only your share of the income counts. HMRC's example: you jointly own a property with your sibling that brings in £50,000, you each get an equal share, and you have no self-employment income. Your qualifying income is £25,000.

HMRC also says that if you jointly own a property and you're only told your share of the income after expenses have come off, it will use that figure for your qualifying income.

Sources: Work out your qualifying income and Find out if and when you need to use MTD for Income Tax, GOV.UK

Two worked examples

These use HMRC's rules with my own numbers.

Your situation in 2025 to 2026 Your qualifying income Over £30,000?
Half of a let bringing in £36,000 rent a year, nothing else £18,000 No
Half of that same let, plus a flat you own alone with £14,000 rent £18,000 + £14,000 = £32,000 Yes, so MTD from April 2027

Self-employment counts too. Half of the £36,000 let plus £15,000 of turnover from a side business would also be £33,000. Other income, like a job, a pension or dividends, doesn't count.

Source: Work out your qualifying income, GOV.UK

All your UK lets are one business

HMRC treats all your UK properties as one UK property business. Your share of any jointly let properties is part of it. So you don't keep separate records for each UK property, and you send one quarterly update for the UK property business.

Foreign property is handled a bit differently. You keep records for each foreign property, but they're all one foreign property business, so your software adds them into one update.

Source: Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: create digital records, GOV.UK

Simpler records for joint lets

For a property you let jointly, HMRC says you only keep digital records for your share of the income and expenses. You don't need to link your records to the other landlord's.

You can also make it simpler in two ways, or both:

  • Less detailed records. One record per income category for each update period, and one record per expense category for the tax year. HMRC's example: instead of three records showing £1,000 rent each month, one record showing £3,000 for the quarter.
  • Leave joint-let expenses out of your quarterly updates. You then add them before you submit your tax return, by resending your fourth quarterly update.

If you also own properties on your own, the expenses for those still go in your quarterly updates.

Sources: Create digital records and Send quarterly updates, GOV.UK

Simpler categories under £90,000

If your total UK property turnover is under £90,000, you can categorise your records in less detail. HMRC says this applies to joint lets too. For residential lets you still record whether each item is income or an expense, and mark any expense that's a restricted finance cost. If turnover reaches £90,000, you'll need to categorise that income source in full.

Source: Create digital records, GOV.UK

If you use a letting agent

A lot of agents pay you the rent with their fees and other costs already taken off. HMRC's guidance for when you only know your net income is:

  1. Ask what the full amount of income was before expenses were deducted.
  2. Create a digital record for the full amount of income.
  3. Create a digital record for your expenses.

So it's worth asking your agent now for a statement that shows gross rent and each deduction, every month or quarter. That makes your records and your updates much easier.

Source: Create digital records, GOV.UK

Partnerships are different

If you're an individual partner in a partnership, your share of the partnership's profit doesn't count towards qualifying income, and you don't keep digital records or send quarterly updates for it. You still include it in your tax return. If you're not sure whether your joint let is run as a partnership, ask an accountant.

Source: Work out your qualifying income, GOV.UK

What I'd do now

  1. Work out your share of gross rent from your 2025 to 2026 figures and add any self-employment turnover. The free checker does the date part.
  2. Ask your letting agent for gross statements.
  3. Agree with your co-owner who keeps what, so you each have your own share recorded.
  4. Pick software that handles UK property. The software chooser shows the free options first. If you already keep a spreadsheet, read how bridging software works.

Sources

We checked each of these on GOV.UK on 3 November 2026. If HMRC changes them, this page will change too.

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This page is general information, not tax advice. Read why. Page history: 3 November 2026, full check against GOV.UK.

Drafts are sometimes prepared with help from AI writing tools. Every fact is checked against the GOV.UK page it links to, and Paul reads and approves each page before it goes up. How we check facts.

Quotes and facts from GOV.UK: contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Quoted words are HMRC's or HM Treasury's, not ours.