Property is one of the most tax-sensitive areas of UK business, and it is also one of the areas where we see the most avoidable mistakes. At Edward Harris, we act as your trusted partner for property businesses in Oldham and across Greater Manchester — helping landlords, HMO operators, and property investors understand what they owe, what they can legitimately claim, and how to structure their affairs so they are not overpaying.

The landscape has shifted considerably over the past few years. Mortgage interest relief has been replaced by a basic-rate tax credit. Capital gains tax rules on residential property have tightened. Business Property Relief is changing from April 2026. And HMRC’s compliance activity targeting landlords has intensified sharply. In 2024/25 alone, landlords collectively paid over £107 million in unpaid tax — an average of more than £13,500 per landlord caught out.

That is not a scare figure. It is a reminder that property businesses deserve proper, specialist support — not just an annual tax return filed at the last minute.

There is a common misconception that if you own one or two buy-to-let properties, your accounts are straightforward. In practice, the tax rules around property income are among the most frequently misunderstood in the entire UK tax code.

Mortgage interest is no longer a deductible expense for individual landlords — it was phased out and replaced by a 20% basic-rate tax credit, which catches many higher-rate taxpayers off guard because their taxable income is calculated as if the mortgage cost does not exist, pushing them into higher brackets. Allowable expenses, capital gains reporting on residential disposals, and the treatment of property held jointly with a spouse or partner all require careful handling.

Add in HMO licensing considerations, furnished holiday let rule changes, and the growing interest in limited company structures for property portfolios, and the picture becomes genuinely complex. A general accountant who does not work regularly with property clients may not be up to date on all of it — and that gap can cost you.

We work with property businesses day-to-day, which means the rules are not something we brush up on once a year. They are part of how we advise clients all year round.

Across the property clients we work with, a handful of mistakes come up repeatedly. None of them are obscure. They are just easy to make when you are managing properties yourself and fitting tax admin around everything else.

Claiming ineligible expenses

Capital improvements — things that add value to a property rather than simply maintaining it — are not allowable as revenue expenses. Replacing a like-for-like boiler is maintenance. Adding a new extension is capital. Getting the distinction wrong can mean claiming relief you are not entitled to, which creates problems during an HMRC enquiry.

Misreporting income held jointly

If you own a property with your spouse or civil partner, the income split for tax purposes is not automatically 50/50 — or necessarily whatever you have agreed informally. HMRC has specific rules, and changing the declared split requires a formal declaration (Form 17). We see this handled incorrectly surprisingly often.

Missing capital gains deadlines

Since April 2020, UK residents disposing of residential property must report and pay any capital gains tax within 60 days of completion. Missing that window attracts automatic penalties, regardless of whether tax is ultimately owed. It is one of those deadlines that catches people out because it sits entirely outside the usual Self Assessment cycle.

None of these are traps set to catch honest people — but they do require attention, and that is exactly where having a specialist on your side pays off.

This is probably the question we get asked most by property investors in Oldham and across Greater Manchester. The honest answer is: it depends — but there are clear patterns that make the decision more straightforward than it might appear.

A limited company pays corporation tax on rental profits rather than income tax. For higher-rate taxpayers with growing portfolios and no immediate intention of drawing all the profit out, that difference in rate can be meaningful. Mortgage interest is also fully deductible against company profits, which removes the restriction that applies to individual landlords.

However, incorporation is not a one-size-fits-all answer. If you are moving existing properties into a company, you may trigger Stamp Duty Land Tax and capital gains tax on the transfer — costs that can outweigh the tax savings for years. Mortgage availability for limited company purchases is improving but remains more limited and more expensive than personal mortgages in many cases. And extracting profit from a company attracts dividend tax on top of the corporation tax already paid.

We walk through the numbers with our property clients on a case-by-case basis. For someone building a portfolio from scratch, a company structure often makes sense early. For someone with existing personally-held properties, the decision is rarely as clear-cut, and the right answer depends on your timeline, your income, and your longer-term goals. You can read more about self employed vs limited company considerations in our related post.

Tax policy around property has been moving quickly, and staying across the changes matters for anyone running a property business.

From April 2026, Business Property Relief — which allows business assets to be passed on with reduced inheritance tax liability — is being capped at a combined £2.5 million allowance per individual. For larger property businesses structured to take advantage of BPR, this is a significant change that warrants a review of how the business is held and what succession planning looks like.

The furnished holiday let (FHL) regime has also been abolished, removing the more favourable tax treatment that short-term rental properties previously enjoyed. Holiday lets are now taxed in the same way as standard residential rentals, which affects both income tax treatment and capital gains reliefs on disposal.

For landlords in the private rented sector more broadly, HMRC’s compliance activity has been intensifying. The private rented sector accounts for around 19% of all UK households — it is a significant part of the housing market, and HMRC allocates resources accordingly. Landlords who are not on top of their reporting face a higher chance of enquiry than they might have a few years ago.

The response to all of this is not to panic, but to make sure your affairs are properly structured and your records are clean. That is the work we do with property clients throughout the year, not just at tax return time.

Our approach at Edward Harris is built around year-round support rather than once-a-year compliance. For property businesses, that means staying ahead of tax deadlines, flagging relevant rule changes before they affect you, and giving you a clear view of your portfolio’s financial performance on an ongoing basis.

In practice, that includes Self Assessment returns for landlords, corporation tax and year-end accounts for property companies, VAT advice where relevant, capital gains reporting on disposals, and management accounts for clients who want to track performance across multiple properties. We also help clients who are switching accountants and want to make sure nothing has been missed by a previous adviser.

We work with landlords who own a single buy-to-let alongside a main job, and with clients running portfolios of 20 or more properties through limited companies. The complexity differs, but the principle is the same: you should understand your numbers, know what you owe, and not be surprised by a tax bill you did not see coming.

We are based in Oldham and work with property investors across Greater Manchester — including Manchester, Rochdale, Bury, Ashton-under-Lyne, and beyond — as well as clients further afield who want a specialist they can work with remotely. If you want to learn more about our specialist work in this area, take a look at our property investors and developers page.