Landlords slow to sign up for Making Tax Digital as deadline nears

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Landlords slow to sign up for Making Tax Digital as deadline nears

With less than a month to go until Making Tax Digital comes into force, only 5% of taxpayers, including landlords, have signed up, according to a story in The Telegraph.

Under the controversial scheme, from April 2026 landlords earning more than £50,000 will be required to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HM Revenue & Customs using authorised MTD-compliant software.

Landlords earning between £30,000 and £50,000 will be brought into the scheme in April 2027.

People do not understand MTD

Despite HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) ramping up its campaign to promote Making Tax Digital, sources told The Telegraph that only around 50,000 people, just more than 5% of the estimated 864,000 taxpayers who need to register this year, have signed up so far.

Over the next three years, nearly three million taxpayers are expected to join the scheme.

Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, told The Telegraph that many taxpayers, including landlords, still do not understand how Making Tax Digital will work.

She said: “The low sign‑up figures show that many people still do not understand what quarterly reporting will mean for them, and that gap in understanding risks becoming a pinch-point as we approach implementation.

“The risk is a late scramble among those with mixed income sources who realise too late that the new reporting cycle is not optional.”

No real benefit

As previously reported by Property118, despite the government claiming Making Tax Digital will help landlords, an accountant says this is not the case.

Simon Misiewicz previously told Property118: “There’s no real benefit beyond maybe streamlining some of the work you already do, does it help with tax returns and submissions? The truth is, I can’t see how.

“There’s no advantage for the individual in submitting quarterly returns, because HMRC doesn’t do anything with them until the end of the year. You don’t pay your taxes any earlier, and there is no real cash-flow benefit for the government”.

The government admitted in the Making Tax Digital impact assessment that landlords earning £50,000 could incur an average transitional cost of £285 and an average annual additional cost of £115.

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Rents rise 2% across England – Goodlord

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Rents rise 2% across England – Goodlord

Rents across England rose by 2% year-on-year in February, with the average monthly cost reaching £1,203, the latest Goodlord rental index reveals.

That compares with £1,180 recorded in February 2025.

The annual rent increase also sits below the 2.4% year-on-year rise reported in January and well under the 4% growth recorded at the same point last year.

The index draws on verified tenancy transactions and reflects agreed rental contracts rather than listing prices or advertised rents.

Market is stabilising

The platform’s chief executive, William Reeve, said: “Another month of cooling rental inflation reinforces the picture that the market is returning to some form of equilibrium after a series of record-breaking years.

“This is good news for tenants, particularly if rental price increases continue to sit below wage growth figures.

“It’s also a positive sign that there isn’t a supply shortage, despite the wider regulatory turbulence that landlords are navigating.”

He added: “If these trends continue into spring, it could provide a relatively benign backdrop for the Renters’ Rights Act implementation on 1 May.”

Average rent falls

Regional figures show different movements across the country and in the East of England, average rents fell to £1,305, down 4.5% from £1,367 a year earlier.

The South West also recorded a yearly fall, with rents edging down from £1,218 to £1,208, a drop of 1%.

Northern regions recorded the largest annual increases with the North West seeing average rents climbing from £1,002 in February 2025 to £1,096, an increase of 9.3%.

The North East posted a 5.3% rise, with rents reaching £806.

Regional rent rises

Elsewhere, rents in the East Midlands rose to £963, a yearly increase of 3.7%.

Greater London recorded a 3% increase, with average rents reaching £2,137.

In the South East, rents rose to £1,366, up 1.1% on the year.

The West Midlands saw rents reach £1,018, an increase of 1.8%, while Yorkshire and the Humber recorded a rise of 2.4% to £930.

Month-on-month movements across England, average rents moved from £1,201 in January to £1,203 in February, an increase of 0.15%.

The North West again recorded the largest monthly increase with rents rising from £1,057 to £1,096, a rise of 3.64%.

Voids are shortening

Goodlord also reveals that voids shortened during February after a marked increase in January.

Across England, the average time between tenancies fell from 26 days to 22 days, a drop of 15.4%.

The most pronounced reduction was recorded in the South West, where voids fell from 28 days to 18 days.

In the East of England, the figure dropped from 31 days to 19 days.

In the East Midlands, they fell from 34 days to 25 days, while in the South East they moved from 27 days to 23 days.

In the North West, void periods dropped from 26 days to 22 days and the North East recorded a reduction from 26 days to 23 days.

The West Midlands saw voids fall from 30 days to 27 days.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, the change was smaller, with vacancy periods moving from 24 days to 22 days.

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