UK Landlord Forum / Life

As a new landlord I am worried about additional charges the government may introduce via the back door i.e. NI etc. Is there no way landlords can highlight these charges as a separate cost on top of the rent owed.

This surely would highlight the cost of governments actions, and the cost to Tenants of government charges and the effect they have on rents?

You can inform your tenants pretty much what you want about how your rent is calculated.

I'm not sure how that would help, though. Would it change anything if you knew how much your tenants get taxed to pay their rent or how much NI they pay?

There are also proposals for further increases: Consultation Response: Harrow council Proposed HMO and Selective Licensing Schemes - Response at https://harrowmonitoringgroup.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/hmo-consultation.pdf   - this response might help similar proposals nationally.

...And speculation about increasing Council tax and making landlords pay it. I dont think that it would be possible to increase rent by enough if all these increases really hit.

The compliance costs are what get me. It's not just one thing - it's the accumulation. CP12 every year, EICR every 5 years, EPC, landlord insurance, HMO licence fees if applicable, deposit protection, selective licensing in some boroughs on top of all that.

Each one on its own is manageable. Add them all up across multiple properties and it's thousands a year just on paperwork and compliance before you've even touched maintenance or mortgage payments.

DPT is right - if council tax gets shifted onto landlords as well there's genuinely no way to absorb it without significant rent increases. The government seem to think landlords are sat on huge margins but the reality for most small portfolio landlords is pretty thin. More people will sell up, which makes the rental supply problem even worse.

The frustrating part is most of us are trying to do things properly. We pay for the certificates, maintain the properties, follow the rules. But every year there's another cost, another regulation, another fee. And then we get painted as the villains when rents go up to cover it all.