If you’re moving out of London Bridge, Bermondsey or Waterloo, renting your property rather than selling might be a good move. According to ONS, the average monthly UK private rents increased by 5% between October 2024 and 2025.
London rent inflation has slowed down in recent years, but high rental income is still achievable due to the high demand for rental property and lower levels of supply.
Being a landlord in London can be confusing. There are over 170 Acts & Regulations to consider, so, how do you know if you are compliant?
With its amazing central location, vibrant cultural life and unique character, the SE1 area will remain popular with buyers and renters alike, meaning it is worth holding onto property here in the long term.
Maybe you’re considering investing in buy-to-let property in south east London. Or you might be an accidental landlord, who has inherited a property or acquired one to spare after relocating or moving in with a partner? Whatever your reason for renting out a home, it’s worth getting your head around the key details that every successful landlord needs to know first.
Although it can be lucrative, becoming a landlord is not an easy process, so you should carefully consider whether it is the right option for you and whether the financial rewards will make all the work worthwhile.
Before deciding whether to leap into becoming a landlord, you should calculate all the costs involved and work out your estimated rental yield to see how much profit you can make.
The costs include:
If you are buying a second property, there will be a stamp duty surcharge on top of the stamp duty rate, which is based on the property’s price.
When calculating your projected net profits, ensure you are familiar with the tax relief you are eligible for. While landlords were once able to deduct mortgage expenses from their tax bills, this has been phased out. If you are located abroad, you will have to arrange your taxes in light of the non residents landlord scheme.
You must take a professional approach to becoming a landlord. Otherwise, your project could fail. You don’t need to give up your day job, but it does mean getting organised and understanding the role.
It also means taking a dispassionate view of being a landlord. With a business venture, you can’t have too much of a sentimental attachment to the property and furnishings. You need a professional relationship with your tenants too. Be a good communicator, responsive and helpful but remember that they are your tenants, not your friends.
As a landlord, you have many responsibilities to stay on top of. These include:
If you have a mortgage on the property, you need to ask your lender if you can rent the property. In most cases, you will need to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage, with interest rates typically around 1% to 3% higher than residential mortgages.
The lender will assess whether the rental income is sufficient, usually requiring the rental income to be at least 125% of the mortgage repayments.
Your mortgage lender may consider giving you a “Consent to let” for a fee, which is usually allowed for renting a property on a shorter period of between six month and two years.
You also need to tell your buildings and contents insurance company and check for any conditions in your lease if your property is leasehold.
Deciding whether to rent furnished or unfurnished isn’t about whether your property is already packed with furniture that you don’t know what to do with. It’s more about matching the target audience for your property with the home you are providing.
Families looking at houses tend to prefer unfurnished. Young professionals in their first home are more likely to want part furnished, at least. Students are usually looking for fully furnished properties, including a desk and chair in their room.
If you opt for furnished, you must match it to your audience’s needs – look for solid, neutral, hard-wearing items and reasonable quality appliances that will last.
If you are renting furnished, you will need to make sure that the furniture and furnishings are fire safe and be prepared to need to replace items if they get damaged or items may need replacing through wear and tear.
However, you can achieve higher rent by providing furniture, which can make the added responsibilities worthwhile. If you are considering buying new furniture, it is usually better to wait and see what the tenant will need before spending money on furniture they might not want in the property.
Under the Renters Rights Act 2025, landlords are no longer allowed to have blanket pet bans. Reasonable requests from tenants to keep pets must be considered and can only be refused if there is good reason.
Acceptable reasons for refusing pets include the property size not being suitable for the pet or if other tenants have allergies, if the property is shared. The government plans to comment further on the specific reasons landlords can use to disallow pets.
As a landlord, there are many regulations that you must comply with by law, such as safety checks. You must understand your responsibilities to protect your tenants’ health and safety and avoid fines for non-compliance.
These are the primary responsibilities to be aware of:
A Gas Safe engineer must check all gas appliances, flues and pipework annually. You must also provide your tenant with a copy of the gas safety certificate before they move in (or within 28 days for existing tenants).
Regulations also require landlords to ensure electrical equipment meets safety standards. Electrical installations must be inspected and tested by a competent person at least every 5 years.
Smoke alarms must be fitted on each floor, and a carbon monoxide alarm should be fitted in any room that contains a fixed combustion appliance (except gas cookers). Additional fire safety requirements exist for a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).
The property must be fit to live in with no problems like damp or rodent infestations. The landlord is also responsible for repairs and maintenance to electrical wiring, plumbing, sanitation, heating and hot water and the exterior.
Domestic rented properties must have a minimum level of energy efficiency of EPC band E and the landlord must give tenants a copy of the EPC. (Energy Performance Certificate).
In England, you must first check your tenant has the right to rent your property in the UK.
If you take a deposit from your tenant, you must protect it in a government-approved scheme. For England and Wales, these schemes are the Deposit Protection Service, My Deposits and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
You will need to check the local authority’s licensing requirements for landlords to ensure that you have the correct license for your buy-to-let property. If you are going to rent to tenants in a house in multiple occupation (HMO), you will usually need to apply for an HMO licence.
In south east London, some boroughs have additional licensing and selective licensing. Additional licensing applies to properties that are HMOs but do not fall under the mandatory HMO rules.
These are generally properties that have three or four people who are not part of the same household and are sharing facilities. Mandatory HMOs generally apply to properties with 5 or more people in more than one household ,but you should check the details on the local authority’s website to confirm the licensing requirements for your property.
Selective licensing schemes apply in some areas where there are concerns around issues including property conditions and anti-social behaviour. The local authority will have a list of the wards that require selective licensing in your borough if they have a scheme in place.
Tenants have the right to live in your rental property without disturbance from their landlord. This means that you must comply with rules such as not entering the property without their permission.
Read our blog article on landlord’s responsibilities and obligations for more information.
As mentioned earlier, a normal residential home insurance policy won’t cut it for landlords, so look for a bespoke policy for buildings and contents. With buy-to-let mortgages, your mortgage lender will require you to have buildings insurance in place.
Other products available for landlords might work for you, such as rent guarantee insurance if your tenant fails to pay their rent. Breakdown cover for your heating, system and other issues like plumbing and electrics can also be helpful.
Most landlords will choose to use a letting agent in some capacity, whether for the initial finding of tenants or taking care of the day-to-day management. If you do not have much experience managing properties and dealing with tenants, or you do not have much time to commit, then choosing a letting agent to manage on your behalf will generally be the better option.
Also, you must use a letting agent to list rental properties on the main property portals. You can choose between a high street agent or an online one.
An online letting agency will usually be cheaper, but you will not have the same level of service and expert guidance as using a high street agent. Also, a high street agent will have in-depth knowledge of the local property market and usually have a waiting list of prospective tenants to minimise void periods.
While joining a landlord accreditation scheme is not usually a requirement, there are several benefits to joining one. Being in a landlord accreditation scheme such as the NRLA demonstrates that you meet good property management standards. This can help you to attract a better calibre of tenants and establish a reputation as a responsible landlord.
If you are going to rent your property to tenants who are on benefits, you should review the current LHA (Local Housing Association) rates which are used to calculate the amount of housing benefit they will receive to pay to live in your property.
If you’re using a letting agent, they will advise you about the right rent to charge. You can get a good idea by checking out details of similar places on the property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla and using an online rent calculator tool.
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 brings changes to make it easier for tenants to challenge unfair rents through a First-tier tribunal, so it is even more important to ensure that you are charging a fair rent.
You can use the RPI (Rental Prices Index) and CPI (Consumer Prices Index) indexes to help calculate a fair rent amount, in addition to comparing against the local rental market.
Another change under the Act is the end of bidding wars, so landlords will no longer be allowed to accept more than the advertised rent amount if tenants offer to raise their rent amount to secure the property.
If you choose to use a letting agency, they will find tenants on your behalf, but if you are doing everything yourself, you will need to understand how to make the property appealing to the types of tenants you want to live in your property.
Having high-quality photographs and videos to advertise on property portals is essential to secure viewings, while staging the property will help persuade viewers that it is the right property for them. If you are not using an agent, you must arrange and host the viewings yourself.
You need to check out your prospective tenants before you let them have the keys to the rental property, so references are essential.
Your letting agent or a specialist company can do this for you for a fee. Ideally, you’re looking for previous landlord and employment references and proof of income to make sure they can afford the rent – so you’ll want to see copies of bank statements. You should also run a credit check with a referencing agency such as Experian to ensure they don’t have a bad credit rating.
A written tenancy agreement must be created, which includes the rights and responsibilities of both the landlord and the tenants. Having a clear list of responsibilities will help if there is any confusion in the future.
A comprehensive landlord inventory will help prevent disputes at the end of your tenancy. You need to list everything in the home, including furniture, appliances, fixtures and fittings. You also need to record the condition of the property and all items, adding photos and videos.
Both you and your tenant must sign the inventory to confirm you are happy with the condition listed. Inventories aren’t just for furnished places – you need one if you are renting out the property as unfurnished too.
You must register for self-assessment, file a tax return and complete a self-assessment tax return. You must register for self-assessment by the 5 October after the tax year in which you received rental income.
Landlords pay income tax on their profit after allowable expenses such as insurance, repairs and maintenance (but not home improvements) and bills. Find out more on the gov.uk website.
You must also know your liability for paying capital gains tax when you sell the property. Capital gains tax is currently charged at 18% for basic rate tax payers and 28% for the higher rate band.
If you want your tenants to leave, you currently have two legal means – a Section 8 notice or a Section 21 notice under the Housing Act 1988.
For tenants who break the tenancy agreement terms, you can serve a Section 8 notice at any time.
If you want to stop renting to them, you can serve a Section 21 notice without providing a reason after the fixed period of the tenancy. But please note, government proposals could mean changes to Section 21 evictions in the near future, so keep an eye on the news.
The Renters’ Right Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, introducing a large number of changes to improve tenants’ rights. Many of these changes will come into force on the 1st May 2026.
Some of the key changes include the abolishment of Section 21 “no fault” evictions, ending fixed term tenancies and making bidding wars and discrimination against families and benefits claimants illegal.
There will also be added responsibilities around maintaining good property conditions and dealing with health hazards under Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard.
It’s more important than ever to have an experienced estate agent guide you, with the new Renters’ Rights Act coming into force.
Read our article Renters Rights Bill Explained for Landlords to see how the bill is due to impact your lettings business in the near future – and how to overcome the challenges with our expert help.
If you are considering renting out property in south east London areas including Shad Thames, Wapping and Surrey Quays, talk to us. We’d be happy to take you through the steps involved in becoming a landlord and give you more details about our services. Get in touch today.
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Lee Whitelock
Director
Being a landlord in London can be confusing. How do you make sure you are compliant?