SA105 UK property pages: reporting rental income

Who needs it

• Landlords with rental income or other receipts from UK land or property above the level HMRC sets for reporting through Self Assessment. Below it, HMRC asks you to contact it instead.
• Anyone who received a premium on a lease of UK land, or a reverse premium as an inducement to take a property for letting.
• Joint owners: each reports their own share of the profits or losses.
• Not owners of property abroad: HMRC says not to use SA105 for overseas land or property.

What you need before you start

• Rent received for the year, for each property or in total for the business.
• Allowable expenses: letting agent and accountant fees, insurance, repairs and maintenance, ground rent, service charges, utility bills and Council Tax you paid.
• Mortgage interest and other finance costs, which are handled separately from expenses.
• Costs of replacing domestic items such as beds, sofas, carpets and fridges.
• Your ownership share if the property is jointly owned.

How to file SA105

1. 1Register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year in which you first had rental income, if you don't already send a return.
2. 2Total your rent and allowable expenses from your records. Repairs count; improvements and the cost of buying the property don't.
3. 3Decide between claiming actual expenses and the £1,000 property allowance. You can't do both.
4. 4Enter finance costs in their own box: relief on residential finance costs is restricted to the basic rate of Income Tax.
5. 5Complete the property section of your online return, or the SA105 PDF with your paper SA100.

What SA105 covers

HMRC's SA105 is for rental income and other receipts from UK land or property, premiums from leases of UK land, and reverse premiums. It's a two-page form with eight pages of notes, and HMRC's helpsheets cover the detail: HS223 for Rent a Room, HS252 for capital allowances.

If you own a property jointly with your spouse or civil partner and live together, the income is usually taxed in equal shares. Other joint owners are usually taxed on their share of the property, unless you agree a different split.

Expenses, finance costs and the property allowance

Allowable expenses for a residential let include agent and accountant fees, insurance, repairs and maintenance (not improvements), utility bills, ground rent, service charges, Council Tax, cleaning and advertising. You can also claim replacement of domestic items relief.

Mortgage interest is different. Since 6 April 2020 Income Tax relief on all residential finance costs has been restricted to the basic rate, so it goes in its own box rather than in expenses. If your property income is small, the property allowance gives you up to £1,000 tax-free instead of deducting costs.

Scotland

SA105 is the same form across the UK. Scottish Income Tax applies to wages, pensions and most other taxable income, so if you're a Scottish taxpayer the rates on your rental profit can differ from the rest of the UK. Letting in Scotland also has its own rules outside tax, such as landlord registration.

Common mistakes

• Deducting mortgage interest as an ordinary expense. HMRC says individual landlords can't; residential finance costs get relief at the basic rate only.
• Claiming the property allowance and expenses together. Claim the allowance and you can't deduct expenses.
• Treating improvements as repairs. Capital spending, such as major renovations, isn't an allowable expense.
• Putting a holiday home abroad on SA105. Overseas property goes on SA106.
• Still treating a holiday let as a furnished holiday letting. That tax regime was abolished from April 2025.