Renting out your home: the accidental landlord's checklist

Moving out and letting your home instead of selling? Here's what to sort with your lender, insurer and HMRC before the tenant moves in.

Updated 18 October 2026

The short version

If you're moving out and want to let your home rather than sell it, there are six things to sort before a tenant moves in:

1. Your mortgage lender's permission, called consent to let, or a switch to a buy-to-let mortgage.
2. Landlord insurance in place of your home insurance.
3. The safety checks and paperwork every let needs.
4. Tax: registering for Self Assessment, and what letting means when you sell.
5. Your lease, if it's a leasehold flat.
6. How you'd get it back if you want to move home again.

1. Your mortgage

A residential mortgage only lets you live in the property. Letting it without permission breaks your mortgage terms. You have two options:

• Consent to let. Your lender agrees you can let the property, usually for a set period such as 12 months. Many charge a fee, and some add to your interest rate. It's the simpler route if you might move back.
• Remortgage to buy-to-let. Better if you plan to let for the long term. The loan is based on the rent, not your salary. See how much you could borrow with the buy-to-let mortgage calculator.

2. Insurance

Home insurance usually stops covering you once the property is let. You need landlord buildings insurance, and contents cover if you leave furniture. Many landlords add rent guarantee and liability cover.

3. Safety checks and paperwork

• A gas safety check every 12 months, an electrical report every five years, and an EPC of at least E.
• Smoke alarms on every floor, and carbon monoxide alarms where there's a fixed combustion appliance.
• Protect any deposit within 30 days, and give the tenant the key terms of the tenancy in writing.
• Check whether your council needs you to have a licence. In London, use our licensing checker.

Our landlord compliance checklist takes you through the full list in order.

4. Tax

• Rental profit is taxable. Register for Self Assessment and declare it on your tax return. Running costs are deductible, and mortgage interest gets a basic-rate tax credit. See what you'd keep with the Section 24 calculator.
• Tax rates rise from April 2027 to 22%, 42% and 47% on rental profit. Our 2027 tax guide explains.
• Making Tax Digital applies if your income from property and self-employment is over £50,000, falling to £30,000 from April 2027. Check with the MTD checker.
• When you sell, private residence relief covers the years you lived there, plus the last nine months. The years it was let are usually taxable. Lettings relief now only applies if you lived there with your tenant.
• Buying your next home while you keep this one usually means paying the 5% higher rate of stamp duty on the new one. Work it out with the stamp duty calculator.

5. Leasehold flats

Read your lease. Many need the freeholder's permission to let, and some ban short lets. Tell the managing agent who the tenant is.

6. Getting your home back

Since 1 May 2026 every tenancy is periodic, and you can't end one without a legal reason. If you want to move back in, you can use the moving-in ground, but not in the first 12 months of the tenancy, and you must give four months' notice. If you decide to sell, the selling ground has the same rules. See our Section 8 guide.

Is letting better than selling?

It depends on the rent, your mortgage, tax and how fast you expect prices to rise. Compare the two with the sell or keep calculator, check what your home would rent for with the average rent checker, and see the full costs in our landlord costs guide.

Questions landlords ask

Sources

• GOV.UK: Renting out your property
• GOV.UK: Tax when you sell your home if you let it out
• GOV.UK: Guide to the Renters' Rights Act
• GOV.UK: Higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax