Welcome to the PDPLA

Nat West have recently launched "Mettle Bank" - providing current accounts specifically tailored to small businesses. And this comes with free-of-charge accesses to the FreeAgent accounting software. I currently manage my own rentals using Excel spreadsheets and a single current account for all my transactions. I had been considering opening a separate account for rental payments. My Excel setup is increasingly time-consuming so I'd been considering moving to an accounting package. Plus, I needed an MTD solution. So I decided to kill three birds with one stone. Here are my findings so far for anyone else in a similar position...

 From April 2026, landlords with income over £50,000 must keep digital records and submit quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital (MTD), with the threshold dropping to £30,000 in 2027.

This means every landlord now needs a digital strategy—but that doesn't always mean switching to full landlord‑management software. Some will benefit more from bridging tools, others from property‑specific platforms, and others from general accounting systems.

We have laid out a full landscape overview, organised by type of solution and type of landlord – but wherever you fit on this particular matrix, one thing is true for all landlords, you will need to change the way you manage and operate your business in some way in order to comply. Hopefully, we can help you find the least painful approach or maybe, a better way to operate.

The Renters Rights Bill is well-intentioned. Protecting tenants from unfair eviction is a noble goal. But the way government is sequencing reforms is illogical — and damaging. They have put the cart before the horse, abolishing Section 21 before fixing the courts, before embedding conciliation and mediation, before ensuring arbitration is linked to resolution. 

The result? A shrinking private rented sector, rising rents, and the most vulnerable tenants pushed closer to homelessness. 

'Reform without sequencing is not reform — it is chaos.'