BUZZ ACCOUNTINGNon-resident landlord tax returns
You've moved abroad and kept the house. HMRC still wants a return every year — and your letting agent is deducting 20% of your rent unless you stop them. We handle both.
Rent from a UK property is taxed in the UK wherever you live. If you're abroad, the Non-resident Landlord Scheme adds a twist most people discover the hard way: your letting agent (or your tenant, if there's no agent) must deduct 20% of the gross rent and send it to HMRC — unless HMRC has approved you to receive rent gross.
What we do
- NRL1 application so your rent is paid gross, with no 20% deduction at source.
- Your Self Assessment return every year — rental income and expenses, the residence pages, and the personal allowance claim where your nationality or treaty position supports one.
- Expenses done properly — agent fees, repairs, insurance, service charges, and the 20% tax credit on mortgage interest that replaced full relief.
- Both names where the property is jointly owned — two returns, coordinated.
- Local tax coordination — a clean UK computation your accountant in Dubai, Sydney, Toronto or anywhere else can claim treaty credit from.
Worth knowing
- Whether you keep the £12,570 personal allowance as a non-resident depends on your nationality and the treaty where you live — UK and EEA nationals generally keep it; others depend on the treaty. We check rather than assume, because on £12,000 of rent it's the difference between a nil bill and £2,400.
- HMRC's own website cannot file the non-resident pages (SA109). Paper deadline is 31 October; commercial software extends you to 31 January. We file with software, on time, every year.
- Made a loss? File anyway — carried-forward losses only exist if they've been claimed.
£349 a year — first property, return included. £75 each additional property.
Fixed, agreed in writing before we start. Two or more services together? Ask for the bundle quote.
Get startedAsked about this every week
My agent has been deducting 20% for two years. Is that money gone?＋
No — it's a credit against your actual liability. Once returns go in with expenses and any allowance claim, refunds are common. We file the missing years, claim it back, and register you for gross payment going forward.
We own the property jointly. Two fees?＋
Two returns (HMRC insists), one process. We prepare them together, and where one owner has no other UK income the allowance often wipes out their half of the bill. Second return £150 when we do both.
Do I still file if the property makes a loss?＋
Yes — losses only carry forward if they've been claimed on a return, and your NRL gross-payment approval assumes returns are filed. A loss year filed properly is tax saved in a profit year later.
Most clients pair this with…
Sold a UK property? The 60-day rule
Non-residents must report the sale of UK land or property to HMRC within 60 days of completion — even when there's no tax to pay.
Leaving the UK: get the tax right on the way out
The year you leave is the most valuable year to get right — split-year treatment, your P85, what happens to your ISA and pension, the five-year rule on selling things, and keeping your State Pension building..