UK landlords have rarely felt more prepared for Making Tax Digital - yet the figures suggest they have rarely been more at risk of falling short.
Making Tax Digital reshapes how landlords hold records and report to HMRC: a yearly return gives way to digital books and quarterly updates. We ran the Taxing Times survey across 500 UK landlords and letting agents to gauge how ready they truly are. This is what they told us.
94%
feel ready for MTD
31%
actually have MTD-ready software
£3,311
typical yearly compliance cost
and still climbing
98%
intend to buy digital tools
within 12-24 months
Each tenancy now creates a digital paper trail
Rent, outgoings, receipts and deadlines - MTD expects the record behind every let to be held digitally and submitted quarter by quarter, rather than pieced together once a year.
Landlords have rarely felt more prepared
94% feel confident about MTD, and 93.6% believe they grasp what it involves. On paper, that is a cohort that has done its homework.
But the bill keeps going up
Compliance already costs about £3,311 a year and 13.1 hours a month, and more than half of landlords say both the time and the money have gone up.
The professionals are warier
Only 35.6% of landlords would call themselves "very confident", and 59.2% worry about penalties. Among letting agents those numbers climb to 50.8% and 82%.
82%
Letting agents anxious about slips and penalties
Those nearest to the filing tend to fret the most.
59.2%
Landlords anxious about slips and penalties
Confidence often fades once the first quarterly deadline lands.
MTD is not a box to tick. Done well, it becomes the moment you finally see your portfolio in the round - every tenancy, every payment, every deadline in one place.
The price of getting it wrong keeps climbing
Landlords are not dreaming up the risk. Penalties across the rental sector are widening and toughening - and MTD stacks a fresh layer on top.
£200
Late MTD updates
A points-based penalty once you cross the threshold for late quarterly updates, with separate charges for late payment on top.
£7,000
Unsafe housing
Fines handed down for leaving serious hazards unfixed in a rental home.
£105k
Licensing breach
The bill one landlord ran up during a selective licensing dispute.
MTD is often framed as a paperwork tweak, but the evidence shows it is turning into a mounting cost for landlords.
£3,311
a year on compliance
Before any penalty, an accountant's invoice, or the worth of your own time.
13.1 hrs
a month on tax admin
Over 163 hours a year spent wrangling the paperwork.
89.2%
might lift rents
Landlords say compliance costs could push rents higher - and tenants feel it.
Time spent on tax admin
53.2%
Share of landlords who say it has gone up on a year ago - base: 250 landlords.
Cost of tax admin
56.4%
Share of landlords who say it has gone up on a year ago - base: 250 landlords.
Add a door, and the admin multiplies
Every extra property stacks on more records to keep and more deadlines to chase. Bigger portfolios still held on spreadsheets feel that exposure hardest.
Only 1 in 3 landlords has moved digital
The remainder are tackling MTD in a way it was never built for - 39.2% are still on spreadsheets or paper.
Each bar stands for 1 in 10 landlords - highlighted means on digital software
If you are exposed, you are not on your own
9 in 10 landlords reckon agents are up to the job for MTD. The trouble is, half simply do not realise the help is there. Landlords broadly trust agents and accountants to shoulder the load - the gap is awareness, not trust.
88%
Make MTD easier to handle
87%
Play an important role
90%
Equipped to help
50%
The awareness gap
of landlords (and 71% of agents) say awareness of the support on offer is low.
3/10
Average score on the tax quiz
Roughly two thirds are probably filing things wrong, with no one marking their work.
Beyond tax - the Renters' Rights Act. Fresh tenancy rules keep widening compliance, which makes professional back-up more valuable still.
98.4% of landlords plan to spend on digital tools. The argument over going digital is settled - all that is left is when.
46%
Cut down on admin time
The top reason landlords give for investing.
45%
Sidestep errors and penalties
The second most-cited driver.
44%
Clearer view of the finances
The third most-cited driver.
55.2%
of landlords expect MTD to lift their profitability once they are properly set up for it.
Move while it is still your choice
The landlords who will be glad they moved are the ones who move before the deadline decides for them. Trimming admin, dodging penalties and getting a clearer financial picture are the reasons they keep investing.
Feeling ready is not the same as being ready, and that gap is where the risk takes hold.
- 1Confident, yet still anxious.
- 2Compliance already carries a cost.
- 3Only a third have gone digital.
- 4A support network is taking shape.
- 5Nearly everyone intends to invest.
The next step is going digital.
Whether you are confident but untested, on the wrong side of the tech divide, or keen to invest but not yet started - what comes next looks the same.
Choose your tool and start logging records digitally
This quarter, not next April. The earlier records go digital, the less there is to untangle later.
Run a full quarter first
Work MTD the way it was meant - quarter by quarter - so April becomes just another update rather than a scramble.
Let your agent and accountant share the weight
Link your letting agent and accountant so quarterly updates and the annual declaration flow without the paperwork.
Survey of 500 UK landlords and letting agents - Matriva MTD Readiness Report 2026