Best Landlord Property Accounting Software UK 2026: Hammock vs LandlordVision vs Xero vs Zoho Books

From April 2026, landlords earning more than £50,000 a year from property must use HMRC-recognised software to submit quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD ITSA). The tools that worked before — spreadsheets, paper records, your accountant sorting it out once a year — no longer qualify. With the £30,000 threshold arriving in April 2027, a much larger slice of the UK landlord population is also getting close. The question is which software to use.

This comparison covers five realistic options for UK landlords in 2026: Zoho Books (best free option, full MTD support), Hammock (purpose-built landlord fintech), LandlordVision (property management plus accounting), FreeAgent Landlord (strong option, potentially free with NatWest), and Xero (best for complex or mixed income). Prices are ex-VAT unless stated.

Tracking property expenses properly makes MTD quarterly submissions far less painful. Dext automates receipt capture and categorisation — forwarded invoices, photographed receipts, letting agent statements.

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TL;DR

• Free and fully MTD-ready: Zoho Books free plan — SA100, SA105, MTD quarterly updates, all included at no cost.
• Landlord-first fintech: Hammock from £8/mo (+VAT) — built specifically for rental income, arrears tracking, and MTD compliance.
• Portfolio management + accounts: LandlordVision from £7.99/mo — best if you want tenancy management, e-signatures, and a compliance calendar alongside bookkeeping.

Quick Comparison

Prices ex-VAT. FreeAgent is free with qualifying NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank, or Mettle business accounts. LandlordVision Starter shown at current promotional rate.

Zoho Books: The Free Option That Actually Works

Zoho Books launched dedicated landlord property accounting features in 2026 and the free plan is genuinely comprehensive. SA100 and SA105 filing, MTD quarterly updates, bank feeds via Open Banking, receipt autoscans, and an accountant portal — all included at no cost. It is the only HMRC-recognised software in this comparison that charges nothing at all.

For landlords with straightforward income — rent from one or two UK properties, a handful of expenses — Zoho Books is difficult to argue against. It connects directly to HMRC, supports both quarterly MTD submissions and the annual Final Declaration, and allows your accountant to access the account on the free plan. For a detailed look at how Zoho Books performs day-to-day, see our full Zoho Books review.

What it costs

£0/mo. The free plan covers landlord bookkeeping, SA100/SA105 submission to HMRC, MTD quarterly updates, Open Banking bank feeds, and accountant access. Paid plans from £12/mo add more users, multi-currency, and advanced reporting for businesses with broader needs.

Best for

Landlords with a small number of UK properties who want full MTD ITSA compliance at no cost, and are comfortable using a general-purpose accounting platform rather than something purpose-built for landlords.

Limitations

No tenancy management, compliance calendars, or arrears tracking — it handles the accounting only. Foreign property income is not yet supported. Some end-of-year features including BSAS and Individual Losses submission are described as "coming soon" on Zoho's landlord pages, so verify current status if those apply to you before committing.

Hammock: Built from the Ground Up for Landlords

Hammock is a UK fintech designed exclusively for residential landlords. Unlike general accounting software that has added an MTD module, Hammock's entire product logic is built around property income: rent tracking, arrears alerts, real-time notifications, and bookkeeping that understands a landlord's expense categories from day one. You are not trying to make a business accounting tool do something it wasn't designed for.

MTD quarterly updates filing and MTD Final Declaration are included across all plans, alongside HMRC-compatible compliance for portfolios from one property up to 20 on the Plus tier.

What it costs

• Basic: £8+VAT/mo (1–3 properties) — £76.80+VAT/year with 20% annual discount. Covers MTD compliance, rent tracking, arrears tracking, bookkeeping, unlimited bank feeds.
• Standard: £15+VAT/mo (4–10 properties) — adds HMO support.
• Plus: £21+VAT/mo (11–20 properties).

Best for

Landlords who want a tool that speaks their language without any configuration. Hammock's interface is built around rental income and property expenses — it requires considerably less setup than a general accounting tool to produce clean quarterly figures. Particularly strong for landlords managing HMOs or those who want arrears alerts built in.

Limitations

Handles the financial side only — no tenancy management, no legal documents, no maintenance tracking. Not suitable for landlords who also run a business and need to combine self-employment and property income in a single organisation. As a specialist provider, it has a smaller accountant ecosystem than Xero or FreeAgent.

LandlordVision: Property Management and Accounting Combined

LandlordVision occupies a different category from the other tools here. It is a full property management platform with accounting built in, rather than an accounting tool with landlord features added. That distinction matters if you are also managing tenancy agreements, maintenance requests, compliance certificates, and tenant communications — the paperwork side of being a landlord, not just the numbers.

Its financial side covers rental income, expenses, bank feeds via Open Banking, receipt data extraction, and reporting. MTD ITSA is included on all plans at no additional cost. The Standard and Premium tiers add a legal document centre, e-signatures, and a tenant portal with a service desk — features that no other tool in this comparison offers.

What it costs

• Starter: From £7.99/mo (up to 4 tenancies, current promotional rate with 2-year price guarantee — standard pricing is around £19.97–£21.97/mo). Core accounting and MTD included.
• Standard: Up to 10 tenancies, plus £1.10/mo per extra tenancy. Adds legal document centre, integrated calendar, e-signatures, and tenant portal.
• Premium: Larger portfolios and additional management tools.

Best for

Landlords with 4 or more properties who want to run their whole letting operation from one platform. The promotional Starter plan pricing makes it competitive even if you only need the accounting — and the Standard tier's tenancy management and e-signature tools are not available elsewhere in this comparison at any price.

Limitations

More complex to set up than a pure accounting tool. The gap between current promotional pricing and standard pricing is material — worth budgeting for the standard rate rather than the introductory one. For a landlord who genuinely only needs accounting and MTD compliance and nothing else, cheaper and free options exist.

FreeAgent for Landlords: Good, and Sometimes Free

FreeAgent's dedicated Landlord product is priced at £10/mo (+VAT) and covers rental income and expenses, SA105 and SA100 submission directly to HMRC, MTD quarterly updates, and correct income allocation where properties have joint ownership. For NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank, and Mettle business current account holders, the software is free for as long as you hold the account — a compelling arrangement if you already bank with one of those institutions.

The product is designed for unincorporated landlords only. If your property portfolio is held in a limited company, you need a different product.

FreeAgent's broader capabilities as a full-featured accounting platform are covered in our FreeAgent review. The Landlord product shares FreeAgent's award-winning UK-based support, which is one of its genuine differentiators.

What it costs

£10/mo (+VAT) standard price. Introductory rate of £5/mo for the first six months. Free indefinitely with a qualifying NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank, or Mettle business current account. Unlimited receipt and bill capture add-on: £5/mo (+VAT).

Best for

Landlords already banking with NatWest or Mettle who get a well-supported MTD-compliant tool at no direct software cost. Also strong for landlords who want human support rather than documentation and who value a simple, clean interface over specialist landlord features.

Limitations

Unincorporated landlords only. Receipt capture costs extra rather than being included. No tenancy management. If you also have self-employment income to report, you would need the main FreeAgent product rather than the Landlord version.

Xero: Best If Your Affairs Are More Complex

Xero does not offer landlord-specific features. There is no rent roll, no arrears alert, no tenancy management. What it offers is the most comprehensive accounting platform of the five, which is the right answer for landlords whose situation extends beyond straightforward rental income: a business alongside property, foreign property income, partnerships, or a mixed income picture that a specialist landlord tool cannot cleanly handle.

MTD ITSA is included on all Xero plans. The Ignite plan rose from £16 to £18/mo from September 2026. If you are weighing up Xero against one of the purpose-built landlord options, our best accounting software for UK sole traders comparison covers where Xero sits across a wider field. For landlords specifically below the MTD threshold who just need self-assessment filing, there is rarely a strong case for paying £18/mo when Zoho Books offers SA105 filing free.

What it costs

• Ignite: £18/mo — MTD ITSA, 20 invoices/mo, 5 bills/mo, bank feeds, receipt capture (Hubdoc).
• Grow: £39/mo — unlimited invoices and bills, multi-currency.

Best for

Landlords who also run a business, have foreign property income, or have accounting complexity that requires a full double-entry ledger with a wide accountant ecosystem. Not the right tool if you are a landlord looking for the simplest compliant path to MTD.

Tracking Property Expenses Before Each Quarterly Submission

MTD ITSA requires landlords to submit quarterly updates of income and allowable expenses — which means having clean records of what is coming in and going out. The categories HMRC uses for property income are specific: premises costs, repairs and maintenance, finance charges (including mortgage interest), professional fees, and other allowable expenses. Those categories need to be populated accurately four times a year.

For landlords who receive a high volume of physical receipts — maintenance contractors, letting agent invoices, supplier receipts — the question of digital capture matters more than most landlords initially expect. None of the five tools here prioritise receipt capture as a core feature. That is where a dedicated tool like Dext (integrates with Xero and most accounting platforms, designed for accountant-client workflows) or Receipt Bot adds meaningful value — especially if an accountant handles the final books and needs a clean stream of coded evidence to work from.

Zoho Books' autoscan and Hammock's in-app expense logging both handle the basics for moderate volumes. Our wider guide to AI bookkeeping tools for UK landlords covers the receipt-capture and automation options in more detail.

A Worked Example: Sarah, 3 Buy-to-Let Properties in Yorkshire

Sarah earns £72,000 a year from three residential buy-to-let properties. She is above the £50,000 MTD ITSA threshold and has been filing quarterly updates since April 2026. Her accountant handles the annual Final Declaration and Self Assessment.

Her setup: Hammock Basic at £8/mo (+VAT). She connected all three properties, linked her bank feeds via Open Banking, and uses Hammock's mobile app to log maintenance receipts on the go. Each quarter, she reviews her income and expense figures in Hammock and submits the quarterly update directly to HMRC. Her accountant has view access and handles the year-end work.

Total software cost: £9.60/mo including VAT. Total time per quarter: around 90 minutes including bank reconciliation. Before switching, she was paying her accountant £150 per quarter to gather and sort spreadsheet data. She now pays the same accountant less per year — they spend the billable hour on advice rather than data entry.

The MTD ITSA soft landing for 2026/27 means late filing penalty points are waived for the first year, but the quarterly update obligations still apply — so getting set up properly in 2026 rather than waiting is still the right call.

The Right Pick for Your Situation

• One or two properties, simple affairs: Zoho Books free plan. Nothing cheaper, nothing more capable at that price point.
• Three or more properties with active management needs: LandlordVision Standard — the only tool here that handles tenancy compliance and legal documents alongside accounting.
• You already bank with NatWest or Mettle: FreeAgent Landlord for free. Consider adding a Dext or Receipt Bot integration for higher volumes of property expense receipts.
• You want a landlord-native interface without tenancy management complexity: Hammock Basic at £8/mo (+VAT) is the cleanest purpose-built option.
• You run a business alongside the property portfolio: Xero Ignite — the only tool here designed to handle mixed income streams comprehensively.
• You are currently below the £50,000 MTD threshold: Zoho Books' free SA105 filing and self-assessment tools are the most logical starting point. The £30,000 threshold applies from April 2027, so it is worth choosing software that can handle MTD when you cross it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does MTD ITSA apply to me as a landlord?

If your annual rental income exceeded £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year, you must file quarterly MTD ITSA updates from April 2026. The threshold drops to £30,000 for the 2026/27 tax year. Income below these thresholds still requires Self Assessment (SA100/SA105) but not quarterly updates. Check the full Making Tax Digital guide for current threshold details and what counts towards the income figure.

Can I use the same software for self-employment and rental income?

Yes — Zoho Books, Xero, and FreeAgent all support both income streams within one account. Hammock and LandlordVision are property-income focused and would not handle self-employment income. Under MTD ITSA, those with both income sources report quarterly updates for each business type separately within the same software.

What happens to my Self Assessment if I am on MTD ITSA?

Quarterly updates replace neither the Final Declaration nor the Self Assessment process — they add to it. MTD-compliant software handles all stages: quarterly income/expense updates, the end-of-year Final Declaration, and SA100/SA105 filing. Before committing to a tool, confirm it supports all three, not just the quarterly submission part.

Is Zoho Books really free, or are there hidden costs?

The free plan is genuinely free for the core landlord accounting and MTD ITSA workflow. The primary caveat is that certain end-of-year submission types (BSAS, Individual Losses) are listed as "coming soon" on Zoho's landlord pages. Check the current feature status directly with Zoho Books if those apply to your situation before committing to the free plan exclusively.

What about letting agent invoices and maintenance receipts?

All five tools handle standard expense entry and categorisation. For volume receipt capture — forwarded emails from letting agents, photographed maintenance receipts — a dedicated tool like Dext or Receipt Bot (which integrates with most platforms in this comparison) will meaningfully reduce the time spent reconciling before each quarterly submission.

Related Reading

• AI Bookkeeping Tools for UK Landlords: Automate Your Property Accounting (2026)
• What Is Making Tax Digital? The Complete Guide for UK Small Businesses (2026)
• MTD ITSA Soft Landing 2026/27: What It Covers, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters

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