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uklandlordtax.co.uk|July 2026
Since the Let Property Campaign (LPC) began in 2013, HMRC has recovered nearly £550 million in tax, interest, and penalties from residential landlords. The latest 2025/26 figures show a big increase in both disclosures and money collected. The message is clear: if you have undeclared rental income, it is much cheaper to come forward on your own than to wait for HMRC to contact you.
HMRC has published new data about the Let Property Campaign. In this article, we explain what the latest numbers mean for landlords and what steps you should take if you have undisclosed rental income.
The Let Property Campaign is HMRC’s longest-running disclosure program. It lets individual landlords who have not declared rental income, from UK or overseas property, update their tax affairs using a simple online process.
If you make a full and accurate disclosure, you usually will not need to meet HMRC in person or go through a long enquiry. You work out the tax owed for each year, suggest a penalty based on your actions, and pay everything at once. There is no set end date for the campaign, but it may not stay open forever.
The total number of voluntary LPC disclosures has risen sharply. In 2025/26, HMRC received about 12,660 disclosures, which is twice as many as the year before and much higher than the usual 5,000 per year seen before the pandemic.
| Year 2021/22 | Disclosures 5,392 | Tax £19.5m | Interest £2.1m | Penalties £1.5m | Total Revenue £23.2m | Penalty % 7.8% |
| 2022/23 | 10,976 | £27.7m | £2.9m | £2.0m | £32.6m | 7.3% |
| 2023/24 | 9,897 | £35.0m | £7.7m | £2.9m | £45.7m | 8.2% |
| 2024/25 | 6,490 | £23.5m | £7.3m | £0.7m | £31.4m | 2.8% |
| 2025/26 | 12,660 | £42.8m | £26.3m | £2.1m | £71.2m | 4.8% |
There are two main things to note.
First, interest charges have grown a lot. In 2025/26, landlords paid over £26 million in late payment interest, which is the highest amount so far. Interest rates have stayed high for several years, and HMRC charges interest from the original tax due date. The longer you wait to disclose, the more interest you will owe. Unlike penalties, you cannot reduce the interest amount.
Second, penalty rates for voluntary disclosures are still very low. In 2025/26, the average was under 5%, and the year before it was under 3%. This is because most LPC disclosures are considered unprompted, which means you get the lowest possible penalty under HMRC’s rules.
It is a different story for landlords who do not come forward and are found by HMRC. When HMRC opens enquiries or compliance checks, the penalty rates are much higher and the amount of tax collected keeps rising.
| Year 2021/22 | Tax £13.8m | Interest £4.8m | Penalties £2.5m | Total Revenue £21.0m | Penalty % 18.0% |
| 2022/23 | £33.2m | £11.9m | £6.1m | £45.1m | 18.4% |
| 2023/24 | £58.3m | £14.5m | £11.5m | £84.3m | 19.8% |
| 2024/25 | £53.2m | £2.6m | £11.3m | £67.0m | 21.2% |
| 2025/26 | £61.5m | £15.3m | £11.5m | £88.3m | 18.7% |
In these prompted cases, penalty rates are between 18% and 21%, which is about four times higher than for voluntary disclosures. In 2025/26, HMRC’s compliance work brought in over £88 million, more than what was collected from voluntary LPC disclosures.
The reason is simple. If HMRC starts an enquiry, any disclosure you make is treated as prompted, which means higher minimum penalties. HMRC will also check if mistakes were careless or deliberate. If they decide your actions were deliberate, they can look back up to 20 years.
A few years ago, HMRC estimated that up to 1.5 million landlords might have underpaid tax, but only about 100,000 disclosures have been made so far. This gap is one reason why HMRC’s compliance activity keeps increasing.
HMRC gets a lot of information from letting agents, tenancy deposit schemes, the Land Registry, local council licensing records, and, for overseas property, from foreign tax authorities. Most recent nudge letters and enquiries are now managed by HMRC’s new team, Volume Compliance and Support Operations (VCSO), which shows they are taking a more systematic approach to finding landlords who have not complied.
If you get a nudge letter, do not ignore it. Often, if you make a disclosure soon after getting one, HMRC may still treat you favourably. However, you should get professional advice before you reply.
It is important to know that only a tiny number of LPC disclosures, about 0.5%, have been classed as deliberate behaviour. Deliberate actions bring the highest penalties, the longest time limits for assessment, and, if the tax owed is large, the risk of being named publicly on HMRC’s list of deliberate defaulters. For most landlords, whose mistakes come from not understanding the rules, the LPC offers a way to settle with low penalties.
The latest figures send a clear message:
We are experts in landlord and property tax and have a lot of experience with Let Property Campaign disclosures. We will review your situation for all relevant years, work out the tax, interest, and any penalties, and handle the whole process with HMRC for you. This gives you peace of mind and a clear outcome.
If you have undeclared rental income or have received a letter from HMRC about your property income, get in touch with us today. We offer a confidential, no-obligation chat to help you decide your next steps.
This article is for general guidance only and does not constitute advice. Tax rules and HMRC practice change; professional advice should be taken on your specific circumstances.
Simon Thandi
Thandi Nicholls Ltd
Creative Industries Centre
Glaisher Drive
Wolverhampton
West Midlands
WV10 9TG
UKLandlordTax.co.uk is the trading name of Thandi Nicholls Ltd Accountants Registered Office: Creative Industries Centre, Glaisher Drive, Wolverhampton WV10 9TG.
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