Letting a property is not one task, it is about a dozen, and they only feel overwhelming when you meet them as a pile instead of a line. Taken in order, each one is small. This is that order — the full run from an empty property to a paying tenant and a compliant tenancy — written for a landlord doing it themselves in 2026.
It is deliberately end to end, because the parts people get wrong are usually the hand-offs: the reference that was never chased, the document that was never served, the deposit protected on day 31. Do them in sequence and none of them bites.
General guidance, not legal advice — the figures and duties here are 2026 rules; check GOV.UK for your own case.
Step 1: Get the property ready and priced
Before you advertise, two jobs. First, the property has to be lettable and safe — a valid EPC (minimum band E), a Gas Safety check if there is gas, and the electrics in order with an EICR. Second, the price. Set it to what comparable local properties actually let for now, not what you hope; an overpriced advert is the single biggest cause of a long void, and since the Renters' Rights Act you must advertise a single asking rent and cannot invite bids above it.
Step 2: Advertise and take applications
Now put it in front of tenants — a portal, local groups, your own channels — with clear photos, the rent, the available-from date and what is included. The goal is not just enquiries but the right ones, and a single application link that brings them back to one place beats a scattered inbox. Book viewings from the applications so the person you show round is already attached to their enquiry.
Step 3: Reference the tenant properly
This is the one decision you cannot undo once they move in, so it is worth doing well. Reference the tenant and any guarantor through a regulated UK credit reference agency — credit history, affordability against the rent, adverse data, and run the legal Right to Rent check on every adult occupier before the tenancy begins. A gut feeling and a nice chat is not referencing; the check is what stands between you and the arrears case later.
Step 4: Take a holding deposit (optional) the right way
If you want to reserve the property while you reference, a holding deposit is capped at one week's rent under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, and there is a 15-day "deadline for agreement" to get the tenancy signed or deal with the deposit. Keep it separate from rent, and remember you cannot ask for any actual rent before the agreement is signed.
Step 5: Generate and sign the tenancy
Every new tenancy in England since 1 May 2026 is a periodic assured tenancy: no fixed term, no assured shorthold. Generate the correct agreement for that regime (an old AST template can be void), and e-sign it so it is sealed with an audit certificate recording who signed, when and from where. No printer, no kitchen table, and the version everyone signs is the version you sent.
Step 6: Take the deposit and protect it
Take the deposit — capped at five weeks' rent (six if the annual rent is £50,000 or more), and protect it in a government scheme (DPS, TDS or mydeposits) within 30 days, serving the Prescribed Information in the same window. Miss the 30 days and you face a penalty of one to three times the deposit and a blocked possession route. Our deposit deadline calculator works out both clocks.
Step 7: Hand over the move-in documents (and prove it)
At or before move-in the tenant must get: the deposit Prescribed Information, a valid Gas Safety certificate, the EICR, the EPC, and the Renters' Rights Act information sheet. Serve them and keep proof you did — gaps here can block a later possession claim. The move-in pack assembles them and records that they were sent.
Step 8: Set up rent collection
Decide how the rent arrives before the first payment is due, not after it is late. Direct Debit that you initiate is the most reliable, because you are pulling the payment rather than hoping the tenant's standing order fires. Set the day, and set up arrears alerts so a missed payment is caught on day one, not day sixty.
Step 9: Run the tenancy
The let does not end at move-in; that is where it starts. From here it is rent in on time, repairs handled and logged, certificates renewed before they lapse, an annual Section 13 if you raise the rent, and a document trail behind all of it. This is the part that is genuinely easier in one place than across a drawer, an inbox and three apps.
The whole thing in one login
Everything above is one connected run, which is exactly how LetCompliance is built: advertise, take applications, reference, e-sign, protect the deposit, assemble the move-in pack, collect rent, chase arrears and score compliance 0–100 — from a single login, free for your first property. You do not need a separate tool for each step, and nothing falls in the gap between them.
Sources
Step 0: the permissions nobody mentions
Every guide starts at "get an EPC". These four come before that, and each one can stop a let outright or void your cover.
Your mortgage lender. Letting a property on a residential mortgage without consent to let is a breach of your mortgage conditions. Lenders grant it routinely, often for a fee or a small rate change; discovering the problem after a claim or a remortgage is far worse than asking. If you are buying to let, you need a buy-to-let product from the start.
Your insurer. A standard home insurance policy does not cover a let property, and a claim made on one is likely to be declined. You need landlord insurance, and if the property will stand empty between tenancies, read the unoccupancy conditions: they typically require inspections at set intervals after 30 or 45 days.
Your lease, if it is a flat. Many leases restrict or prohibit subletting, require the freeholder's consent, or set a minimum term. Consent is often granted for a fee, but breaching the lease is a serious matter and the freeholder can act on it.
HMRC. Rental profit is taxable and you must tell them. If you have not filed a return before, register for Self Assessment by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which the income started. Separately, if you will be living abroad, the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme changes how the tax is collected — see our NRLS guide.
What it actually costs to get a property let
Useful to see in one place, because first-time landlords routinely budget for the mortgage and nothing else. Typical England figures:
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| EPC (valid 10 years) | £60 – £120 |
| Gas Safety Record (annual, if gas) | £70 – £110 |
| EICR (every 5 years) | £150 – £250 |
| Smoke and CO alarms | £25 – £60 |
| Professional clean before the let | £150 – £300 |
| Photographs and advertising | £0 – £150 |
| Tenant referencing | £25 – £60 per applicant |
| Inventory and check-in report | £100 – £200 |
| Landlord insurance | £150 – £300 a year |
So roughly £750 to £1,500 to get a typical property ready and let, most of it one-off or multi-year. Add a letting agent and a let-only fee is commonly 40 to 60 per cent of the first month's rent, or full management at 10 to 15 per cent plus VAT ongoing — see letting agent versus self-managing for whether that is worth it for you.
One sequencing point that saves money: book the EPC before you market, because you need the rating in the advert, and if it comes back below E you cannot let the property at all until it is improved. Finding that out after you have accepted an offer is an expensive way to learn it.
The mistakes first-time landlords actually make
Not the exotic ones. These are the five that recur, and every one is cheap to avoid and expensive to fix.
Missing the deposit deadline. Protect it and serve the prescribed information within 30 days of receipt. The penalty is one to three times the deposit, the court has no discretion to go below one times, and it also blocks possession until it is put right. This is the most common serious mistake in letting and it is ten minutes of work on the day the money arrives.
Letting a friend move in without referencing. The awkward conversation now is cheaper than possession proceedings later, and skipping the reference also puts you outside any rent guarantee cover you might buy.
No inventory, or a list with no photographs. Without a dated inventory signed at check-in, you will lose almost any deposit dispute about condition. A scheme adjudicator decides on evidence, and "it was fine before" is not evidence.
Serving the documents but not proving it. Emailing the certificates is right; keeping the sent items is what makes it provable. For nearly every duty in this guide the enforceable question is not whether you did it but whether you can show you did.
Treating repairs as negotiable. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is not something you opt into, and a slow response builds the disrepair counterclaim that later defeats a possession claim. Answer the same day even when you cannot fix it the same day.
Frequently asked questions
What are the steps to let a property in the UK?
In order: get the property safe and priced (EPC, Gas Safety, EICR); advertise and take applications; reference the tenant and any guarantor and run the Right to Rent check; generate and e-sign the correct periodic assured tenancy; take and protect the deposit within 30 days; hand over the move-in documents and keep proof; set up rent collection; then run the tenancy — repairs, renewals, certificates and an annual rent review. The parts people get wrong are the hand-offs, so doing them in sequence is what keeps it simple.
What documents must I give a new tenant?
For a new assured tenancy in England: the deposit Prescribed Information (within 30 days), a valid Gas Safety certificate if there is gas, the EICR, the EPC, and the Renters’ Rights Act information sheet, plus a written tenancy agreement. Serve them at or before move-in and keep proof, because gaps can block a later possession claim.
Can I let a property myself without an agent?
Yes — plenty of landlords self-manage, and the whole run (advertise, reference, sign, move-in, rent, compliance) can be handled from one login. An agent buys you time but the fee comes off a return already thinned by Section 24 and voids, so many landlords self-manage with software instead and keep the fee.