Accountants for landlords selling a buy-to-let
You are selling a buy-to-let, or a home you lived in and later let out, and you want to know who to contact about the capital gains tax. Where tax is due, the return and the payment are owed within 60 days of completion. A specialist from our partner network looks first at the exchange date, because that fixes the tax year, the completion date, because that starts the 60-day clock, and whether the property was ever your only or main home, because that moves the figure most. The gain computation comes to you line by line, the return is prepared and filed, and the same figures carry into your self assessment.
What lands on your desk
What you are dealing with
The 60-day return, and two dates that differ
If you are UK resident and tax is due on a UK residential disposal, the return and the payment are owed within 60 days of completion. Where the gain is fully covered by relief, losses or the annual exempt amount, no 60-day return is needed. Non-residents file for every UK land disposal either way. The disposal itself happens at exchange, so a March exchange with a May completion is a gain in the earlier tax year with the clock running from May. The deadline sequence and the penalties are here.
Working out the gain and what you can actually deduct
The list of deductible selling costs is a closed one: professional fees for a surveyor, valuer, auctioneer, accountant, agent or legal adviser, transfer costs including stamp duty, advertising for a buyer, and valuation costs needed for the computation. Improvement spending still reflected in the property at sale is deductible separately. Removals, storage, cleaning, cosmetic work, mortgage interest and early redemption charges are not. Start with the capital gains tax calculator for a first figure.
A former home, Private Residence Relief and lettings relief
If the property was at some point your only or main residence, relief covers the periods of occupation plus the final nine months of ownership, with further deemed occupation in defined situations such as working away. Lettings relief is the part people still get wrong: since 6 April 2020 it only applies where you shared occupation with the tenant, so a landlord who moved out and let the whole house gets none.
Rates and the annual exempt amount for 2026/27
Residential gains are taxed at 18% in the basic rate band and 24% above it, with trustees and personal representatives at 24% throughout. The annual exempt amount is £3,000 per person, down from £6,000 and from £12,300 before that, so an older worked example will understate your bill. It is per person and per tax year, which is why joint ownership and the exchange date both matter.
Selling before or after incorporation, and company-held property
Section 162 incorporation relief is no longer automatic: for transfers on or after 6 April 2026 it must be claimed, and the election to disapply it has been repealed. Where the property already sits in a company there is no annual exempt amount and the company pays corporation tax on the gain, so selling the shares rather than the property changes the tax for both sides. That fork is set out here.
What a specialist reviews
What a specialist reviews
A first review of the disposal before you commit
A specialist reviews the ownership history, the occupation periods, the intended exchange and completion dates and how the property is held. That tells you whether a 60-day return is required at all, which tax year the gain lands in, and whether the timing changes the outcome. Most useful before contracts are exchanged.
The gain computation, built line by line
Your accountant prepares the computation from documents rather than estimates: completion statements for purchase and sale, improvement spending you can evidence, the closed list of allowable selling costs, and the relief apportionment for any period the property was your main home. You get the working, not just a number.
The 60-day return prepared and filed
Where tax is due, a specialist sets up the property account if you do not have one, prepares the return, tells you the payment figure and the date it is owed, and files inside the window. Where the gain is covered by relief, losses or the allowance, you get that conclusion in writing instead.
Carried through to your self assessment
The 60-day payment is on account, not the end of it. The same disposal goes on your self assessment for the year and the two must agree. Your accountant carries the computation forward, sets the payment against the final liability, and picks up capital losses brought forward or realised elsewhere.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
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