Self-managing landlords work 51 hours every month

Perhaps that figure is for small operations, but larger (double figures) we cannot trust most agents, especially on repairs. With all the extra admin of Government regulations and the MTD and tax returns, plus mortgage switches, fire regulations, it adds up to 50-60 hours per week for myself and my wife. So more like 200hrs per month.

Rental income is treated as unearned income and because of this from April 2027, landlords in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will face a 2% increase in income tax on rental profits. This is just another example of “rich” landlord bashing. As this article says there some hours of work (and worry) involved in being a landlord, even if you use an agent so the income is earned as you have to put work into it.
Income from savings is also unearned, you just sit back and it accumulates, but the Government would not (we hope) consider extra tax here due to the inevitable widespread backlash. So perhaps the message to landlords is clear, sell up and enjoy some unearned income. One thing for sure the bank won’t phone you up demanding their boiler is fixed and you won’t have to up their EPC rating. To continue banking with them.

Thatcher bought in legislation to encourage Private individual’s to invest in Rental Homes and solve a Housing shortage.
Guess what it worked .
Now the Governments hate private landlords and are adopting policies to Drive us out whilst fining us on the way . and it`s working.
People suffering are tenants . and Landlords.

Reply to the comment left by northern landlord at 14/10/2026 – 13:48
Yes, I am an elderly longterm landlord and remember the old times. I am now struggling and self managing several properties and
my health is suffering due to the
stress of the punitive regulations and threats from this current government. My properties are all licenced and fully compliant with gas checks, epcs, Electric checks, etc. Many of my tenants remain with me after many years (one for 11 years). I am a good, hard working
business person. All of my rapidly shrinking income is very much earned but I don’t know for how much longer! Enough is enough!

51 hours a month sounds like a dream! Try 51 hours a week at least. But of course, according to Labour, we are not ‘working people’!

We spend AT LEAST 50hours per week keeping on top of organising repairs & overseeing them, sorting a variety of different tenant issues (even stupid issues like – I can’t reach my lightbulb to change it – I’m not your mother – buy a bl**dy stepladder!), resolving problems with freeholders or neighbours, admin itself (keeping logs of all callouts/repairs etc) & general banking/accounting, insurance renewals of loads of appliances & British Gas/Dyno renewals for plumbing, drains, electrics, boilers/central heating, buildings ins, rent guarantee, PLI ins & stand alone legal expenses cover if tenant doesn’t qualify for RG…endless, and reviewing S20 notices & planning ahead for the one off cost (sometimes in the ‘000s like our share of lift replacement came to £14K, reviewing service charge accounts & constant SC account issues with freeholders whose attitude is often totally disrespectful. The ongoing evaluating all types of quotes especially electrical works following EICR checks (C3’s are down incorrectly as a C2 later changed by the electrician to a C3 when challenged), assessing market rents for rent renewals (worse than ever now due to Tribunal threat), remarketing a property to rent & overseeing viewings, ensuring tenants’ Right to Rent Home Office renewals are done/pass, assessing quarterly property inspection reports & organising follow up actions & making note of things to check specifically at next inspection, checking inventories & check-out reports, keeping up to speed with regulatory & legislative changes incl health & safety laws, ensuring freeholders are delivering to Fire Safety law, inspecting block buildings ins T&Cs arranged by freeholder & bridging any shortfall / exclusions through separate cover, checking freeholders are delivering on the ins conditions such as AOV & flat roof inspections & FRA & fire door inspections they often don’t do in a timely manner or at all or have done by a competent person, reporting communal repairs/works to freeholder & making sure they follow up & get quotes/invoice correctly, issuing Fire Safety/FD30 guides to tenants & additional guides for how to care for drains, appliances, flooring, glazing, basic trouble shooting, guides on how to stop condensation (including NOT to turn off specialist loft & wall units & fans), what to do in winter months or whilst away from the property, lithium-ion battery & vape safe charging/disposal, fire blankets are constantly still in place & extinguishers in case of fire, timeliness of GSC checks, regular servicing of specialist Envirovent units, EPC renewals & constant evaluation against expected new metrics effective from 2030 that are still too vague & could downgrade all existing B & C EPCs because of gas boilers, and always keeping separate records of improvements since Oct25, keeping abreast of all changes (attending training/reading), any lease renewals with Housing assocs/councils, constant evaluation of portfolio to determine effectiveness & efficiency (like any business), reading/reading/reading = learning/learning/learning, organising & carrying out PATs/LRA assessments, renewing/applying for Selective Licences & at the drop of a hat booking in spot check inspections (always pass thank G*d), completing surveys on Leasehold Reform (the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men & women to do nothing) after first reading & trying to understand volumes of Gov.uk material, ICO; GDPR renewal, managing & controlling garden overgrowth (trees, shrubs etc), if applicable; Party Wall extension oversight, organise gutter clearances each autumn, arranging parking permits for contractors, watching for Warranty end dates & checking item/works done are still in good order prior to expiry as tenants often don’t report things not working unless it affects “them” day-to-day, Right to Manage oversight for 2 blocks (bl**dy headache), MTD quarterly albeit thank G*d delayed for formal partnerships, doing the year end accounts, checking RTM Co acts & Service Charge demands before being sent out, making sure 10year lithium battery smoke alarms are replaced every 10years & constantly replacing CO2s etc & checking smoke alarms still working & need no battery change as tenants do not do this although they should, Budget changes impact requires additional re-evaluation of portfolio, paying down/off mortgages ASAP or looking for new mortgage at the end of for example; fixed rates, completing sub-let forms for freeholders & a Deed of Covenant if tenancy is longer than 12mths, Deposit registration/release/renewal. Loads more stuff I can’t think of off the top of my head….DID I SAY ONLY 50HOURS PER WEEK??? On top of which I’ve yet to experience the time it’ll take to get a rent increase through if the tenant goes to Tribunal if for no other reason than to delay the increase, & worse is the constant worry of what will next be thrown at us by the Government whilst being slaughtered by every left wing group you can think of as if we are all scum. No other service or industry or profession has ever been under so much attack for providing an asset we worked hard to buy/keep which nowadays we have little right over. Any other industry that provides a product to rent has the law on their side – they enjoy the luxury of time a lease agreement runs for, if the lessee misses just 1month – they have the right to repossess. The less wealthy in this country have become the most wealthy as they can use & abuse landlords property & in many cases get away with it. If I ever rent or borrow something, I give it back in better condition that I took it. We’ve created a Nanny State for tenants & landlords are treated under a system of Authoritarian Paternalism or Hostile regulation.

Yeah we were on ~50hrs/mo for years with 11 properties, but weve since moved to abodient which has actually cut that down to around ~5hrs or less. I’d recommend shopping around for solutions for self managing landlords, worked out for us

Reply to the comment left by Tom Ashworth at 18/10/2026 – 19:43
Abodient? How long did it take to set up a property in this? Is there anything outside of this that you still do manually? Looks interesting. Do you still use agents for finding tenants? Thanks

Reply to the comment left by Tom Ashworth at 19:43

Thanks for the Abodient tip – just had a quick look & it looks great. Will read through in more detail at the weekend & give it a go.