Letting your St Albans home from abroad.
A posting overseas, a move for family or a home you’ve kept in St Albans while you live elsewhere: letting from a distance works well when the right things are set up before you go. This page covers the tax scheme, the legal points that catch people out, and how management works when you’re in another time zone. Checked 9 November 2026.
- Non-resident landlord
- Abroad 6 months or moreHMRC’s Non-resident Landlord Scheme applies
- Tax on the rent
- Basic rate deductedunless HMRC approves rent paid in full
- Our NRL administration
- £75 + VAT a quarter£90 inc. VAT, where the scheme applies
- Notices address
- England or Walesyour tenant must have one; ours can be it
Who counts as an overseas landlord
For HMRC, a landlord whose usual place of abode is outside the UK is a non-resident landlord. In practice that means living abroad for six months or more, whether or not you’re still UK resident for other tax purposes. Companies and trustees have their own tests. The rules are in HMRC’s guidance on paying tax on rent to landlords abroad.
The Non-resident Landlord Scheme
UK rental income is taxable in the UK wherever you live. To collect it, HMRC requires a letting agent (or, with no agent, a tenant paying more than £100 a week) to deduct basic-rate income tax from the rent, after allowable expenses the agent has paid, and send it to HMRC each quarter. Agents must be registered with HMRC for the scheme and must operate it whatever the amount of rent.
- If you’d rather receive the rent in full, you apply to HMRC for approval to be paid without deduction. Once HMRC writes to the agent confirming it, the rent is paid gross and you settle any tax through your Self Assessment return instead. Most of our overseas landlords do this; we can tell you what the application involves.
- If tax is deducted, we pay it to HMRC within 30 days of the end of each tax quarter (30 June, 30 September, 31 December and 31 March), send the annual return, and give you a certificate each July showing the tax paid, which you set against your own tax bill.
- Our fee for running the scheme is £75 + VAT (£90 inc. VAT) a quarter, only where it applies. It’s on the fees page with everything else.
Whichever way the tax is handled, the rental profit still needs to go on a UK Self Assessment return, and your country of residence may tax it too (most have a treaty with the UK to avoid paying twice). An accountant who deals with expatriates is worth the fee. If you later sell, non-residents must report the sale to HMRC within 60 days of completion. This page is general information, not tax advice.
An address your tenant can use
A landlord must give the tenant an address in England or Wales where notices can be served; until you do, rent isn’t legally due. If you’re abroad, that address is normally your agent’s. Under Fully Managed, ours is on the tenancy paperwork, and anything served there reaches you the same day.
Why distance usually means Fully Managed
Letting from abroad is about the moments you can’t be there for: a boiler failing in January, an inspection, a gas engineer who needs letting in, a tenant who wants to leave or keep a dog, a certificate about to expire. With our Fully Managed service, all of that comes to us. You get a monthly statement and the rent, and a call or email when something needs your decision. Our office is on The Quadrant in Marshalswick, so most of the homes we manage are minutes away.
- Rent collected and paid to your UK or overseas bank account with a statement each month.
- Repairs handled with insured local contractors, within a spending limit you set.
- Gas, electrical and energy certificates tracked and booked before they run out.
- Inspections with written reports and photos, so you can see the home from wherever you are.
- Deposits protected, notices served on the right forms, pet requests answered within the 28 days the law allows.
Before you go: a short list
- Consent to let from your mortgage lender, and landlord insurance that covers a let home (tell the insurer you’ll be abroad; some policies have conditions about empty periods).
- A UK bank account for the rent, or a plan for receiving it abroad.
- Your decision on the tax scheme: apply to HMRC for gross payment, or have us deduct and pay the tax.
- Power of attorney or a trusted UK contact for anything that needs a signature you can’t give from abroad.
- The landlord database. Every landlord with a home in St Albans must register it between 15 January and 14 April 2027 (£65 per home per year). It’s done online with a GOV.UK One Login, so it can be done from anywhere; we then add the tenancy and safety information for managed homes. Our Renters’ Rights Act guide has the details.
- The certificates in date before the tenant moves in: gas, electrical, EPC, alarms. Our landlord checklist lists them all.
Staying in touch
Statements and reports come by email, and you can reach your manager by email or WhatsApp as well as by phone, which helps across time zones. Decisions that need you (a repair above your limit, a rent review, a tenant’s notice) are put to you in writing with a recommendation, so a reply from the other side of the world is enough.
Common questions
Do I pay UK tax on rent if I live abroad?
Yes. UK rental income is taxable in the UK wherever you live. Under HMRC’s Non-resident Landlord Scheme your letting agent deducts basic-rate tax from the rent and pays it to HMRC each quarter, unless HMRC has approved you to receive the rent in full, in which case you settle the tax through Self Assessment. Your country of residence may also tax the income, usually with relief under a double-taxation treaty.
How do I get my rent paid without tax deducted?
You apply to HMRC for approval to receive UK rental income without deduction of tax. Once HMRC confirms it to us in writing, we pay the rent gross. You then declare the income on your Self Assessment return. We can tell you what the application needs.
Do I need a UK address to let my home?
You must give your tenant an address in England or Wales where notices can be served, and rent isn’t legally due until you have. For landlords abroad that’s usually the managing agent’s address, which is what we provide under Fully Managed.
Can you manage my home if I’m in a very different time zone?
Yes. Tenants contact us, not you, and anything needing your decision is sent in writing with a recommendation, so you can answer when your day starts. Emergencies are dealt with straight away within the spending limit you set.
Can I register on the landlord database from abroad?
Yes. Registration is online through GOV.UK One Login. For St Albans it’s required between 15 January and 14 April 2027, at £65 per home per year. You register yourself and we add the tenancy and safety information for managed homes.
What does the non-resident landlord administration cost?
Our fee is £75 + VAT (£90 inc. VAT) a quarter, charged only where HMRC’s scheme applies to you. If HMRC approves gross payment, there’s nothing to run and no fee.
Related guides
Letting from abroad?
Tell us where you’re going and when, and we’ll set out what needs doing before you leave, with no obligation.