If your gross rents were over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 tax return, you are inside Making Tax Digital for Income Tax this year, and your second quarterly update is due by 7 November 2026. That is a Saturday, so in practice it is Friday 6 November.
We are Vaibhav and Iwona, the couple behind Padlord, and we built it because we wanted one calm place for our own property numbers. This is the short version of what the November update actually asks for, written the way we wish someone had written it for us.
The two-minute version
- What period: 6 April to 5 October 2026 if you use standard update periods, or 1 April to 30 September 2026 if you chose calendar periods. The deadline is 7 November either way (GOV.UK).
- It is cumulative. This update is not "July to October". It covers everything from the start of the tax year, so a mistake in your August figures is fixed simply by getting the running totals right now.
- It is a summary, not a tax return. You send totals by category from compatible software. No tax is worked out and nothing is paid on 7 November.
- You can send it any time from 6 October. There is no reason to wait for the deadline.
- No penalty points this year, but it still has to be sent. HMRC says it will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026 to 2027, but you must send your updates before you can submit your tax return.
Am I in?
HMRC looks at your "qualifying income": rent before any expenses, plus any self-employment turnover, from your 2024 to 2025 return. Over £50,000 and you should already be using MTD. Salary, dividends and pensions do not count (GOV.UK).
Two things catch people out. First, it is gross, not profit: a heavily mortgaged portfolio with thin margins can still be over the line. Second, for jointly owned property only your share counts, so a couple splitting £84,000 of rent 50/50 have £42,000 each and are not in this year's wave.
If you are not in yet, the next wave starts on 6 April 2027 for anyone whose qualifying income was over £30,000 on their 2025 to 2026 return, the one due by 31 January 2027. Our thresholds guide covers the edge cases.
What actually goes in the November update
The same income and expense categories you already use on the property pages of a Self Assessment return. Your software adds up your digital records and sends the year-to-date totals.
Here is a worked example. A landlord with three terraced houses collecting £4,550 a month between them, using standard periods:
| Category | 6 Apr to 5 Jul (sent in August) | 6 Apr to 5 Oct (due 7 Nov) |
|---|---|---|
| Rents received | £13,650 | £27,300 |
| Repairs and maintenance | £620 | £1,840 |
| Letting agent and management fees | £1,365 | £2,730 |
| Insurance | £690 | £690 |
| Residential finance costs (mortgage interest) | £3,300 | £6,600 |
| Other allowable property expenses | £180 | £410 |
The November figures are the running totals, not the extra three months. If the August update missed a £240 plumber's invoice, it simply appears in the November repairs total. Nothing needs resending.
Two lines deserve a second look before you press send:
- Mortgage interest, not mortgage payments. Record the interest, or record the full payment and adjust before you finalise the year (GOV.UK). Finance costs go in their own category because Section 24 relief is worked out separately at year end.
- Repairs, not improvements. A like-for-like boiler is a repair. A new extension is capital and does not belong in the update. Our MTD expense categories guide walks through the grey areas.
If you own property jointly
GOV.UK gives joint owners two easements. You can include income only for jointly let properties in your quarterly updates and add the expenses after the year ends by resending the fourth update. You can also keep less detailed records, such as one record per category for the period. Neither applies to properties you own outright. We explain how this works for couples in MTD for couples and joint owners.
What if I missed 7 August?
You are not alone, and there are no penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026 to 2027. But the missed update still has to be sent, because HMRC needs your quarterly updates before it will accept your tax return. Send the outstanding one now, then the November one. Your records only need to be right from 6 April; the cumulative design means the second update will carry the correct totals either way.
From 2027 to 2028 the points system bites: one point per missed deadline and a £200 penalty at four points (GOV.UK). This year is the free practice run.
A 15-minute routine for this month
- Open your records for 6 April to 5 October (or 1 April to 30 September).
- Match rent received against your tenancies and agent statements, property by property.
- Check every expense has a date, an amount and a category, and that mortgage interest is separate.
- If you keep a spreadsheet, make sure it is digitally linked to your bridging software. Do not retype figures across.
- Send the update any time from 6 October, then note the next one: 7 February 2027 (a Sunday, so aim for Friday 5 February).
A step-by-step version is in our MTD quarterly update checklist.
Where Padlord fits, honestly
Padlord is not MTD filing software. It does not connect to HMRC, and you still need HMRC-recognised software or a bridging tool to send the update (find one on GOV.UK).
What we built it for is the slow part: keeping rent and costs organised by property and by category all year, alongside yields, cashflow and compliance dates. When the 7th comes round you are checking totals you already trust, not rebuilding a quarter from bank statements. If a well-kept spreadsheet already does that for you, keep it. It works with MTD as long as it is digitally linked.
If you would like a calmer ledger for your lets, you can try Padlord free at www.padlord.co.uk.
General information, not tax or financial advice. Dates and rules checked against GOV.UK on 13 October 2026; check the current guidance or speak to an accountant before you act.
