Accountants in Hendon NW4 | Landlord & Small Business Tax

Hendon has a large student population and a correspondingly large private rented sector, which means a lot of the tax work here involves property: landlords with houses in multiple occupation, people letting a former home, and owners deciding whether to hold property personally or through a company. The commercial side around Brent Cross brings a different mix — retail, logistics and service businesses.

We act for individuals and businesses across NW4 and West Hendon.

Landlords & HMOs
Rental accounts, allowable costs and the finance-cost restriction.
Capital gains on a sale
Reported and paid within 60 days — the deadline is easy to miss.
Small business accounts
Company and sole trader, with VAT and payroll where needed.
Company vs personal ownership
Modelled including the cost of moving property in.

Letting property in Hendon

Mortgage interest on residential property is no longer deducted from rental income — you get a basic-rate tax reducer instead. For a higher-rate taxpayer that means the profit you are taxed on can be well above the money you actually have. Properties let room by room raise further questions about which costs are allowable and how the letting is treated. We will set out where you stand before deciding whether anything should change.

Selling a property in Hendon

If you sell a Hendon flat or house that was not your home, the capital gains tax is reported and paid within 60 days of completion, separately from your annual return. Tell us before completion and the figures will be ready; the rules, and what records the calculation needs, are on our landlord page.

Landlord accountants in London

What comes up in Hendon

A lot of the work here is company work — owner-managed businesses with staff, and the payroll, pension and PAYE obligations that come with them — alongside personal tax for directors taking a mix of salary and dividends.

The split between the two is the single decision that moves the most tax for most owner-managers, and it is not a fixed formula: it moves with thresholds, with pension contributions, and with how much you actually need to take out.

Student lets and houses in multiple occupation

The university presence in Hendon means a substantial part of the local letting market is rooms rather than whole properties, and letting by the room is a different business from letting a flat — legally, administratively and for tax.

Licensing is a borough matter and it has teeth

Houses in multiple occupation require a licence in defined circumstances, and boroughs can extend licensing more widely within their area. Letting an unlicensed property where a licence was required is an offence, and it can also expose you to a rent repayment order — meaning tenants recovering rent already paid. The licence fee itself is a deductible cost; the penalty for not having one is not.

The property may be assessed differently

Depending on how a property is arranged and occupied, individual units within an HMO can end up separately assessed for council tax, which changes both the bill and who is liable for it. This catches landlords who have converted a house without considering it, and it is worth establishing before the conversion rather than after.

More rooms means more of everything

Higher gross yields come with higher costs: bills usually included, more wear, more voids between academic years, more management. The tax follows the actual profit, so the deductible costs matter more here than in a single let — and the record-keeping has to be good enough to show which costs belong to the property rather than to you.

Lodgers, room lets and quarterly reporting

Being close to the university, Hendon has plenty of homeowners who let a room to a student or a lodger rather than a whole property. Rent a Room relief lets you receive up to £7,500 a year tax-free from furnished accommodation in your own home. Above that, you choose between paying tax on the amount over the limit or declaring the letting normally with its actual costs. Whichever gives the lower figure is usually the one to take.

Landlords with whole properties or HMOs face a different change. Since 6 April 2026, landlords whose qualifying income is over £50,000 have had to keep digital records and send quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital. The threshold falls to £30,000 from April 2027. Qualifying income is gross rent, not profit, so a house let room by room reaches the threshold much sooner than its profit suggests.

Hendon is in the London Borough of Barnet. For the rest of our work nearby, see our pages for accountants in Finchley and accountants in Barnet, or accountants in North London for the wider area.

Getting to our office from Hendon

Hendon Central is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, which only meets our branch at Camden Town, so the bus is quicker: the 143 and the 326 both run from Hendon Central to Finchley Central, and the 125 also links Hendon with Finchley Central. Hendon station itself is on Thameslink.

You do not have to come in: you can work with us entirely by phone, email and video call, and we respond within one working day.

Your council: London Borough of Barnet

Hendon is in the London Borough of Barnet, so Barnet Council sends your business rates bill and deals with premises licences, street trading and planning. None of that goes on a tax return, but rates are a fixed cost that can be relieved or appealed, and licence fees and timings belong in any plan for opening or changing premises.

Hendon mixes residential streets with commercial units along the main roads, and rateable values vary a good deal over short distances. If a valuation looks out of line with comparable units nearby, that can be checked.

Small business rate relief is set nationally and applied by the council: a business with one property whose rateable value is below £15,000 can get relief, and below £12,000 the relief is 100%. Taking on a second property can take it away from the first, so it is worth checking before you sign a lease rather than after the bill arrives.

Our services in Hendon

The services we provide in Hendon include bookkeeping, VAT returns and registration and year-end accounts and corporation tax. Each has its own page with what is included and how we work.

Frequently asked

I let one property. Do I need an accountant?

Not necessarily, but you do need to report the income if it is over £1,000 gross, and the finance-cost rules mean the tax rarely matches what the profit looks like. A single property is a small job for us and usually pays for itself in what gets claimed correctly.

Do I need to come to your office?

Not unless you want to. You can send documents electronically and we can speak by phone or video. If you would rather sit down with someone, our Finchley office is a short journey across to Finchley Central.

What does an accountant cost?

We agree the fee in writing before any work starts, based on what your business actually needs. Simple sole-trader returns cost considerably less than a trading limited company with payroll and VAT.

Can you take over from my current accountant?

Yes, and it is straightforward. We write to them for professional clearance and your records, and handle the transfer of your HMRC authorisations. You do not need to have an awkward conversation — though it is polite to tell them.

Salary or dividends — what is the right split?

There is no fixed answer, and anyone who gives you one without seeing your figures is guessing. It depends on your profit, what you need to draw, whether you are making pension contributions, and where the thresholds sit this year. We model it annually rather than setting it once.

Do you run payroll as well?

Yes — PAYE, auto-enrolment pensions and CIS where it applies. For most Hendon clients with staff it sits alongside the accounts rather than being a separate arrangement.

Do I need a licence to let rooms in my house?

It depends on the size and arrangement of the property and on the borough’s own scheme, which can be wider than the national baseline. Because the consequences of getting it wrong include a rent repayment order as well as a penalty, this is one to confirm with the council directly rather than infer. Once you know, the fee and the associated costs are deductible against the rental income.

Will the council tax change if I convert to an HMO?

It can. Depending on how the property is arranged, individual units may be separately banded, which changes both the amount and who is responsible for paying. It is far better to know before the work is done, because the layout itself can influence the answer.

Is a student let more profitable than a normal one?

Often on gross yield, frequently not by as much as expected once the costs are counted. Bills are usually included, turnover is annual, voids are predictable but real, and wear is higher. It can be a good business. What it is not is the same business as a single let with a bigger number on top, and modelling it that way is how people are disappointed.

I have a student lodger in my Hendon home. Do I pay tax on the rent?

Often not. Rent a Room relief covers up to £7,500 a year from furnished accommodation in the home you live in, and below that there is nothing to pay or declare. If you receive more, you can pay tax on the excess, or declare the letting normally with its actual costs, whichever works out better. The relief does not apply to a separate flat you do not live in.

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