Should I rent out or sell my UK home?

Your UK home is often the biggest decision before you go. Letting, selling and leaving it empty each bring different UK rules, and once you are a Spanish tax resident, Spain taxes it too.

Your three choices

Letting it out

• Talk to your mortgage lender before you let, and check whether you need their consent
• In England you must protect the tenant’s deposit in a government-approved scheme, keep gas and electrical equipment safe, provide an Energy Performance Certificate and check the tenant’s right to rent
• A letting agent can manage the property and the tax deductions while you’re away

England’s Renters’ Rights Act brought in a new tenancy system on 1 May 2026, for new and existing tenancies. Fixed terms and “no fault” (section 21) evictions have ended and tenancies are now rolling (periodic). If you want to sell or move back in, you can’t use those grounds in the first 12 months of a tenancy, and you must give 4 months’ notice. A national landlord database and a landlord ombudsman follow from late 2026. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own rules.

The Non-Resident Landlord Scheme

If you live abroad for more than 6 months a year, you are a non-resident landlord. Your letting agent, or your tenant if the rent is over £100 a week and there’s no agent, must take basic-rate tax off the rent each quarter (after deductible expenses) and pay it to HMRC.

• You can apply to HMRC to receive the rent with no tax deducted. You still declare it on a UK Self Assessment return with the SA109 residence pages
• The agent or tenant registers with HMRC and sends an annual report
• Joint owners are taxed on their own share

Spanish tax on UK rent

Once you are a Spanish tax resident, you declare your worldwide income in Spain. Under the 2013 UK–Spain treaty, rent from UK property can be taxed in both countries. Spain then gives a deduction for international double taxation for the UK tax on the same income, so you shouldn’t pay twice in full, but you may pay a top-up if Spanish tax is higher. Keep records of rent, expenses and UK tax paid, so your Spanish adviser can work out the figures. See Do I still pay UK tax?

Selling from Spain

If you sell after becoming non-UK resident, you must report the sale to HMRC within 60 days of completion using an online Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, even if you made a loss or owe nothing. Interest and penalties apply if you’re late.

If you are Spanish resident when you sell, the gain can also be taxed in Spain, with a credit for UK tax. The timing of the sale compared with your move matters, so take advice from a cross-border adviser before you exchange contracts.

If you keep it empty

• UK council tax: you usually still pay. Councils can add an empty homes premium after a year, and up to double for second homes
• Spain: a Spanish resident who owns a home abroad that isn’t rented out declares a notional “imputed income” each year: 1.1% of 50% of its value (the higher of the price paid or the value checked by the tax office). From 2027 this changes under Real Decreto-ley 29/2026, if Congress approves it: a sliding scale of 1.1% on the first €100,000 of the combined values of such properties, then 1.5%, 2% and 3% above €100,000, €500,000 and €1 million
• If your UK property and other overseas assets in that category are worth more than €50,000, you also report it on Modelo 720