Recommended Resources
Tools, services, and resources I use or recommend for UK property work. Organised by category. No paid placements, no affiliate relationships — if it's here, it's because I actually find it useful.
Property Search & Market Research
UK's largest property portal — listing search, comparable sold prices, and rental valuations.
First stop for any deal or market research. Sold data is free. Useful for comparable analysis before making an offer.
Alternative property portal with strong historical price data and value estimates.
Useful alongside Rightmove. The historical price data can surface trends that a single comparable misses.
Direct landlord-to-tenant rental listings without agency fees. Also used for tenant referencing.
Worth checking for rental demand data and to list properties without paying a letting agent. Referencing is reasonably priced.
Paid tool for yield analysis, comparable transactions, HMO density mapping, and planning data by postcode.
Used for deal analysis. The HMO density and comparable yield layers save significant research time on any new area.
Official title register and sold price data. Check ownership history, charges, and registered title.
Always worth checking before making an offer. Title register is £3–£7. Sold prices are free via the price paid data service.
Sheffield-specific information on HMO licensing, selective licensing schemes, and planning applications.
Licensing requirements and selective licensing areas change. Check directly with the council for the current position in any postcode.
Landlord & Compliance Resources
UK's largest landlord association. Templates, compliance guidance, legal helpline, and training courses.
The compliance document library and notice templates alone are worth the membership fee. The legal helpline is useful for edge cases.
Official government guidance for private landlords and tenants in England.
The authoritative source for landlord obligations. Read the 'How to rent' and 'How to let' guidance before anything else.
Three government-backed schemes: Deposit Protection Service (DPS), Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), and MyDeposits. You must use one.
Failing to protect a deposit correctly exposes you to a fine of up to 3x the deposit. Use any of the three — they all fulfil the legal requirement.
Check, order, and download Energy Performance Certificates for any UK property.
Rental properties must have a valid EPC rated E or above. New legislation may raise this to C — worth checking the current position.
Official register of gas engineers in the UK. Verify any engineer before they work on your property.
Always check the engineer's Gas Safe ID before work starts. Annual landlord gas safety checks are a legal requirement.
Guidance on EICR requirements, approved contractor finder, and electrical safety resources for landlords.
Useful for finding approved electricians and understanding what an EICR inspection actually covers.
Business & Automation Tools
Spreadsheets, document storage, and automated data collection forms. The backbone of most simple property management systems.
Google Sheets handles compliance tracking, portfolio dashboards, and maintenance logs well. Drive keeps everything accessible across devices.
Open-source workflow automation platform. Can be self-hosted. Used for connecting services and automating repetitive tasks.
Used on this website and for internal property workflows. More powerful than Make.com for technical use cases. Free to self-host.
No-code automation and integration platform. Connect apps, automate triggers, and route data without writing code.
Good entry point for landlords looking to automate without technical knowledge. The free tier covers simple use cases.
Contact management, deal pipeline tracking, and email logging. The free tier is genuinely useful for small portfolios.
Used for tracking conversations with sellers, investors, and tenants. Free CRM is sufficient for most landlords with under 50 contacts.
Digital document signing for tenancy agreements, contracts, and authorisation forms.
Speeds up onboarding significantly. Legally valid in the UK under the Electronic Communications Act 2000.
Cloud accounting software used for property portfolio income, expenses, and reporting.
Good for landlords managing multiple properties. Bank feeds automate most of the data entry. Your accountant can have read access.
AI & Research Tools
General-purpose AI assistant for drafting, research, summarising documents, and working through problems.
Useful for drafting tenant letters, summarising lengthy legislation, and thinking through options before committing to a course of action.
AI assistant well-suited to structured analysis, long-form documents, and systematic reasoning.
Used extensively for research and content on this website. Handles large documents well — useful for reading lease or planning documents.
AI-powered research engine that provides sourced answers rather than generated text.
Better than a standard Google search for checking current guidance or finding up-to-date regulatory information.
Google's AI tool for uploading and interrogating documents. Ask questions directly against your own uploaded files.
Useful for making sense of large PDF documents — tenancy agreements, HMO licensing conditions, planning reports.
Privacy & Security
Privacy-focused alternatives to Gmail, Google Drive, and standard password managers. Swiss-based, end-to-end encrypted.
Worth considering for any sensitive business communications. Proton Pass is a solid password manager as part of the suite.
Open-source password manager. Free tier is comprehensive. Available across all platforms.
Use a password manager. Any password manager. This one is free, open source, and doesn't have a history of data breaches.
Chromium-based browser with built-in ad and tracker blocking. No extension setup required.
Comfortable daily driver. Blocks most tracking by default which speeds up browsing and reduces data exposure.
This list is maintained personally and updated as things change. No tools are listed for payment. If something here is no longer accurate or you have a suggestion, get in touch.