Enter the monthly rent, your agent's management percentage and whether it is quoted plus VAT or including VAT. You get the fee for each month and for the year, split into net, VAT and gross, then, if you add them, rent guarantee insurance, other yearly fees and a tenant-find fee. Amounts are rounded to the nearest penny once a month, as on an agent's monthly statement. The VAT rules come from HMRC and are those in force on 11 November 2026, for the whole of the UK.
The rent and the months collected
A management fee is normally a percentage of the rent the agent collects. Enter the monthly rent and the number of months actually collected in the year: a month with no tenant, or with rent unpaid, brings no percentage fee.
Plus VAT or including VAT
A fee quoted as "12% + VAT" is 14.4% including VAT at the standard rate of 20%. Choose how your fee is quoted, then whether the agent charges VAT: a VAT-registered agent must add it, and one that is not registered adds none. The result shows both rates, so you can compare agents on the same footing.
Finding a tenant and other fees
Add a tenant-find (letting) fee or a check-in inventory fee if you take a new tenant this year, and any other yearly fees in your terms of business, such as an annual statement or inspections. In England and Wales these fees cannot be passed on to the tenant, so the calculator counts them as yours.
Fee a month = rent × management rate, rounded to the penny.
Quoted plus VAT: VAT = fee × VAT rate, and gross = fee + VAT. Quoted including VAT: VAT = gross × VAT rate ÷ (100 + VAT rate), HMRC's VAT fraction (1/6 at 20%), and net = gross − VAT.
For the year = gross fee a month × months collected.
Total cost = management fees + insurance + other fees + tenant-find and inventory fees.
Example: a £1,200 a month flat, fully managed at 12% + VAT
The fee is £1,200.00 × 12% = £144.00 plus £28.80 of VAT, so £172.80 a month and £2,073.60 for 12 months, of which £345.60 is VAT. A tenant-find fee of £600.00 + VAT adds £720.00. The year costs £2,793.60, which is 19.4% of the £14,400.00 collected, leaving £11,606.40. Taking VAT out of a price works the other way: HMRC's own example is that £2.40 including VAT at 20% holds 40p of VAT, one-sixth of the price.
