Fees and costs
What does it cost to be a landlord in Huddersfield?
Last updated 4 July 2026 · Reviewed by Nick Thorpe, founder
The short answer
Plan for about £925 plus VAT in first-year setup costs on a Huddersfield single let: EPC £125, EICR £200, gas safety £80, tenant find £400, referencing £35, inventory £55 and deposit registration £30. Add full management at 10% of rent, which is £75 a month plus VAT on a £750 let.
Landlord costs come in two buckets: what it takes to get a compliant tenant moved in, and what it takes to keep the tenancy running. This guide uses our published landlord schedule (April 2026, all figures plus VAT) and works the whole thing through on a £750 a month rent.
What are the one-off setup costs?
£925 plus VAT gets a single let from empty to tenanted and compliant on our published schedule. That covers the three safety certificates, referencing, the inventory, deposit registration and the tenant find.
| Item | Cost (plus VAT) |
|---|---|
| EPC | £125 |
| EICR (electrical safety report) | £200 |
| Gas safety certificate | £80 |
| Tenant find | £400 |
| Referencing | £35 per tenant |
| Inventory | £55 |
| Deposit registration (DPS) | £30 |
| Total | £925 |
Three notes on that table. The £80 gas certificate covers the boiler, and each extra gas appliance adds £5. The EPC lasts ten years and the EICR up to five, so the two biggest certificates are not annual costs. And if your certificates are already in date, knock them off: a landlord with a valid EPC, EICR and gas certificate pays £520 to get a tenant in.
What does ongoing management cost?
Full management is 10% of the monthly rent plus VAT, and on a normal occupied single let that is the only ongoing Livdin fee. It covers rent collection, tenant management and compliance tracking as standard; the detail is on our property management page. Maintenance is billed at contractor cost with no markup. If the property sits empty, void inspections are £25 a visit.
Everything above comes from the published schedule on our fees page. Boring, but boring is exactly what you want in a fee schedule.
Worked example: the first year on a £750 rent
On £750 a month, the first year costs £1,825 plus VAT, which is 20.3% of the rent collected. From year two it drops to around 11%.
| Line | Year one | Year two (tenant stays) |
|---|---|---|
| Rent collected (no voids) | £9,000 | £9,000 |
| Setup and letting costs | £925 | £0 |
| Gas safety renewal | included above | £80 |
| Management at 10% | £900 | £900 |
| Total costs (plus VAT) | £1,825 | £980 |
| Costs as a share of rent | 20.3% | 10.9% |
Year two is not wishful thinking. Our average tenancy runs 24 months, so the £400 tenant find is typically not an annual cost, and when a tenancy does end we work to a 7-day void target from checkout to move-in. £750 is also a fair test figure: the ONS put the average private rent in Kirklees at £759 a month in March 2026, up 10.5% in a year. To run the numbers on your own rent, use our fee calculator, and if you are not sure what the property would let for, start with a rent estimate.
Which of these costs are legally required?
The gas certificate, the EICR, the EPC and deposit protection are legal requirements in England, not agent extras. You pay for them whether you self-manage or use an agent.
- Gas safety check every 12 months on every property with gas appliances, under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
- An EICR at least every five years, under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020.
- A valid EPC before the property is marketed. An EPC lasts ten years.
- The deposit protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it. We use the DPS.
Rules change, and the Renters’ Rights Act is changing more of them. We confirm the current requirements on every property we take on, and this page is reviewed when the rules move.
What has this guide not counted?
Repairs, insurance, mortgage interest, tax and void periods, none of which are Livdin fees but all of which are real. Repairs through us are billed at contractor cost with no markup, but the cost itself is yours, and older stone-built Huddersfield stock needs a sensible repairs budget. Landlord insurance and mortgage interest depend entirely on your property and lender, and tax depends on how you own it, so take proper advice on both. Budget honestly for all of them and the 10% management fee stops being the number that decides whether a rental works.