Landlord Compliance Dashboard: What to Track Across Every Property

With one rental, you can keep compliance in your head. With three or four, on different tenancy dates and certificate cycles, you can't. A compliance dashboard is simply one view that answers a single question for every property: is anything missing, out of date or due soon?

This guide covers what to put on that dashboard and how to keep it accurate. If you're choosing software, see our guide to landlord compliance apps. This article is about what to track, whatever tool you use.

The three things a dashboard must show

Every line on a good dashboard falls into one of three groups:

1. Evidence of condition: when the last inspection happened and where the report is.
2. Documents: each certificate, its expiry date and whether the tenant has a copy.
3. Status: a clear marker for valid, due soon or expired.

Anything else is a bonus. If your dashboard can't show those three at a glance, it isn't doing its job.

1. Inspections and reports

For each property, record:

A dashboard that links straight to the report PDF saves hunting through email when you need it. For what to check on the day, use our room-by-room inspection checklist.

2. Certificates and documents

These are the documents most English private landlords track. Check which apply to each property.

For each, store: issue date, expiry date, the document itself, and the date you gave the tenant a copy. The "given to tenant" date is the one most landlords forget, and it's often the one that matters.

We cover the yearly cycle in detail in our gas safety reminder guide, and electrical and energy certificates in our EICR and EPC reminders guide.

3. Safety items

Alongside certificates, track the safety items in each property:

• Smoke alarms (location, last tested)
• Carbon monoxide alarms (location, last tested)
• Fire blankets and extinguishers, if supplied
• Legionella risk assessment (date and outcome)

The smoke and CO alarm rules require alarms to be checked on the first day of each new tenancy in England, so the "last tested" date should never be older than the tenancy. There's more on this in our tenant safety reporting guide.

4. A simple status system

Use three states and stick to them:

• Valid: more than 60 days until expiry
• Due soon: 60 days or fewer
• Expired: past the date, so act today

Why 60 days? It's enough time to book an engineer, arrange access with the tenant, and have a fallback if the first appointment falls through. A second prompt at 30 days catches anything that slipped.

5. Records for tax time

Not strictly compliance, but it belongs on the same screen: rent received and expenses per property for the current tax year. Grouping expenses by the headings used on the SA105 property pages makes your self assessment easier. (This is record keeping, not tax advice.)

Building one yourself: spreadsheet layout

If you prefer a spreadsheet, one row per property works well:

Property | Tenancy start | Last inspection | Gas expiry | EICR expiry | EPC expiry | HMO expiry | Alarms tested | Status

Add a formula for days remaining on each date and conditional formatting for the three states. Keep the actual documents in a folder per property, and add the file path to each cell.

The weak points of a spreadsheet are that it doesn't remind you unless you open it, and the documents live somewhere else.

Using an app instead

Disclosure: we make Landlord HQ, an iPhone app for UK private landlords.

Landlord HQ keeps inspections, reports and documents together per property:

• Room-by-room move-in, interim and move-out inspections with photos and notes
• Timestamped PDF reports you can email to the tenant from the app
• A compliance vault for Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, HMO Licence and PAT records, with an at-a-glance status per document and notifications 60 and 30 days before expiry
• Safety item tracking (smoke and CO alarms, fire extinguishers, fire blankets) and a guided legionella risk assessment
• Rent and expense tracking using SA105 categories, with a tax summary export

It works offline and syncs through iCloud with no account. Get Landlord HQ on the App Store.

Keep it honest: review monthly

Whatever you use, put 15 minutes in the diary each month to:

1. Scan for anything "due soon" or "expired"
2. Upload any new certificates
3. Confirm tenant copies were sent
4. Book the next interim inspections

A dashboard is only as good as the last time you updated it.

FAQ

What should a landlord compliance dashboard include?
For each property: last inspection and report, every certificate with its expiry date and the date the tenant received it, safety item checks, and a clear status.

How far ahead should I be reminded about expiring certificates?
We suggest 60 days, with a second reminder at 30 days, to allow time to book and arrange access.

Do I need software for a compliance dashboard?
No. A well-kept spreadsheet works. Apps add automatic reminders and keep documents and reports in one place.

Which certificates apply to my property?
It depends on the property. Gas safety applies only with gas appliances, and HMO licensing only to licensable HMOs. Check the gov.uk guidance linked above.

Sources

• https://www.gov.uk/private-renting/your-landlords-safety-responsibilities
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities
• https://www.gov.uk/buy-sell-your-home/energy-performance-certificates
• https://www.gov.uk/house-in-multiple-occupation-licence
• https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarms-explanatory-booklet-for-landlords