How Open Banking and AI Quietly Fix Bookkeeping for Property Investors
GetGround’s free HMRC-recognised platform combines automated transaction import and intelligent categorisation to eliminate costly errors and accelerate month-end close for landlords.
More than 300,000 UK property investors overpay tax each year because they fail to claim allowable expenses correctly.[1] The innovation story isn’t about apps competing on features. It’s about automation that removes manual work, reduces errors, and delivers accuracy by design, helping landlords keep more of what they earn.
The Friction Points Costing Landlords Thousands
Property investors know the pain points: spreadsheets that never reconcile, receipts scattered across email folders, and manual categorisation that introduces errors at every step. Was that £850 transaction rent or a repair? Which property did that insurance payment cover? Did you log the agent’s fee correctly?
These aren’t minor inconveniences, they’re expensive mistakes, especially with the upcoming Making Tax Digital for landlords regulations. HMRC data reveals that 36% of self-assessment taxpayers under-report their taxes, rising to nearly 60% among the self-employed.[2] For landlords, the stakes are climbing. In 2024/25, HMRC recovered a record £107 million from landlord investigations, more than double the previous year.[3]
Recent research from GetGround users confirmed what landlords already know: significant friction exists in splitting transactions, performing bulk actions, and reconciling books. Lost receipts, mis-categorised expenses, and spreadsheet drift erode trust in reported balances and leave money on the table. The average UK landlord who claims expenses correctly offsets £9,200 annually, meaning those who don’t are leaving significant deductions unclaimed.[4]
What Open Banking and AI Classification Actually Solve
The breakthrough sits at the intersection of two technologies working together: Open Banking integration and AI-powered categorisation.
Open Banking automatically imports transactions from your bank accounts in real-time. Rent payments, expense outflows, agent fees, everything flows into your accounting system without manual entry. Over 50% of UK tenants now use Open Banking for rent payments,[5] and landlords are following suit for automated reconciliation. When tenants pay via Open Banking, funds are automatically reconciled, reducing administrative workload and ensuring prompt payments.
AI classification takes those imported transactions and assigns them to the correct categories to comply with HMRC tax rules: rental income, repairs and maintenance, insurance, mortgage interest, and more. The system learns patterns from millions of property transactions. That monthly payment from your tenant? Automatically categorised as rent.
GetGround’s platform leverages this dual automation engine to deliver what landlords need most: accuracy and efficiency. With over 30,000 property investors from 80+ countries managing over £2 billion in UK property through GetGround, the system has processed millions of transactions and refined its categorisation accuracy across property-specific scenarios.
Accuracy and Audit Trail as Innovation, Not Just Convenience
Research shows that accounting automation improves financial reporting quality and reduces internal control weaknesses.[6] When transactions are imported automatically via Open Banking and categorised by AI, you’re building a compliant digital record in real-time, every transaction timestamped, categorised, and audit-ready.
This matters especially as HMRC intensifies enforcement. In May 2025 alone, HMRC dispatched over 4,000 compliance letters to landlords,[7] using AI and data-sharing agreements to identify undeclared rental income. Unlike spreadsheet-based solutions or manual workarounds, HMRC-recognised software provides native integration with HMRC systems, reducing errors and giving landlords confidence that tax obligations are being met correctly.
GetGround’s HMRC-recognised platform meets all official requirements for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment, including direct HMRC integration, compliant digital record-keeping that meets HMRC’s technical specifications, and future-proof compliance as MTD requirements evolve.
Digital receipts attach to specific expenses. Rules and rollbacks let you track changes. Category mapping aligns with HMRC’s SA105 property tax form requirements from day one. When your income and expenses are categorised correctly across properties, you can see actual profitability by asset, track cash flow trends, and make data-driven decisions.
Compliance as a UX Problem
Here’s the quiet shift: compliance is no longer a separate annual task tackled with an accountant. When Open Banking and AI categorisation work together on an integrated platform, compliance becomes embedded in your workflow.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment becomes mandatory from April 2026 for property investors with gross annual income exceeding £50,000. The legislation requires landlords to maintain digital records and submit quarterly tax updates through HMRC-recognised software. For landlords managing multiple properties, often using personal accounts alongside business accounts, GetGround’s integrated approach removes fragmentation.
The platform’s automated data capture through bank feeds auto-matches rent payments and expenses, eliminating manual input.[9] Property-level organisation lets you assign income and expenses to specific addresses, while the system aggregates everything for tax filings. Quarterly submission workflows include deadline reminders and penalty prevention messaging.
The user experience improvement is this: connect your bank account, review auto-categorised transactions periodically, and trust that your books reflect reality. The friction dissolves. Tax-mapped categories ensure your transactions align with HMRC requirements from day one. You’re not scrambling to reconstruct six months of expenses because your records are current, complete, and audit-ready.
The Bottom Line
The innovation story in property bookkeeping isn’t about competing apps. It’s about automation that removes manual work, reduces costly errors, and delivers accuracy by design.
Open Banking integration eliminates data entry. AI classification handles HMRC-compliant categorisation intelligently. Together, they create an audit trail that satisfies compliance requirements while giving you real-time insight into portfolio performance.
For property investors, this means fewer errors, faster month-end close, and the confidence that comes from knowing your numbers are accurate. With over 300,000 landlords currently missing expense claims and HMRC ramping up enforcement, getting your bookkeeping right isn’t just convenient, it’s financially critical.
This is for your information only – you shouldn’t view this as legal advice, tax advice, investment advice, or any advice at all.
Terranova.Network Limited (trading as GetGround) is a registered Agent of Yapily Connect Ltd for the purpose of providing Account Information Services under the Payment Services Regulations 2017. Yapily Connect Ltd is authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 827001).
