Updated for 2027 in October 2026. Regulation, product and review information checked in October 2026. Originally published July 2026.
Quick answer: For most UK agencies managing rented property in 2027, Alto is the strongest all-round property management platform. It’s the only one of the three with block management built in, Alto’s AutoCert renews certificates automatically while the other two still leave the chasing to people, and Alto’s six AI skills take on jobs like applicant matching and business reporting. Alto also has the biggest independent review record of the three, with a 4.8 out of 5 rating on AllAgents and over 420 reviews across Trustpilot, AllAgents and Kerfuffle. Reapit still works for large corporate portfolios with in-house IT. Street suits agencies just starting to take on managed stock, but it has no block management, thinner compliance automation, and very few independent reviews to check before you commit.
This guide is about property management specifically: compliance, block management, accounting, arrears and reviews. If you’re comparing full CRMs across sales and lettings too, our comparison of the best estate agency CRMs for 2027 covers switching, AI and ROI in more depth, and our 2027 buyer’s guide gives you a scorecard to judge any platform against.
Why property management software matters more in 2027 than it ever has
Ask a property manager what changed in 2026 and you’ll get a long answer. Section 21 was abolished on 1st May 2026, so every tenancy now has to end through a proper Section 8 ground, and every existing tenancy quietly became periodic overnight. Every tenant is entitled to the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet, and getting it wrong carries a civil penalty from £7,000 for a first offence up to £40,000 if it happens again, the same ceiling that already applies to a botched electrical safety certificate.
2027 adds more on top:
- The Private Rented Sector Database goes live. Registration opens on 15th December 2026, starting in the West Midlands and rolling out region by region. Every let property has to be registered by 14th November 2027, at £65 per property per year, with fines of up to £7,000 and up to £40,000 for repeat breaches or false information. Your software needs to show which landlords and properties are registered, and which aren’t.
- Making Tax Digital reaches more landlords. Landlords earning over £50,000 from property have filed quarterly digital updates under Making Tax Digital since 6th April 2026. From 6th April 2027 the threshold drops to £30,000, and to £20,000 a year later.
- Agents are heading for licensing. In September 2026 the government confirmed that property agents will need a licence and appropriate qualifications, overseen by an independent regulator that can withdraw licences. There’s no firm timetable yet, but auditable processes and training records are about to matter a lot more.
- A landlord ombudsman is on the way. Mandatory membership of the new PRS Landlord Ombudsman is expected in 2028.
None of that is a one-off. It’s a permanently higher bar, and it lands on people who were never meant to be full-time compliance officers. As James Dolan puts it: “Ask a landlord what they think they’re paying a letting agent for, and compliance rarely makes the top three… Very few [agents] chose the industry because they wanted to become amateur regulatory specialists, tracking gas safety renewal dates, electrical inspection cycles, EPC deadlines, Right to Rent checks and deposit protection windows.”
Even the trade body isn’t confident the guidance is keeping pace. In 2026 Propertymark said that current anti-money laundering guidance still doesn’t give agents enough clarity to comply with confidence, calling for guidance that is “clearer, simpler and more practical.”
At the same time, portfolios are getting bigger. Consolidation means more agencies are managing several hundred properties rather than a few dozen, often across several branches (see how the top UK multi-branch agencies manage compliance). A missed certificate on 40 properties is a bad afternoon. A missed certificate on 400 is a pattern, and it’s the kind of pattern a redress scheme, local authority or future regulator will ask hard questions about, with the agent’s name attached, not just the landlord’s.
If your current system was built for a lighter regulatory era, or you’re still running this on spreadsheets and a shared inbox, read our 10 warning signs you’ve outgrown your property management software before you decide what comes next.
What makes the best property management software for 2027?
This comparison uses publicly available product information, independent reviews on Trustpilot, AllAgents and Kerfuffle, government and trade body guidance, and Alto’s own usage data. Features, pricing and review scores change regularly, so use the links throughout to check the current figures for yourself. Here’s what separates a properly built property management system from a CRM with a few lettings features bolted on.
Compliance that runs itself, not a checklist someone has to remember
The best systems track every gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC and Right to Rent check across the whole portfolio and chase the renewal automatically, not just flag that something’s due. In 2027 that list also includes PRS Database registration for every let property. See our guide to building your lettings systems for Renters’ Rights Act compliance.
Block management, not just lettings management
If you manage blocks, or you’re weighing it up as a source of recurring revenue, you need service charge accounting, compliance reporting and fire safety tracking in the same system as everything else, not a separate product and a separate login. Our complete guide to block management for estate agents covers what’s involved.
Client accounting that reconciles itself
Rent collection, landlord statements, contractor payments and non-resident landlord returns all have to tie out, every month, for every property. With Making Tax Digital reaching landlords earning over £30,000 from April 2027, clean records matter more than ever. Automated client accounting should mean reconciliation happens in the background, not as a monthly fire drill.
Arrears, maintenance and everyday tenant admin
Rent arrears need to be visible before they become a problem, and maintenance requests need a clear owner from report to resolution. This is where a lot of “lettings CRMs” quietly fall over once volume goes up.
AI that finishes the job
In 2027 the question isn’t whether a platform has AI. It’s whether the AI does the work (matching applicants, answering questions about the portfolio, chasing what’s overdue) and hands it back for a person to approve, with every action logged. Our comparison of AI CRMs for estate agents in 2027 goes through what’s live and what’s still a promise.
Applicant and tenant portals
Landlords and tenants expect to see what’s happening without phoning the office. Applicant to property matching that works, plus a self-service portal for both sides, cuts a huge amount of routine admin.
Reporting that turns data into a decision
Dashboards that just display numbers aren’t enough anymore. The best systems answer plain-English questions, like which properties have rising arrears, without someone having to build a spreadsheet first. Alto IQ is a good example of what this should look like day to day.
Open integrations
Property management doesn’t happen in one app. It needs to talk to EPC providers, AML checks, portals and marketing tools, ideally through an open marketplace rather than a slow, bespoke integration project every time.
Independent reviews you can actually go and check
Anyone can put testimonials on their own website. What matters is whether real customers have left reviews on platforms the vendor doesn’t control, and whether there are enough of them to trust the pattern. We’ll come back to this, because it’s more revealing than most buyers realise.
Alto: property management built as one system
Alto is the UK’s #1 estate agent CRM, trusted by over 6,000 agents and used by over a third of UK estate agents. For property management, the difference isn’t a single feature. It’s that compliance, block management, accounting, AI and reporting all sit inside the same property management dashboard rather than being stitched together from separate tools.
Compliance that runs itself
Alto’s AutoCert monitors a managed portfolio continuously, triggers the renewal as a certificate approaches expiry, and only pulls a person in when a decision needs making. It cuts the admin per certificate from around 30 minutes to five, and every action is logged, so when a redress scheme or local authority asks for evidence, it exists. It’s a direct answer to what our renters’ rights compliance guide sets out as the real requirement after Section 21: a dated, tamper-evident record, not a reminder someone might act on.
Alto Verification, powered by Thirdfort, handles identity, AML and source of funds checks inside the contact record, cutting client checks and set-up time by around 85%.
Block management built in, not bought in
Alto is the only one of the three platforms here with block management built in: service charge management, compliance reporting and high-rise fire safety all sit inside the same system. It’s the reason Redwing Living, part of the Regenda Group with more than 2,000 properties, moved to Alto after Reapit stopped offering block management. “Alto gives us a dedicated solution for block management that integrates with our wider reporting environment without disrupting the rest of the business,” said Kayleigh Davenport, Head of Residential Management at Redwing Living.
Client accounting and reporting that answer back
Alto’s automated client accounting handles rent collection, landlord statements and reconciliation without the monthly scramble. On top of that, Alto IQ answers plain-English questions about the portfolio and flags problems, like rising arrears on a block, before anyone has to go looking. The Accommodation Bureau used it to cut a maintenance review from over two hours of spreadsheet work to under 15 minutes. “It’s turned guesswork into confident, strategic decision-making,” said director Sam Whitehead.
Six AI skills that take jobs off the team
Alto has six AI skills live, each of which finishes a whole job and hands back a draft for a person to approve. For lettings and property management teams, three stand out. Property matcher sends applicants their matches the day a property launches or the rent changes, one curated update per contact. Alto IQ answers questions about the portfolio with a chart, table or number. Message writer drafts every email in the branch’s own tone. Agencies can change how any skill works, or build their own in plain English, and nothing reaches a landlord or tenant until someone approves it. “Matching alone genuinely takes us 20 minutes per property when it’s done by hand,” said Sam Whitehead at The Accommodation Bureau.
Growing the managed portfolio, not just running it
Property management software shouldn’t just process what you already manage. It should help you win more of it. Alto Prospecting helps identify landlords likely to bring property to market before it appears on the portals (see the best prospecting tools for estate agents), while Smart Listings gets new properties marketed and onto portals in minutes rather than hours.
Reviews: the numbers other providers won’t show you
Alto holds a 4.8 out of 5 rating on AllAgents, the UK’s largest independent review site for the property industry, and has over 420 reviews across Trustpilot, AllAgents and Kerfuffle, including 250+ verified five-star reviews in 2026 alone. More on how that compares to Reapit and Street below.
Is Alto the right property management software for you?
Alto suits growing independents and multi-branch agencies (see our guide to choosing a CRM built for multi-branch estate agencies) that want compliance handled automatically, block management in the same system as everything else, AI that takes real jobs off the team, and a platform that keeps getting better.
Reapit: capable at scale, but block management is gone and compliance automation isn’t announced
Reapit remains one of the most established CRMs in the UK property sector and is a good fit for large corporate and franchise networks with the internal IT resource to manage a longer, more structured rollout. In September 2026 it announced more than £20m of new investment and a customer portal called Reapit Home, so it isn’t standing still.
Block management: no longer available
This is the single biggest gap for property managers considering Reapit. Agencies that manage or want to grow blocks have to look elsewhere, and it’s the exact reason Redwing Living moved away from Reapit.
Compliance automation isn’t announced
Reapit has strong reporting for agencies with the set-up resource to configure it, but when we checked in October 2026 there was no certificate renewal automation comparable to AutoCert live or announced. That leaves the manual chasing (the exact process the Renters’ Rights Act now punishes more heavily when it goes wrong) still sitting with a person. Its flagship AI assistant, RAI Copilot, was announced for “summer 2026” and still had no confirmed general availability in October 2026.
Reviews: read them yourself before you sign
Reapit shows up on all three review platforms, which is more than can be said for Street, but the picture is mixed. When we checked in 2026, it had 63 reviews and an 81% recommend rate on AllAgents, and reading through them showed a real split: long-standing customers praising service that’s “second to none” alongside recent, detailed complaints about corrupted data records and support described as “woefully poor.” On Kerfuffle, where Reapit lists under property management, it showed the highest score of the three, 4.8 out of 5 from 196 reviews, so it’s worth reading the reviews in full rather than taking any single number on faith.
Is Reapit the right property management software for you?
Reapit can be a reasonable fit if your agency has serious in-house IT resource, complex multi-brand reporting needs, and doesn’t manage blocks. If block management matters to your growth plan, it’s currently a dealbreaker.
Street: a clean app for agents just starting to take on managed stock
Street has built a name on a modern, simple interface, and for single-branch or early-stage agencies with simple lettings, that’s a real strength.
No block management, and pricing that grows with your stock
Street has no block management at all, and its own positioning points it at single-branch and early-stage agencies rather than agencies managing property at volume. Its pricing has been tied to stock volume, so the more you manage, the more you pay, which can make the platform considerably more expensive exactly as your property management book grows. Street no longer publishes its prices on its website, so ask for a quote at the portfolio size you’re planning for, not the one you have today.
Compliance: alerts, not automation (yet)
Street covers gas safety, EICR and EPC certificate alerts, but feedback suggests these work more as reminders than as a renewal workflow. In August 2026 Street added lettings agents to Cortex, its AI product, including compliance checks. Cortex was still on a waitlist in October 2026, with usage-based pricing, so there’s no live equivalent to AutoCert coordinating the supplier, the landlord and the paperwork automatically.
Reviews: hard to check because there’s so little to check
This is where Street is most different from the other two. When we checked, it had no page on Trustpilot and no listing on AllAgents, the two biggest independent review sites UK agents use to check a supplier before they buy. Its only real independent review footprint is on Kerfuffle, where it showed around 14 reviews. If you want an outside view of Street beyond its own marketing and case studies, there’s very little to go on.
Is Street the right property management software for you?
Street can work for agencies at the very start of taking on managed stock who want a modern interface above all else. It’s a harder case to make once you’re managing blocks, chasing arrears at volume, or need to show a regulator a proper compliance audit trail.
How Alto, Reapit and Street compare on property management
| What it does | Alto | Reapit | Street |
| Certificate compliance automation | AutoCert tracks and renews gas, EPC and EICR certificates automatically, logging every action | No renewal automation live or announced | Certificate alerts; compliance checks in Cortex, which is on a waitlist |
| Block management | Built in: service charges, compliance reporting, high-rise fire safety | No longer available | Not offered |
| Client accounting | Built in, automated reconciliation | Offered, though full accounting can be chargeable on lower tiers | Included |
| AI that finishes jobs | Six skills live, including property matcher, Alto IQ and message writer; agent approves everything | RAI Copilot announced, no confirmed general availability | Cortex on a waitlist, usage metered |
| Arrears and maintenance | Automated triage, tasks created directly in Alto | Tracking within the CRM | Tenant app for requests |
| Landlord and tenant portal | Keyflo gives both sides a connected portal | Owner portal, tenant app and the new Reapit Home portal | Client portals with self-service |
| Applicant to property matching | Property matcher skill sends curated matches automatically | Available | Cross-branch matching |
| Reporting and analytics | Alto IQ answers plain-English questions and flags anomalies like rising arrears | Strong enterprise reporting, needs set-up | Basic pipeline and activity reporting |
| Trustpilot | Listed and rated | Listed and rated | Not listed |
| AllAgents | 4.8 out of 5 | 63 reviews, 81% recommend, mixed sentiment | Not listed |
| Kerfuffle (property management category) | 4.7 out of 5 | 4.8 out of 5 from 196 reviews | 4.7 out of 5 from around 14 reviews |
Review figures as checked in 2026. Scores move, so check the live pages before you decide.
The reviews: what Trustpilot, AllAgents and Kerfuffle actually show
Anyone can curate testimonials for their own website. Independent review platforms are harder to control, which is exactly why they matter more.
Street is the clearest case. It has no presence on Trustpilot or AllAgents, the two sites most UK agents check before buying agency software. Its public review record sits on Kerfuffle, at a fraction of the volume of the other two. If you’re doing due diligence on Street, you’re largely relying on its own case studies.
Reapit does list on all three, and some of what’s there is strong: long-term customers describing service that’s “second to none,” and its highest score of the three sits on Kerfuffle. But its AllAgents feed, the least curated of the three platforms, swings hard, with recent reviews describing corrupted data and support that’s “woefully poor” alongside older five-star endorsements. Read the full set before you decide what it tells you about support once you’re a customer rather than a prospect.
Alto holds the highest AllAgents rating of the three at 4.8 out of 5, and has over 420 reviews across Trustpilot, AllAgents and Kerfuffle, including 250+ verified five-star reviews in 2026 alone. The pattern across all three: Alto is the only one of the three property management providers with a substantial, checkable, independent review record on every major platform agents actually use.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best property management software in the UK for 2027?
There’s no single answer for every agency, but Alto is the strongest all-round option for most UK agencies managing rented property in 2027. It has block management built in, AutoCert renews certificates automatically, six AI skills take on jobs like applicant matching and portfolio reporting, and it has the biggest independent review record of the three, with a 4.8 out of 5 rating on AllAgents. Reapit suits large enterprise portfolios with in-house IT. Street suits single-branch agencies just starting out, though it lacks block management and has very few independent reviews to check.
Does Alto include block management?
Yes. Alto is the only one of the three platforms compared here with block management built into the same system as lettings and sales, covering service charges, compliance reporting and high-rise fire safety. Reapit no longer offers block management, and Street has never offered it.
How does Alto compare to Reapit for property management?
Reapit has strong reporting for agencies with the internal resource to configure it, but it no longer offers block management and, as of October 2026, had no certificate renewal automation live or announced. Its AI assistant, RAI Copilot, still had no confirmed general availability. Alto includes block management, AutoCert and six live AI skills as standard, alongside a stronger, more consistent independent review record on AllAgents.
How does Alto compare to Street for property management?
Street offers a clean, modern interface but no block management, and its pricing has scaled with stock volume, so costs rise as your managed portfolio grows. Its AI compliance checks sit in Cortex, which was still on a waitlist in October 2026, and it has no presence on Trustpilot or AllAgents. Alto includes block management, automated certificate renewals and a substantial independent review record across all three major platforms.
Which of these three has the best AI for property management?
Alto. Its six AI skills are live, including property matcher, Alto IQ and message writer, and each one finishes a job and hands it back for a person to approve. AutoCert and Alto Verification automate compliance inside the same system. Reapit’s RAI Copilot and Street’s Cortex were both still waiting on general availability in October 2026. Our comparison of AI CRMs for estate agents in 2027 goes through each platform in detail.
What does the PRS Database mean for property management software?
The Private Rented Sector Database opens on 15th December 2026, region by region, and every let property in England must be registered by 14th November 2027, at £65 per property per year. Fines run up to £7,000, and up to £40,000 for repeat breaches or false information. Property management software should help you track which landlords and properties are registered, and keep evidence that they are.
Where can I check real reviews of property management software before I buy?
Check Trustpilot and AllAgents, which are independent of the vendors, alongside Kerfuffle, the proptech industry’s own marketplace. Read the full spread of reviews, not just the top ones, especially on the less curated platforms.
Does property management software need to handle the Renters’ Rights Act?
Yes. With Section 21 abolished from 1st May 2026, civil penalties for compliance failures running up to £40,000, and PRS Database registration due for every let property by November 2027, software that only reminds you what’s due isn’t enough. You need a system that automates the chasing and keeps a dated, evidence-ready audit trail. See our guide on building your lettings systems for Renters’ Rights Act compliance.
How much does property management software cost?
Pricing varies by provider, portfolio size and the number of branches. Alto’s pricing is tailored to your agency’s size and needs, with set-up and data migration included. Book a demo for a quote specific to your portfolio.
Next steps
The clearest way to see the difference is to look at what a joined-up property management system does with your own portfolio: compliance, block management, accounting, AI and reporting in one place, not three logins and a spreadsheet holding it together.
Book a no-pressure demo to see Alto’s property management tools in action.
