Accountants for landlords moving property into a limited company
You already own buy-to-lets in your own name and you are working out whether to move them into a limited company, and what that would cost. The real question is whether the stamp duty and capital gains tax on the way in are worth the corporation tax treatment afterwards. One of our property tax specialists starts with the market value and debt on each property, how the lettings are actually run, and who your lender is. Those answers decide whether section 162 incorporation relief is in play and whether a partnership route is open. By the end of it you know the cost of entry, which route fits and where HMRC would push back. The review runs by video call and phone with papers exchanged by email, so it does not matter where in the UK your lettings are.
What lands on your desk
The tax cost of moving buy-to-lets into a limited company
What a company gains you, and what it costs to get there
The case for a company is on the income side: profits pay corporation tax rather than income tax, and mortgage interest is deducted in full because the Section 24 restriction does not apply to companies. The case against sits on the way in and the way out. The transfer carries stamp duty and capital gains tax unless a relief applies, company borrowing usually costs more, the company is a permanent running cost, and taking money out is a second layer of tax. Which side wins depends on your rates, your borrowing and whether you need to draw the rent.
Stamp duty is charged on market value, not on what you pay yourself
Selling to your own company is a connected-party transaction, so SDLT is worked out on the open market value of each property whatever figure sits on the transfer deed. The company also pays the 5% additional dwellings surcharge on top of the standard bands, and a single dwelling above £500,000 can fall into the 17% flat rate for non-natural persons, although relief normally applies where the company acquires it to let in a qualifying property rental business. Put your own numbers through the stamp duty calculator first.
The partnership route is narrower than the commentary suggests
Where the lettings are genuinely run as a partnership, the sum of the lower proportions calculation in Schedule 15 of the Finance Act 2003 can reduce the chargeable consideration, and at 100% it removes it. That needs a real partnership with substance: filed returns, records, joint borrowing. One created weeks before the transfer is the pattern HMRC challenges. Cohabiting unmarried couples are not connected persons, and withdrawing capital within three years is itself chargeable.
Incorporation relief now has to be claimed, and it has to be earned
The transfer is a disposal at market value, so the gain since purchase is chargeable at 18% or 24% with a £3,000 annual exempt amount against it. Section 162 relief rolls that gain into the base cost of your shares, but only where you transfer a business as a going concern with all its assets other than cash for shares. Since 6 April 2026 it must also be claimed, by the first anniversary of the 31 January following the tax year of transfer.
Your lender has to agree, and the new borrowing costs more
A personal buy-to-let mortgage does not follow the property into a company. Each loan is redeemed and refinanced onto limited company terms: early repayment charges, arrangement fees, new valuations and a personal guarantee from you as director. Company products typically price above equivalent personal ones, and this is the part most likely to stop the plan.
A company is a permanent running cost, not a one-off decision
Afterwards you have annual accounts, a CT600, confirmation statements and identity verification at Companies House, and you no longer own the rent personally. Taking money out means a director's loan repayment, a dividend or salary. The loan account credit created on incorporation is the cheapest route and it runs out. Dividends above the £500 allowance are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35%.
How we help
What we work out before anything moves into the company
A cost of entry you can check line by line
One of our property tax specialists reviews each property's market value, base cost and outstanding debt, then prices the SDLT the company would pay and the CGT you would face without relief. You get figures per property, not one portfolio total, because the answer is often that some should move and others should not. Sanity-check it first with the incorporation cost calculator.
A written view on whether section 162 is available to you
Your accountant prepares an assessment of whether your lettings amount to a business on the evidence that exists: hours spent, number of properties, who deals with tenants and repairs, what your records show. A strong case is documented so it can be defended. A thin one is put to you plainly.
The partnership question answered before it is relied on
Where a partnership already operates, a specialist reviews the returns, the income profit shares and the connected-person positions, and works the sum of the lower proportions through to a figure. Where none exists, you are told what a genuine one would require and how long it would need to have run.
The structure, the filings and the timetable
The share structure, the director's loan account position and the transfer timetable are prepared alongside your solicitor and broker, so the refinancing, the conveyancing and the filings line up. That covers the 60-day capital gains return where tax is due, the section 162 claim where it applies, and how money comes out afterwards.
Not sure which of these applies to you? A free consultation sets out where you stand, with no obligation.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, in almost every case. The company is a connected party, so SDLT is calculated on the open market value of the property rather than any price you put on the transfer, and there is no relief simply because you own both sides. The company pays the residential bands plus the 5% additional dwellings surcharge. The main exception is a genuine partnership transfer under Schedule 15, where the sum of the lower proportions can reduce or remove the charge.
It means the gain is rolled into the base cost of the shares you receive rather than taxed on transfer, so the tax is deferred rather than cancelled, and you meet it if you later sell the shares. You must transfer a business as a going concern, all its assets other than cash must go across, and the consideration must be wholly or partly shares. Since 6 April 2026 it must be claimed rather than applying automatically.
It depends on the activity, not the number of doors alone. HMRC looks for evidence of a business being carried on: active management, time committed, decisions made, work done on tenancies and repairs rather than an agent doing everything while you receive a statement. A larger portfolio under hands-on management is the stronger case; one or two lets run by an agent usually is not. The business test and the case law behind it are explained separately.
The change raises property income rates to 22%, 42% and 47% from 6 April 2027 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and lifts the Section 24 finance cost reducer to 22% at the same time. A basic-rate landlord sees no new gap. For a higher-rate landlord the finance cost gap stays the width it is now, so the rate rises without a new penalty on borrowing. More on the 2027 rates and the incorporation decision.
Plan on several months rather than weeks for a portfolio of any size. Company formation and identity verification at Companies House are quick. The slow parts are market valuations for every property, the refinancing offer from a limited company lender, and the conveyancing on each title. Where capital gains tax is payable, a return and payment are due within 60 days of completion. The step-by-step transfer sequence is set out separately.
Yes. A company with you as its sole director and shareholder is a common structure for a landlord. What it does not do is make the company you: it is a separate legal person, connected with you, so moving property into it is a disposal at market value for capital gains tax and an acquisition at market value for stamp duty, whatever price the transfer records.
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