SPV company: set up, run and close a UK property company
Everything about property SPVs in one place: whether to set one up, how to form it, the SIC codes and filings, the mortgage, the running costs, and how you eventually get out. Each stage links to the guide that covers it in full.
The starting point
An SPV is just a limited company with one job
The structure is simple. The decisions around it are not: whether it beats owning personally, how to move property in without an avoidable tax bill, and how to run and eventually unwind it, which is the work of an accountant who runs property companies. This page routes each of those questions to the guide that answers it properly.
For how many landlords are actually doing this, see our UK SPV Incorporation Index, tracking every new SPV incorporation from official Companies House data.
If one of these sounds like you, you are in the right place.
Talk to a specialistThe lifecycle
An SPV company from first thought to final filing
Decide if a company is right
Section 24 is the reason SPVs exist, but a company is not automatically better. Our incorporation page walks the should-I decision and models it against your own figures.
Form the company
Name, SIC codes, Companies House filing, identity verification and the bank account. Our step-by-step formation guide walks the whole process.
Structure and tax
What makes a company an SPV, share structure, Corporation Tax and how the company is taxed year to year. The SPV guide covers this ground in full.
Get the mortgage
SPV mortgages price and underwrite differently from personal buy-to-let. The mortgage cluster covers lenders, rates and newly formed companies.
Run it
Allowable expenses, accounts, filings and the annual running cost of keeping the company compliant.
Extract the profit
Salary, dividends and director loans, and the order to draw them in. The extraction guide sets out the working.
Sell up or close down
Selling the property, selling the company, or closing it: dormant, strike-off or a members' voluntary liquidation.
The detail lives one click away: start with should you incorporate at all, then how to set up a property investment company and what an SPV costs to form. The SPV guide carries the structure and tax detail, SPV mortgages explained covers the lending side, and the extraction pillar covers getting money out. If you would rather have the company formed for you, we set up landlord companies with the shareholders, a SIC code your lender accepts and the first-year filing dates settled before completion.
Free calculators
Put your own numbers through it
The incorporation calculator models the upfront cost and break-even of moving property into a company. For the stamp duty on a purchase or a transfer to your own company, including the market-value rule, use the stamp duty calculator.
Calculator
Incorporation Cost Calculator
Calculate the upfront cost (CGT + SDLT) and break-even timeline for incorporating your rental property.
Simplified estimate. Actual costs depend on your specific circumstances and require full feasibility analysis.
Want a specialist to check your figure?
A calculator gives the shape of the answer. Tell us your situation and a specialist will confirm your exact figure and the legitimate ways to reduce it, with no obligation.
The guides
Every SPV question, routed
Formation mechanics
How to set up the company step by step, and what the first year costs, from the Companies House fee to the professional fees around it.
SIC codes and Companies House
Which SIC code an SPV uses, what lenders look for on the register, and the filings the company owes each year.
Moving property you already own
Transferring personally held property into a company: the SDLT and CGT cost, phased routes for portfolios, and the step-by-step for a full incorporation.
Running the company
What a property company can deduct, what it costs to run, and the accounts and returns it files.
Selling and closing
Closing a property company the cheap way or the clean way, and what happens to property still inside it.
Ownership structures
Spouses, children, holding companies and joint ventures: who should hold the shares and why it matters later.
Formation: the step-by-step guide, formation costs, the bank account and the registered office. Companies House: SIC codes for an SPV, changing a SIC code, company name rules and the first-year filing timeline. Landlord registration for companies in Scotland and Wales: the devolved registers. Transfers: how to transfer property into a limited company, the SDLT cost of a transfer, the phased route for portfolios and the full step-by-step incorporation. Running it: what the company can deduct, what it costs to run each year and living in a company-owned property. Moving out or on: the conveyancing process, transferring property back out, selling the SPV: shares or assets and how to close a property limited company. Structures: structure planning and joint-venture SPVs. Mortgages: the mortgage guide and limited-company mortgage options. Non-resident landlords: offshore companies owning UK property and the non-resident tax hub. Taking money out: the extraction calculator.
The shape of it
The whole journey, in order
- 01
Decide
Model incorporate-versus-personal on your own figures. If the numbers say stay personal, stop here.
- 02
Form and open
Register the company, verify identity, open the bank account and activate Corporation Tax.
- 03
Buy or transfer in
Purchase through the company, or move existing property in with the SDLT and CGT cost modelled first.
- 04
Run and file
Accounts, confirmation statement, Corporation Tax return and the annual running costs, every year.
- 05
Extract, then exit
Draw profit tax-efficiently as you go, and when the time comes, sell or close the company deliberately rather than by default.
Free consultation
Get the SPV decision modelled properly
Whether you are forming your first SPV or moving a portfolio in, we model the numbers on your actual figures and tell you plainly when a company is not worth it.
- Property tax onlySPVs, Section 24, CGT and SDLT every day
- Fixed fees, quoted upfrontIn writing, before any work starts
- 24-hour responseUsually the same working day
No obligation and no hard sell. If staying personal is right for you, we will say so.
Rather not fill in a form? Text or call +44 7723 568557 or email umair@propertytaxpartners.co.uk.
Book your free consultation
FAQs
SPV company questions landlords ask
An SPV (special purpose vehicle) is an ordinary limited company set up to do one thing, usually holding rental property, with SIC codes and articles that say so. Lenders like them because the company's only business is the property. Our SPV guide explains what makes a company an SPV and how it is taxed year to year.
You register a limited company at Companies House with property SIC codes, verify the directors' identities, then open a business bank account and register for Corporation Tax. The full walkthrough, including what lenders want to see on day one, is in our step-by-step formation guide.
The Companies House fee is £100 online (£124 by paper), and most landlords spend more than that on the pieces around it: an agent or accountant to form it, a registered office and the first year's compliance. Our formation cost guide breaks down the realistic year-one total.
It depends on your tax band, your mortgage interest and how long you plan to hold: a company deducts interest in full where Section 24 restricts it personally, but it costs money to set up and run. Higher-rate, geared, long-term landlords benefit most. Our incorporation page models the decision against your own figures.
Yes, but the transfer is treated as a market-value sale to the company, so stamp duty and capital gains tax can both arise. That cost is the biggest single factor in the decision. Start with our guide to transferring property into a limited company for how it works and what it costs.
An SPV holds the asset and does one job; a holding company owns other companies. Some portfolio landlords use both, with a holding company above one or more property SPVs. Our structure-planning guide covers when the extra layer earns its keep.
They get limited-company buy-to-let products, which are underwritten differently and usually price a little higher, with personal guarantees from the directors. A newly formed SPV with no income can still borrow. Our SPV mortgage guide covers lenders, rates and criteria.
There is a small standard set of property SIC codes, and lenders check them, so it is worth getting right at formation. Our SIC code guide lists the codes and which one fits which activity.