Limited Company Property Finance: 2026 Market Outlook

A few years ago, a landlord buying a rental property simply bought it in their own name and took out one of the standard buy-to-let mortgages on the market. In 2026 that has flipped. Most new buy-to-let purchases now go through a limited company, the lending market has reshaped itself around corporate borrowers, and the question for a new investor is no longer whether to use a company but how to set it up so the finance works. This article is the map: why the shift happened, how big it is, how a limited company mortgage on a rental property actually works, what criteria lenders apply, which routes and lenders fund it, and where the next twelve months are heading.

The driver behind the whole thing is a tax change called Section 24, which removed the ability of individual landlords to deduct their mortgage interest from rental profit. A limited company can still deduct that interest in full as a business cost. For a higher-rate taxpayer, that single difference can decide whether a leveraged rental property makes money or loses it. We will explain how that feeds into the lending, but the key point to hold onto is that the company structure is the structural answer to a tax problem, and the lending market has been rebuilt to serve it.

We are a buy-to-let finance broker, and we arrange limited company mortgages and SPV mortgages across a whole-of-market panel of more than 100 lenders. The figures in this article are indicative market commentary for the UK limited company buy-to-let market in 2026, not quotes or offers, and every sector statistic is attributed to the research house that published it. Importantly, nothing here is tax advice. The tax reasons landlords incorporate are context to explain the market, and any decision about Section 24, incorporating, transferring property or the related taxes belongs with a qualified accountant or tax adviser, not with us as your finance broker.

Why landlords are incorporating: Section 24 and the company shift

Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 was announced at the July 2015 Budget and phased in between April 2017 and April 2020. According to HMRC and GOV.UK guidance, it restricted tax relief on residential landlords’ finance costs, mortgage interest and similar, to the basic rate of income tax. Since April 2020, an individual landlord can no longer deduct mortgage interest from rental profit. Instead they receive a basic-rate 20% tax reduction, while being taxed on the grossed-up rental income. For a higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer that is a painful piece of arithmetic, because they pay tax at 40% or 45% on income but only get relief at 20% on the cost of borrowing it.

The reason this matters so much for finance is that the restriction applies to individuals, not to limited companies. Finance costs remain fully deductible for residential property owned by a limited company, so inside a company the interest comes off before profit is taxed, exactly as it did for everyone before 2017. That is the single structural reason higher-rate landlords have moved into limited companies in such numbers, and it is what created demand for a whole category of company mortgages built for that structure. We want to be clear that this is general information to explain the market, not tax advice, and how Section 24 affects any individual depends entirely on their own income and circumstances, which is a conversation for an accountant.

There are reasons beyond the interest deduction, too. A company lets a landlord retain profit inside the business for reinvestment rather than drawing it and paying personal tax on it straight away, control how and when money is taken out through salary, dividends or director loans, and plan ownership across family members through how the shares are held. Companies House data analysed by Hamptons shows 42% of the companies created in 2025 had more than one shareholder, up from 34% in 2016, which points to more joint and family ownership and deliberate long-term structuring. None of this is tax advice either: the extraction and succession mechanics need to be designed with an accountant, and where ownership is involved, a solicitor.

The numbers: how many landlords have moved into limited companies

The scale of the move into limited companies is striking. Hamptons, analysing Companies House data, reported a record 66,587 new companies set up to hold buy-to-let property in 2025, up 8% on 2024 and a 363% rise across the decade. That brought the total to 443,272 active buy-to-let companies on the register at the end of 2025, nearly five times the number recorded in 2016. The momentum carried into 2026: Hamptons counted 5,922 new buy-to-let companies incorporated in January 2026 alone, 11% more than the same month a year earlier.

Those companies hold a lot of property. Hamptons, drawing on Land Registry and Companies House data, found more than 755,000 property titles held in buy-to-let companies across England and Wales by the end of 2025, up from about 273,000 a decade earlier, and estimates that roughly 1.5 million rental homes are now held in company structures. On the flow of new purchases, Hamptons reports that around three-quarters of new buy-to-let purchases are now made through a limited company. The company route is not a niche corner of the market any more; it is the mainstream.

The lending data tells the same story from a different angle, and it is now buy-to-let mortgages written to companies that drive the purchase market. Paragon Bank reports that 43% of mortgaged buy-to-let house purchases completed through a limited company in 2025, up from 35% in 2024 and just 7.5% in 2018. Remortgages lag well behind: Paragon puts the company share of completed buy-to-let remortgages at 11.5% in 2025, up from 10% in 2024 and 1.3% in 2018. That gap between purchases at 43% and remortgages at 11.5% is the most important number in the whole dataset, and we will come back to why it exists.

It is worth a word on the figures, because different houses count differently. Hamptons identifies companies it judges were set up to hold buy-to-let, giving the 66,587 new and 443,272 active figures. Paragon cites a broader Companies House activity code, the buying and selling of own real estate, under which it reports just under 50,000 companies, about 49,029, were established in 2025, up from about 45,775 in 2024. These are not directly comparable definitions, so we keep each figure with its named house rather than blending them. Looking forward, Paragon’s research, conducted by BVA BDRC on a survey of more than 500 landlords, found that 63% of landlords expect to make future purchases through an SPV, rising to every respondent aged 25 to 34. The direction of travel is not in doubt.

The company route restored the arithmetic of leveraged buy-to-let, and the lending market followed the borrowers.

How a limited company buy-to-let mortgage works

A limited company buy-to-let mortgage is a loan made to a UK company rather than to an individual. The company owns the property, the rent services the loan, the directors give personal guarantees, and the mortgage interest stays fully deductible against corporation tax. In almost every case the company is a special purpose vehicle, or SPV: a company set up only to hold and let property, with no other trading activity. The basic eligibility is straightforward: the company must be UK-registered, the directors and shareholders are usually the same people and stand behind a personal guarantee, and the property has to let on terms the lender accepts. Lenders price a clean property-only SPV best, and a brand-new ltd company with no trading history is not penalised, which surprises people. You do not need a long company track record to clear the lending criteria or get a good rate; you need a clean structure.

The structure is identified by its SIC code, the standard industrial classification that says what a company does. Lenders want to see SIC code 68100, buying and selling of own real estate, or 68209, other letting and operating of own or leased real estate. A clean SPV under one of these codes sees the keenest pricing and the widest lender choice. A mixed trading company that also holds property faces a smaller lender pool and more underwriting, and group structures, a holding company over several SPVs, are common once a portfolio grows. Getting the SIC code and the structure right before the first purchase avoids having to re-paper everything later, and it is one of the first things we check.

The core benefit shows up in the interest cover ratio, the ICR, which is how a lender sizes the loan against the rent. Company buy-to-let is commonly stressed at 125%, meaning the rent has to cover 125% of the notional mortgage interest, against 145% for a higher-rate personal borrower. Because company finance costs are fully deductible, the lower 125% test lets a company borrow more against the same rent. A notional stress rate, commonly around 5.5%, is applied, but a five-year fixed rate is often tested at or near the actual pay rate, which loosens the cover test and can release a larger loan. That is a real benefit of going long on the fixed rate term: a longer fixed rate usually buys a more generous ICR calculation. HMOs and multi-unit blocks usually clear the 125% test with far more headroom because they are stressed on aggregate room rents.

On pricing and loan size, company products have historically carried a premium of around 0.20% to 0.40% over the equivalent personal-name product, a gap that has narrowed as the company market matured. Broker market commentary cites that premium around 0.2% to 0.5% historically, with some lenders in 2026 pricing company and personal products at or close to parity. Either way, the premium is usually outweighed by the full interest deduction for a higher-rate landlord, though that is a tax-and-finance calculation rather than a finance one alone, and again belongs with an accountant. Loan to value typically reaches up to 75% on a clean SPV, with a handful of lenders going to 80% on a rate premium, and pricing steps at 65%, 70% and 75%. The deposit is usually funded as a director’s loan into the company, repayable from company profits later, which is a structuring point to settle with your accountant before completion.

The funding routes, from SPV BTL to portfolio finance

The company structure is the wrapper; inside it sit several distinct funding routes, and the company mortgages available to fill them differ in their criteria and pricing. The core route is the standard SPV buy-to-let mortgage on a single rental property, sized on the 125% ICR up to 75% LTV, used for a new purchase or a remortgage. Remortgaging covers switching lender at deal expiry, raising capital on company-held equity for the next purchase, or a simple product transfer, with capital raising available up to the same 75% cap. Because a remortgage is re-stressed at 125% on the current rent, rent growth since purchase can release a larger loan.

For landlords with four or more mortgaged properties, the portfolio route applies. A portfolio landlord can hold the properties in one company or across a group of SPVs, with each asset funded up to 75% LTV and an aggregate portfolio LTV limit commonly around 65% to 75%. Lenders run the 125% ICR per property plus an aggregate cover test across the portfolio, so a strong performer can offset a weaker one. HMOs and multi-unit freehold blocks are a route of their own, lent up to around 75%, where the valuation basis, room-rate income, commercial yield or bricks-and-mortar comparable, drives the loan more than the headline LTV does.

Where speed or condition rules out a standard mortgage, bridging finance written to the SPV covers auction purchases, unmortgageable stock and heavy refurbishment, typically at 70% to 75% of purchase price and more against gross development value on a refurbishment. There is no ICR on the bridge itself, but the term exit onto a company buy-to-let mortgage is stress-tested at 125% before we recommend the route, because a bridge always needs a clear exit. Holiday and short-term lets through the company are a smaller pool again, typically 60% to 75% LTV, underwritten on a low, mid and high season letting projection from a holiday-letting agent and then stress-tested.

This is also where the purchase-versus-remortgage gap from the data makes sense. A new purchase by a company is clean: the company simply buys the property. Moving a property you already own personally into a company is a sale at market value, which can trigger capital gains tax on the gain, brings the stamp duty land tax additional-dwelling surcharge for the company buyer, which rose to 5% from 31 October 2024 per HMRC, and means a full refinance onto a company mortgage. That is why company purchase completions, at 43% on Paragon’s figures, run far ahead of remortgage conversions at 11.5%. We must stress that the tax cost of incorporating, and whether reliefs such as incorporation relief under s162 TCGA 1992 apply, is tax-advice territory and must be worked out with an accountant before anyone acts; we arrange only the finance leg.

Which lenders fund company buy-to-let in 2026

The lender market has reshaped itself around lending to limited companies, and there is real depth. On a whole-of-market panel of more than 100 lenders, the specialist SPV lenders most active on clean company buy-to-let in 2026 include Paragon, Kent Reliance, Fleet Mortgages, Foundation Home Loans, Landbay and Precise Mortgages. These are the names that built their proposition around lending to limited companies, are comfortable with new companies and the 125% ICR, and price the structure keenly. Their criteria are written for SPVs from the ground up, so eligibility for a newly formed company is the norm rather than the exception. For larger and group structures, portfolio appetite sits with lenders such as Paragon, Landbay, Foundation Home Loans and Shawbrook.

A second group matters just as much, and it is the reason a broker is not optional here. Several strong lenders are intermediary-only, meaning they distribute their buy-to-let mortgages solely through brokers and a borrower cannot approach them directly. The Mortgage Works, Leeds Building Society, Coventry Building Society, Metro Bank and Yorkshire Building Society all sit in this camp. If you go direct, those limited company mortgages are simply closed to you. The whole point of the broker model is access to that full panel, the specialist SPV lenders and the intermediary-only names together, plus the modelling of the company-versus-personal maths and the ICR at the right stress before the application goes anywhere.

We name these lenders to describe their appetite and category, not to quote a rate. Specific pricing is set case by case by each lender and depends on the company, the directors, the property and the rent, so a headline rate from one lender means little until it is read against its arrangement fee and your structure. Our job is to match the structure to the lender whose appetite genuinely fits it, rather than sending the case everywhere, and to make sure the deal clears the 125% test comfortably rather than just scraping it.

The 12-month outlook

The macro backdrop is steady. The Bank of England base rate is 3.75%, held since the December 2025 cut, and company buy-to-let pricing is quoted as a margin over a swap or reference rate. Product rates are fee-loaded, so the headline rate and the arrangement fee have to be read together; a low rate with a high fee is not always the cheaper deal over the term. A held base rate gives lenders and landlords a more stable footing to plan against than the volatility of recent years did.

On volumes, UK Finance reports that new buy-to-let lending rose about 11% in 2025 to around 11 billion pounds and is forecast to stay broadly flat in 2026, constrained by additional taxes and regulation. That sits inside a total gross mortgage market UK Finance expects to grow about 4% to around 300 billion pounds in 2026, with buy-to-let the constrained segment within that wider picture. So the outlook is not a surge in volume; it is a steady market in which a rising share of the buy-to-let mortgages written each year goes to companies rather than individuals.

That mix shift is the real story for the year ahead. With Paragon and BVA BDRC finding 63% of landlords intending to buy through an SPV in future, and about 32% intending to transfer personal-name property into a company, the company share of both purchases and remortgages should keep climbing from the 43% and 11.5% it reached in 2025. We expect the company-versus-personal rate premium to keep narrowing toward parity at more lenders, lender competition on SPV products to stay strong, and the intermediary-only names to remain a meaningful slice of the best pricing. For an investor, the practical takeaway is that the company route is now the default starting point for a new purchase, and the work is in getting the structure and the lender right from the outset.

FAQ

Do I have to use a limited company to buy a rental property now? No, but most new landlords do, and the data shows around three-quarters of new buy-to-let purchases now go through a company on Hamptons’ figures. Whether a company is right for you depends on your tax position, which is a question for an accountant. We arrange the finance for whichever structure you and your adviser settle on.

Why is the company interest cover ratio lower than the personal one? Because a company deducts its mortgage interest in full, lenders stress company buy-to-let at 125% rather than the 145% applied to a higher-rate personal borrower. That lower test means the same rent can support a larger company loan, which is a core part of why the company route stacks up.

Does a brand-new ltd company with no history get worse rates? Generally no. Specialist SPV lenders are set up to lend to newly formed limited companies, and their criteria treat a clean property-only SPV under SIC code 68100 or 68209 as fully eligible, with the keenest pricing and the widest choice. A long trading record is not part of the eligibility test; a clean structure is.

What is the rate premium for a company mortgage? Company mortgages have historically priced around 0.20% to 0.40% above the equivalent personal product, a gap that has narrowed in 2026 toward parity at some lenders, and a longer fixed rate can sometimes close it further. For a higher-rate landlord the premium is usually outweighed by the full interest deduction, one of the main benefits of the structure, though that is a tax-and-finance calculation to run with your accountant.

Can I move my existing personally-owned properties into a company? You can, but it is a sale at market value that can trigger capital gains tax and the 5% stamp duty additional-dwelling surcharge, and it means a full refinance. This is exactly why company remortgage conversions lag purchases in the data. The tax cost and any reliefs are matters for a qualified accountant; we arrange only the company mortgage leg.

Why can’t I just go to the lenders directly? Some of the strongest company buy-to-let lenders, including The Mortgage Works, Leeds, Coventry, Metro Bank and Yorkshire Building Society, are intermediary-only and only lend through brokers. Going direct closes those limited company mortgages to you. A whole-of-market broker gives you the full panel of more than 100 lenders, a clear read on each one’s criteria, and the modelling behind the choice.

Talk to us

If you are planning a buy-to-let purchase through a company, or weighing whether to, the earlier we see the structure and the numbers, the better we can shape the finance around the 125% test and the right lender. We will give you a realistic read on loan to value, rate and structure, set out the criteria and eligibility each lender will apply, work alongside your accountant on the tax side, and match the limited company mortgage to the lenders whose appetite genuinely fits it, including the intermediary-only names you cannot reach yourself. To get started, talk to a limited company buy-to-let specialist.

Buy-to-let lending to a limited company is, in most cases, unregulated business lending and falls outside the FCA’s regulated mortgage perimeter. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Where a deal involves a regulated element, for example a consumer buy-to-let or a director’s residential, we refer it to an appropriately regulated firm. Everything here is general information and indicative market commentary, not regulated financial advice, and nothing in it is tax advice: please take professional advice on your own position from a qualified accountant or tax adviser before acting. This article was written by Matt Lenzie.