Our analysis shows that the number of buy‑to‑let companies being set up continues to rise. In 2025, 66,587 new companies were established to hold buy‑to‑let property, representing an 8% increase from 2024 and a 363% rise over the past decade.
This growth has taken place even as investors have made up a slightly smaller share of home purchases, where across Great Britain investors bought 10.8% of homes in 2025 - down from 11.9% the year before.
The upward trend in incorporations has been building since 2016, when full mortgage interest relief began to be phased out for higher‑rate taxpayers owning buy‑to‑let property in their personal names. Since then, company ownership has steadily become the default route for many landlords.
Today, around three‑quarters of new buy‑to‑let purchases are made through limited companies, with rising numbers also reflecting landlords transferring existing portfolios out of personal ownership.
The number of new companies established peaked at 6,493 in September 2025, the highest monthly figure on record. By the end of 2025, nearly 443,272 buy‑to‑let companies were registered with Companies House - almost five times the number recorded in 2016. Across England and Wales, company landlords now own more than 755,000 property titles, compared with 273,000 a decade ago.
This momentum has carried into 2026, with 5,922 new buy-to-let limited companies set up in January 2026 - 11% more than the same month last year, suggesting the trend shows little sign of slowing. We estimate that roughly 1.5 million rental homes are held in company structures.
Buy-to-let companies also ranked among the most common types of new businesses created in 2025. They were the second most frequently set up business category, behind mail‑order firms, but ahead of management consultants.
Ownership Structure
42% of the 66,587 companies created in 2015 had more than one shareholder. This is up from 34% in 2016, suggesting that limited companies are increasingly providing a vehicle for co‑investment.
Location of purchases by buy-to-let businesses
While 31% of these companies have their headquarters in London, their portfolios span far beyond the capital. In fact, 51% of purchases made by London-based companies are located outside the capital.
London-based companies now own more property titles in the East of England, South East, North West and North East than all other companies investing there from outside the region.
The Increasing Tax Burden
The move into limited companies is part of a wider trend. The total number of companies on the Companies House register has increased by 48% over the past decade, influenced in part by the rising tax burden on individuals.
Since the personal allowance and higher‑rate income tax threshold last increased in April 2021, having fallen by 27% in real terms today. Had these thresholds kept pace with inflation, the personal allowance would sit at £15,995 at present instead of £12,570, while higher‑rate tax would begin at £63,968 rather than £50,270.
For landlords – many of whom receive rental income alongside PAYE salaries - the freeze in allowances has been particularly painful. This has made the ability to hold and pay tax on rental income in a corporate structure increasingly valuable.
Rental Growth
The first month of 2026 brought signs that the recent falls in rental growth may be starting to moderate. Across Great Britain, the average rent on a newly let home was 0.2% lower than a year earlier, taking the average to £1,366 pcm. This represents a smaller annual decline than in December, when rents fell 0.8%, indicating that the rate of slowdown has begun to ease.
Despite the smaller fall in newly let rents, tenants renewing their contracts continued to face increases, with the average renewed rent rising 2.8% over the same period to £1,305 pcm.
Rental Growth by Regions
Inner London has now recorded 13 consecutive months of annual rental declines, while Outer London has seen eight months of falls. The South East has also experienced four months of annual declines. Combined, these three regions make up roughly a third of Britain’s rental homes, meaning changes here have a big effect on national averages.
Rental growth has also softened in the East of England and South West, where annual changes have remained below 1% for the past four months. Further north, momentum has eased too. Scotland recorded its first annual fall in newly agreed rents (‑0.2%) since July 2020, reflecting the gradual unwinding of steep rises linked to the rent controls imposed between 2022 and April 2025. Yorkshire & The Humber also saw a decline, with newly let rents falling 1.4% over the year.
Taken together, the data shows the landlord sector continuing to shift toward company ownership. The tougher tax treatment introduced in 2016 triggered the initial shift into corporate structures.
Since then, frozen personal allowances, rising mortgage costs and rents, alongside the widening gap between income tax and corporation tax rates have all encouraged more landlords towards incorporation. For a growing share of investors, company ownership makes better financial sense.
That said, incorporation isn’t the right approach for every landlord. For those who earn little beyond their rental income and remain basic‑rate taxpayers, personal ownership can often be preferable - particularly given that Companies House filing fees have outstripped inflation in recent years.
Meanwhile, on the rental side of the market, the moderation in newly agreed rents is showing tentative signs of stabilisation. With rent increases set to become open to tribunal challenge from May, many landlords are ensuring that rents are aligned as closely as possible with current market levels.
