Some 66,587 new BTL companies were formed in 2025, representing an 8% increase on 2024’s total and a 363% rise over the last decade, according to Hampton’s analysis of Companies House records.
By the end of 2025, the total number of BTL companies registered with Companies House reached 443,272, nearly five times the 91,278 recorded in 2016.
Across England and Wales, there are 755,042 property titles held in a BTL company, a steep rise from 272,964 a decade ago. Hamptons estimated that this equates to around 1.5 million BTL properties within a limited-company structure.
This rise comes despite investors accounting for a smaller share of home purchases. Across Great Britain, investors bought 10.8% of homes in 2025, down from 11.9% the year before.
Growth in the number of incorporations began to build in 2016, when mortgage interest relief started to be phased out for higher-rate taxpayers owning BTL properties in their personal names. Today, more than three-quarters of new BTL purchases are made through limited companies. These rising incorporation numbers also reflect landlords transferring existing privately owned BTL properties into corporate structures.
This momentum has carried into 2026, with 5,922 new BTL limited companies set up in January 2026 — 11% more than the same month last year, suggesting the trend shows little sign of slowing.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, commented: “Landlords’ shift towards limited company ownership continued through 2025 and shows little sign of slowing this year.
“While the tougher tax treatment introduced in 2016 sparked the initial move into corporate structures, five years of frozen personal allowances — combined with the impact of higher mortgage rates, which company landlords can fully offset against their tax bill — have fuelled the more recent surge.
“As more landlords find themselves pulled into the 40% income tax bracket, paying corporation tax at 19% or even 25% has become increasingly attractive.
“Today, limited company ownership makes financial sense for the majority of landlords, with around 75%–80% of all new BTL purchases now made via a company. But it isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.
“For landlords who earn no income beyond their rents and remain lower-rate taxpayers, owning property in personal names can still be the better option, particularly as above-inflation increases have pushed up Companies House filing fees.”
