Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Mortgage Solutions. Read the original article for full details.
BTL company boom 'may have peaked' as new incorporations fall
Buy-to-let company formations fell 8% to 41,483 in the first eight months of 2026, according to the Hamptons Letting Index. If the current trajectory continues to the end of the year, it would mark the first full-year decline in BTL company formations since 2008.
The data suggests the long-running wave of landlords incorporating their portfolios may finally be subsiding, with implications for letting agents and inventory clerks as landlord ownership structures evolve.
August sees sharpest slowdown
August recorded a significant downturn, with BTL incorporations falling 22% year-on-year to 4,198. The decline pushed the sector from being the second-most common business type set up last year to fifth place in 2026.
Despite the slowdown, the overall number of BTL companies continues to grow. The total operating across Great Britain rose from 443,272 at the end of 2025 to 469,165 by August 2026, as incorporations exceeded closures over the period.
Hamptons also emphasised that around eight times as many buy-to-let companies are being set up today than a decade ago, reflecting the fact that limited companies often remain the most tax-efficient way for landlords to hold property.
Portfolio transfers move past their peak
According to Hamptons, the slowdown suggests many landlords who stood to benefit from the tax advantages of limited company ownership have already made the move. In 2025, around 81,800 properties were placed in BTL limited companies across England and Wales, either through purchase or transfer, with 53% transferred from personal ownership rather than acquired as new investments.
The firm believes the market has now moved beyond the peak of these portfolio transfers, describing 2026 as a "turning point". It estimates that 51% of homes entering a limited company structure so far this year have been new purchases rather than transfers, putting the sector on course for acquisitions to become the primary source of growth in BTL companies for the first time.
Hamptons expects incorporation levels to remain below the record highs reached in 2025 as the wave of portfolio transfers subsides, though limited company structures remain the preferred route for most new BTL investors.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said a large part of the buy-to-let incorporation boom was driven by a one-off structural shift, with existing landlords transferring properties into limited companies in response to tax changes. She added that landlords who stand to benefit financially from incorporating existing properties have largely already done so.
Looking ahead, she said growth is likely to depend more on landlords making new purchases than restructuring portfolios, and noted that the Treasury's stamp duty windfall from these transfers is likely to start falling.
Source: Mortgage Solutions