You have decided the company route wins for your next purchase, or at least you want to know what setting one up actually involves before you decide. We have covered the tax maths elsewhere: what a company really pays is in SPV corporation tax on buy-to-let, and the second tax layer when you draw the money is in taking profit out of a property company. This guide is the practical part: forming the company, getting it ready for a lender, and the admin that follows.
The good news is that incorporation itself is the easy bit. It costs £100, is done online, and the company usually exists within 24 hours. The mistakes people make are around it: picking SIC codes a lender will reject, forgetting to register for corporation tax, or trying to move an existing property in without costing the tax bill.
What an SPV is and why lenders prefer one
An SPV, or special purpose vehicle, is not a special type of company. It is an ordinary private limited company that does exactly one thing: buy, hold and let residential property. No consultancy on the side, no trading, nothing else.
That narrowness is the point. Lenders prefer SPVs because the accounts are clean and the risk is easy to underwrite: rent in, mortgage interest and running costs out, and no other activity that could drag the company down and take the property with it. Most limited-company buy-to-let lenders will only lend to a clean SPV, so if you already run a business through a company, set up a separate one for the property.
Choose the SIC codes before you register
Every company registers one or more SIC codes, the standard industrial classification that tells Companies House what the business does. For a buy-to-let SPV the relevant codes are:
- 68209, letting and operating of own or leased real estate. This is the core landlord code, and the one lenders look for.
- 68100, buying and selling of own real estate. Add it if you may sell as well as let, but some lenders read it on its own as a trading (flipping) signal.
- 68320, management of real estate on a fee basis. Only relevant if the company will manage property for other people, which a clean SPV normally will not.
For a straightforward rental SPV, 68209 on its own, or 68209 with 68100, is the standard setup. You can pick up to four codes from the condensed list Companies House accepts; the full classification is published on GOV.UK. Codes can be changed later on your confirmation statement, but starting with the right ones saves an awkward conversation with an underwriter.
Step by step: registering at Companies House
You register online through GOV.UK's set up a limited company service. The fee is £100 by card (it rose from £50 in February 2026), and most companies are registered within 24 hours. Here is what you will need.
1. Verify your identity
Since November 2025, directors and people with significant control must verify their identity with Companies House before they can be appointed. You do it once, free, through GOV.UK One Login, and receive a personal code you will quote during registration. Do this first; you cannot complete the incorporation without it.
2. A company name and registered office
The name must be unique and not too close to an existing one; check the register before you get attached. The registered office is the company's official address: a real UK address where documents can reach you, and it appears on the public record, so many landlords use their accountant's address rather than their home.
3. At least one director and one shareholder
For a typical landlord SPV these are the same person: you. Couples often go 50/50, or split shares unevenly so more of the profit flows to the lower-rate taxpayer. Keep the structure simple: most SPV lenders want a small number of individual directors and shareholders they can underwrite.
4. People with significant control (PSCs)
Anyone holding more than 25% of the shares or voting rights is a PSC and must be declared. For a one-person or couple-owned SPV that is simply you (and your partner).
5. Memorandum and articles
The registration service generates standard "model articles" for you, and they are fine for a straightforward SPV. Submit, pay the £100, and you should have a certificate of incorporation with your company number within a day or so.
The first 90 days: bank, HMRC and an accountant
The company legally exists, but it is not ready to trade until you have done three things.
Open a business bank account in the company's name. The company's money is not your money, and mixing the two is the fastest way to make a mess of the accounts. Lenders will also expect rent to flow through a company account.
Register for corporation tax. Most people do this as part of the same online journey when they incorporate. If you register with Companies House another way, you must tell HMRC within three months of starting to do business, which for an SPV effectively means when it starts receiving rent. HMRC posts the company's unique taxpayer reference to the registered office after incorporation.
Line up an accountant, or at least clean bookkeeping. A company brings filing obligations a personal landlord never sees: annual accounts to Companies House (the first set is due 21 months after incorporation, then nine months after each year end), a corporation tax return to HMRC with the tax itself payable nine months and one day after the accounting period ends, and a confirmation statement at least once a year (£50 to file online). None of it is hard for a one-property SPV, but the deadlines carry automatic penalties, and an accountant's fee of a few hundred pounds a year buys back a lot of evenings.
Getting the SPV mortgage
The company borrows, not you, but you will almost always sign a personal guarantee, so the lender can pursue you if the company defaults. Expect a slightly higher rate and arrangement fee than the personal equivalent, offset by a lower rental stress test (typically 125% rather than 145% interest cover), which can let the company borrow more against the same rent. The full picture is in our guide to limited company buy-to-let mortgages.
You can apply as soon as the company exists: lenders are used to brand-new SPVs with no trading history, because they underwrite you and the property, not the company's accounts.
Do not move existing properties in without costing it
If you already own rentals personally, resist the urge to "just transfer them in". Legally that transfer is a sale from you to the company at market value: the company pays stamp duty including the 5% additional-property surcharge, and you personally face capital gains tax at 18% or 24% on any gain, reportable within 60 days. On a property that has grown in value, that one-off bill often outweighs years of income-tax saving. Run your gain through the CGT calculator before you go anywhere near it.
Buying new property through the company from day one avoids all of this, which is why the SPV route suits your next purchase far better than your last one.
What it costs, and whether it is worth it
The setup costs are modest: £100 to incorporate, £50 a year for the confirmation statement, and realistically a few hundred pounds a year in accountancy. The real costs are the ongoing ones, the mortgage rate premium and the second layer of tax when you extract profit. Whether the Section 24 saving beats them depends on your tax band, your borrowing and whether you draw the income or reinvest it.
That sum is worth doing properly before you spend anything. The limited company vs personal calculator runs both routes on your own rent, costs and interest, including the extraction step, so you can see whether the company you are about to form actually earns its keep.
This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Fees, thresholds and lender criteria change, so check the current GOV.UK guidance and speak to an accountant or broker about your own position before you incorporate.
