New analysis of Companies House data by the Hamptons lettings agency shows that the rapid growth in new buy to let companies may have peaked.
The number of new incorporations (or formation of companies) is falling as fewer existing landlords transfer properties they already own into limited company structures.
Although around eight times as many BTL companies are being set up today than a decade ago, the trend is waning.
Some 41,483 BTL companies were set up in the first eight months of 2026, marking an 8% decline from the 44,802 established over the same period in 2025.
August saw a particularly sharp contraction, with incorporation numbers falling 22% year-on-year, from 5,363 to 4,198.
If the current trajectory continues for the remainder of 2026, it will mark the first full-year decline in new BTL company formations since 2008.
Despite the slowdown in creation rates, the total number of companies continues to rise.
By the end of August 2026, 469,165 BTL businesses were operating across Britain, up from 443,272 at the end of 2025, with new incorporations outstripping closures across those eight months.
Hamptons’ analysis indicates that the market has now passed the peak of existing portfolio transfers.
The agency believes that most landlords who benefit from incorporating have already made the transition, whereas lower-rate taxpayers or those planning short-to-medium-term exits often find the upfront transfer costs into a limited company unviable (generally, both stamp duty and capital gains tax are due).
Consequently, 2026 is projected to mark a turning point: over half of all properties entering a limited company structure are expected to be new purchases rather than transfers of existing personal assets.
Hamptons estimates that 51% of homes so far this year were new purchases rather than transfers.
The incorporation boom was initially driven by major changes from 2016 onwards to how landlords are taxed.
Most notably, restrictions on mortgage interest tax relief reduced the tax advantages of holding BTL properties in personal names, making company ownership a more attractive option for many higher-rate taxpayers.
Since then, the tax burden on personally owned rental property has increased further.
Hamptons says: “These changes permanently altered how many landlords choose to structure new investments. However, a significant share of the growth in BTL company numbers has not come from new investors, but from existing landlords transferring properties they already owned from personal ownership into limited company structures.”
In 2025, approximately 81,800 properties were placed into buy-to-let limited companies across England and Wales, either through purchase or transfer.
The majority of these – around 43,400 properties (or 53%) – were personal-to-company transfers by existing owners, rather than new purchases.
