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Buy-to-let firms become biggest single type of business in UK, data shows
Four times more buy-to-let firms than fast-food shops now registered at Companies House as landlords switch set-up to cut tax payments

Buy-to-let businesses have become the largest single type of business in the UK – with nearly four times as there are fast food takeaways or hairdressers.
There are more companies set up to hold buy-to-let property registered at Companies House than any other type of business, according to research from the estate agent Hamptons.
Marking a decade of growth, the figures illustrate the switch in tactics by an army of small-scale landlords hit by the withdrawal of tax breaks for those filing tax returns as individuals.
The number of companies holding buy-to-let property across the UK passed the 400,000 mark in February for the first time. By the end of last month 401,744 companies were registered, as investors continued to move their portfolios from their personal names in an attempt to reduce their tax payments.

That total is up more than fourfold from 92,975 in February 2016, when full mortgage interest tax relief began to be withdrawn from homes owned by higher-rate taxpayers.
Hamptons said if the tax changes had not come into effect, most buy-to-let properties would have remained in personal ownership, where investors declare taxes in their annual self-assessment.
The rise comes despite many smaller landlords selling up due to higher mortgage costs. Last July, the banking body UK Finance reported that the sector shrank for the first time in almost three decades.
The rise in buy-to-let companies has been driven by a record 61,517 new limited companies being set up in 2024, a 23% increase on what had previously been a record in 2023.
There are now 680,000 buy-to-let properties held in a limited company structure across England and Wales, with the number rising by between 70,000 and 100,000 a year. Not all of them are new rental properties – some are being moved from personal names into a limited company owned by the same landlord.

Rentier Capitalism is the epitome of economic parasitism. It's just a softer form of slavery. The 'entrepeneur' buys something that he doesn't want or need (for personal use), and someone else does, and charges the people who want or need it for access. It's repulsive, and it never ceases to amaze me that the public think this is ok, and vote for more every chance they get.

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