It has been obvious for quite a while that the number of landlords in the UK that are choosing to put their portfolio into a limited company has been rising for several years.
The main reason is clear – just like in the “good old days”, an incorporated landlord (a company) calculates its profit by taking total rental income (turnover) and subtracting allowable day-to-day operating expenses. Most importantly, these expenses include the ability to deduct 100% of their mortgage interest and finance costs as business expenses before calculating taxable profit, unlike individual landlords.
At the end of July, landlord insurance provider, Just Landlords, released its analysis of over 25 years of Companies House data, which revealed the growth of the professional landlord industry during that time.
The firm found that the number of companies being formally incorporated in the UK has increased by over 1,700% since 2000. In that year, just 1,882 new landlord companies were registered, compared to a record high of 34,128 in 2025.
The pace of growth has accelerated sharply in recent years, with nearly 14,000 new companies registered in the first five months of 2026, and the 2020s already accounting for more new landlord businesses than the entire period from 2000 to 2019 combined.
Clark Ross, managing director at Just Landlords, says: “The scale of this shift is remarkable. We’re seeing clear evidence of the continued professionalisation of the private rented sector, with a growing number of landlords now operating through formal business structures.”
While the long-term trend has been one of consistent growth, there are a range of factors that have encouraged incorporation over recent years, including changes to mortgage interest tax relief, higher stamp duty costs for additional properties, evolving regulatory requirements and a growing focus on long-term portfolio management.
The introduction of a 3% stamp duty surcharge on additional properties in April 2016, triggered an immediate surge in incorporations, with registrations jumping by nearly 59% in the following two years as landlords restructured their portfolios to manage their tax position more efficiently.
