The number of companies set up to hold buy to let property hit a record 401,744 in February 2025, up by 332% over the past nine years from only 92,975 incorporated landlords in 2016, showed analysis of Companies House data by Hamptons.

Companies House now has more registered buy to let companies than any other type of business, with four times as many company landlords as takeaways and hairdressers.

The restructuring has accelerated following changes to tax rules first introduced in 2016 by then chancellor George Osborne, which saw the virtual phasing out of full mortgage interest rate relief for landlords.