Transfer property to a limited company: the refinance, run by specialists.

A full conveyance. The company buys the property from you at market value, with its own solicitor, its own mortgage and its own stamp duty bill; your personal mortgage is redeemed at completion and your capital gain crystallises on the same day. Nothing about owning both sides of the deal softens that, HMRC values the transaction at market price however little money visibly changes hands. The phrase "transfer" undersells what is happening, and most of the disappointment we see in this market comes from landlords who budgeted for paperwork and discovered a transaction.

Approached with open eyes, though, the move can be exactly right. Future rental profits shift from income tax with Section 24's restricted interest relief to corporation tax at 19 to 25% with interest fully deductible, retained profits compound toward the next deposit inside the company, and the 125% company interest coverage ratio often releases more borrowing from the same rent than the personal loan it replaces.

Two at completion. Capital gains tax lands on you, the seller, calculated on the property's full appreciation since you bought it, at the residential CGT rates your band dictates, with payment due within 60 days of completion. Stamp duty land tax lands on the company, the buyer, on the market value: standard bands plus the 5% surcharge that attaches to every company residential purchase, or LBTT plus the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on Scottish property. Neither charge cares that you are both parties. On a long-held property in a strong market, the combined bill routinely reaches tens of thousands of pounds per property, which is why the decision is a payback calculation, the one-off cost against the annual saving the corporation tax treatment delivers, rather than a matter of principle.

Background reading: the stamp duty for company buy-to-let guide and the Section 24 guide on what the move escapes.

It does not move; it is replaced. The company applies for a new limited company buy-to-let mortgage as a purchase, underwritten on the rent at the 125% interest coverage ratio, stressed at typically 5.5%, with personal guarantees from the directors and SIC-coded SPV structure checked at Companies House. At completion the new advance redeems your personal mortgage and funds the stamp duty timing, while your equity in the property typically converts into a director's loan to the company, repayable to you tax-free as future profits allow. Because the company assessment is more generous than the 145% personal stress you were last underwritten at, the refinance frequently supports a larger loan than the one it replaces, headroom that can absorb part of the transaction costs.

Model keep-versus-incorporate on your numbers · multi-property moves sit with limited company portfolio mortgages.

Most of the specialist company panel, Paragon, Kent Reliance, Fleet Mortgages, Foundation Home Loans, lends on sales between connected parties, but each treats the detail differently: some lend against full market value, others against the price actually paid; some accept the seller's equity standing as the deposit via a director's loan, others want cash movement they can trace. Those criteria differences decide whether your structure completes smoothly or stalls in underwriting, and knowing them in advance is the placement job. The portfolio names, Paragon and Landbay, lead on multi-property incorporation programmes.

New to the structure? Start at the limited company buy-to-let hub and the SPV mortgages explainer. Local values that drive the CGT and stamp duty arithmetic sit across our 244 town pages.