News
Tax time lag drove market swing to limited company structures – Paragon
Paragon research conducted in November suggested 73% of landlords are planning to buy their next property in a limited company structure, suggesting a swing has finally occurred in landlord and broker behaviour.
In the second part of our buy-to-let (BTL) debate series, in association with Paragon Banking Group, Louisa Sedgwick (pictured), commercial director for mortgages at Paragon, said the ‘staged’ introduction of the tax changes for landlords led to the time lag in buyers committing to a limited company structure.
A survey of 400 landlords conducted by Paragon in November last year showed 73% of landlords are planning to buy their next property in a limited company structure.
“Landlords weren’t initially hit by any of the changes until three or four years, even, into the cycle. In the meantime, they would have bought into a fixed rate on a lower rate to what we’ve seen recently.”
She continued: “You’ve also got landlords that may well be with a more mainstream buy-to-let lender who don’t offer limited companies, and because of the interest rate increases and affordability challenges, they’ve had no option but to retain their mortgages with their existing lender.”
It’s been a feature of timing, with more and more coming through the system as opposed to people making a march into limited company structures, she added.
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Last year, 50,000 special purpose vehicles (SPVs) were registered under a limited company structure, largely driven by newer landlords.
Andrew Montlake, managing director of Coreco Mortgage Brokers, said professionalisation in the landlord space has also occurred in the broker space after many years of hard-earned experience.
“We’re much more adept now at understanding that relationship with the landlord and what we need as brokers to advise that landlord properly. You cannot advise a landlord now unless you have that tax advice discussion at the very start.”
Once an advice route or referral onwards has been established, that’s the start point for the discussion, said Montlake.
Watch the first part in our debate series, featuring Louisa Sedgwick and Andrew Montlake, which ran earlier this week, focusing on the many reasons for landlords to be cheerful and the debate surrounding product transfer fees.