TSLE: Landlords bringing forward limited company plans and building post-stamp duty war chests

Asked about the trend in converting property from personal to limited company ownership, Paragon regional sales manager Richard Saunders said: “The stamp duty holiday has sped up everyone’s decision making.

“So yes, we have seen more people take that up – they were probably people thinking of doing it next year but they have brought it forward.

“I think we will see a spike showing in March, but I think we’ll see a spike in everything in March and then a bit of a lag in the rest of the year.”

Saunders also added that the limited company cases the lender was seeing were becoming more complicated.

“A few years ago it would just be a pure wrapper, but now it’s much more complex,” he added.

Building war chests

LendInvest buy-to-let director Andy Virgo noted that on the five-year anniversary of the landlord tax changes there was a significant push of remortgaging business come through as fixed-rate products expired.

“There’s very much a push at the moment and we’ve got a huge pipeline of business that’s going to be completing when those early redemption charges come up,” he said.

And Virgo highlighted that the stamp duty break which is due to end on 31 March has also prompted landlords to invoke other strategies as well.

“I also think the professional landlord is gathering a war chest of funds in order to go out and pick up some property in the future,” he said.

“Once this period is over there’s an opportunity for people to go out and potentially purchase some property that hasn’t sold in the current period and will be available at a bit of a deal.”