SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle / Limited Company Landlord)
Quick answer
A limited company set up solely to hold buy-to-let property, used by landlords to sidestep the Section 24 mortgage-interest restriction — a company deducts finance costs in full, then pays Corporation Tax on the profit. New purchases can be made directly by the company; moving existing personal properties in is a sale to the company, triggering SDLT and potentially CGT. SIC code 68209 is the usual "letting of own property" classification.
At a glance
- Purpose
- Hold BTL; escape the Section 24 interest cap
- Tax
- Corporation Tax on profit; interest fully deductible
- Transfer-in cost
- SDLT + possible CGT (it is a sale)
- SIC code
- 68209 (letting of own property)
Full guide
Read the complete landlord guide on SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle / Limited Company Landlord)
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Open full guideWhy SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle / Limited Company Landlord) matters for landlords
Incorporation is sold as the cure for Section 24, and for a higher-rate landlord building a leveraged portfolio it often is — but moving existing properties in is where the maths breaks, because SDLT and CGT on the "sale" to your own company can wipe out years of tax saving. Company mortgages also carry higher rates and fewer lenders, and profits are taxed again when you draw them as dividends. The honest test is whether you are keeping and growing the portfolio for years (incorporation tends to win) or holding a small, low-leverage set you may sell soon (it usually does not).
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Related terms
SA105 (Property Pages)
The UK Property supplementary pages of the Self Assessment tax return, where landlords report rental income and expenses. It sits alongside the main SA100 return. Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, landlords over the income threshold move from the annual SA105 to digital quarterly updates plus a final declaration.
Schedule 2 (Housing Act 1988 Possession Grounds)
The schedule of statutory grounds a landlord uses to seek possession of an assured / assured shorthold tenancy under Section 8. Grounds 1–8 are mandatory (court must grant possession if proven): includes ground 1 (landlord-occupier intent), ground 1A (landlord sale, post-RRA 2025), ground 8 (3+ months rent arrears post-RRA 2025), ground 14 (anti-social behaviour). Grounds 9–17 are discretionary (court considers reasonableness): includes ground 11 (persistent late payment) and ground 12 (breach of tenancy). Choice of ground sets the notice period and the burden of proof.
Schedule of Condition
The room-by-room photographed report of the property’s condition at check-in (and updated at check-out). Distinct from the Inventory (which lists items and their condition); Schedule of Condition focuses on the fabric of the property: walls, floors, fittings, decoration. Together they form the deposit deduction evidence base. Required to win a fair-wear-and-tear contested deduction at the DPS, TDS or mydeposits adjudication; absence usually means the deposit is returned in full to the tenant.
Section 13 Notice
The only lawful way to raise rent on an assured periodic tenancy. An increase cannot take effect until 52 weeks after the tenancy began or after the last increase, with a 53-week correction where the 52-week date would fall more than six days before the anniversary of the first increase after 11 February 2003, and with at least two months' notice (extended from one month by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025). Tenant can refer to the First-tier Tribunal, which determines the market rent; that figure may be higher or lower than the landlord proposed, but the tenant will not be required to pay more than the amount in the notice.
Section 21 Notice
The no-fault eviction notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. Abolished for new notices from 1 May 2026 under the Renters Rights Act 2025. Landlords must now use Section 8 with a specified ground.
Section 21 Prerequisites
The bundle of pre-conditions a private landlord in England had to satisfy before a Section 21 notice (Form 6A) was valid: deposit protected within 30 days plus Prescribed Information served, current Gas Safety Certificate served, current EICR served, and current GOV.UK How to Rent guide served on the tenant. Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026, and these prerequisites went with it. They do not carry over to Section 8. Of the five, only the deposit rules bar a Section 8 possession order (every ground except 7A and 14, and returning the deposit cures the bar). Gas, EICR and How to Rent never gated Section 8, and the How to Rent guide has itself been withdrawn.