Building a UK property portfolio from overseas.

Decide who owns it before the first purchase

You can own UK property in your own name, jointly or through a company. Changing your mind later costs money. If you move a home into a company you're connected with, stamp duty is charged on at least its market value, whatever the company pays. For Capital Gains Tax, a transfer between connected persons is treated as made at market value too. So the structure you choose for the first home usually carries the rest.

In your own name

• Mortgage interest isn't deducted from your rental profit. You get a tax reduction at the basic rate instead, which is 20% in 2026 to 2027.
• From 6 April 2027, property income has its own rates of 22%, 42% and 47% for taxpayers in England and Northern Ireland, and for anyone who isn't UK resident, and the reduction for finance costs is worked out at 22%. See property income tax from 2027.
• If you live abroad for 6 months or more a year, your letting agent, or your tenant if there's no agent and the rent is over £100 a week, deducts basic rate tax from the rent under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, unless HMRC agrees to let you receive it gross.

Through a UK company

• The company deducts interest as a cost when it works out its profits.
• It pays Corporation Tax at 19% on profits of £50,000 or less and 25% on profits over £250,000, with marginal relief in between. Those rates apply for the financial years that started on 1 April 2025 and 1 April 2026.
• In England and Northern Ireland, it pays the 5% stamp duty surcharge on the homes it buys, plus 2% if it counts as non-resident. Above £500,000 a flat 17% can apply, unless a relief does, for example for a property rental business.
• If it owns a home valued at more than £500,000, it files an Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings return each year, even when a relief means there's nothing to pay.
• Every director and person with significant control must verify their identity with Companies House. It has been a legal requirement since 18 November 2025, the start of a 12-month transition period, and you can verify online through GOV.UK One Login with a biometric passport from any country.
• Money you take out, as salary or dividends, can be taxed again, in the UK or where you live.

Neither route suits everyone. Your accountant compares them against your income, residence and plans. We don't advise on structure.

How lenders test a growing portfolio

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) sets minimum standards for buy-to-let lending by the banks and building societies it regulates, in supervisory statement SS13/16, published in September 2016. They apply whether you borrow as an individual or through a company.

The first test is rental cover. The lender compares the expected rent with the interest at a stressed rate. Unless your rate is fixed or capped for 5 years or more, that stressed rate is at least 5.5%. The statement describes 125% cover as the industry standard minimum, and lenders can ask for more.

Illustration · £150,000 interest-only loan, 5.5% stress rate, 125% cover	Amount
Stressed interest a month	£687.50
Lowest monthly rent that passes	£859.38

The second is the portfolio test. Once you have four or more mortgaged buy-to-let properties, you're a portfolio landlord. The lender then looks at your whole portfolio, not only the new loan. It can ask for your full list of properties and mortgages, your assets and liabilities, a business plan and the cash flow of every property. The PRA's January 2026 update to the statement, which takes effect on 1 January 2027, keeps both tests.

We introduce clients to FCA-authorised brokers who specialise in lending to overseas buyers. Before you speak to one, try a loan and a rent in the investor calculator.

Running homes you can't visit

If you let to tenants in England, the rules changed in 2026. Since 1 May 2026, most private tenancies are assured periodic tenancies, which replaced assured shorthold tenancies, and section 21 "no fault" evictions have ended.

You still protect a tenant's deposit in a government-approved scheme within 30 days, keep gas and electrical equipment safe, provide an Energy Performance Certificate, fit and test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and check each tenant's right to rent.

The government's roadmap, published on 13 November 2025, says a private rented sector database will roll out from late 2026. Joining will be mandatory for every private landlord, with an annual fee.

With several homes, you need someone on the ground for viewings, repairs, safety checks and paperwork. Here's what good management is worth.

Keep records from day one

Keep each property's figures separate: the purchase, legal fees, improvements, rent, repairs and finance costs. The costs of buying, selling and improving a home can be deducted from the gain when you sell, so keep that evidence while you own it.

• In your own name, keep records for at least 5 years after the 31 January filing deadline for each tax year.
• A company keeps records for 6 years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax means keeping digital records and sending quarterly updates through software. If you're not UK resident, your UK property income counts towards the threshold, measured before expenses, and foreign property income doesn't. If your 2024 to 2025 return included the residence pages (SA109), you're automatically exempt for 2026 to 2027. From 6 April 2027 you'll need it if that income was more than £30,000 in 2025 to 2026, and from 6 April 2028 if it was more than £20,000 in 2026 to 2027. You're also exempt if you don't have a National Insurance number before the tax year starts.

What you report, and when

In your own name. You file a Self Assessment return every year unless HMRC tells you not to. As a non-resident landlord you can't use HMRC's own online service, so you file by post or through commercial software, or an accountant files for you. For 2025 to 2026, a paper return is due by 31 October 2026, a return filed online through software by 31 January 2027, and payment by 31 January 2027.

Through a company.

• Accounts go to Companies House within 9 months of the company's year end.
• The Company Tax Return is due 12 months after the end of the accounting period. The tax is usually due 9 months and 1 day after it ends.
• A confirmation statement is filed at least once every 12 months, and costs £50 online.

Selling has its own reporting deadline, which our tax guide for overseas investors covers.

When you buy from overseas with us, we introduce you to FCA-authorised brokers, independent solicitors and accountants, and keep each purchase moving. They advise; we coordinate.