Whether you qualify turns on the level of activity you personally undertake and the evidence of it, rather than on the paperwork alone. Once a property business has been running properly for many years on that basis, moving it into a company becomes a serious option. It changes how rental profits are taxed and removes the restriction on relief for mortgage interest. Done without advice, it can also create tax charges that outweigh the benefit entirely.

This report looks at whether the conditions for relief are met on the evidence you have actually built up, the stamp duty land tax position, what your lenders will require, and whether a company genuinely leaves you better off.

Incorporation is a disposal at market value, so without relief the gain on every property falls into charge at once. Incorporation relief can defer that gain into the shares instead, but only where what you transfer is a genuine business rather than a collection of investments, and only where the whole of it goes across.