Buy to let business

Mallyt04

OH is looking at options to set up a buy to let business with the intention being that after the mortgage is paid the property / property's will generate his retirement income. If he creates a limited company and only uses the rental income to pay for mortgage and property fees / expenses how is the income taxes (ie he has not taken any salary or dividends from the business), any advice on if best to do more expensive family home (hopefully more stable income) or multiple cheaper single dwelling properties with a higher income yield v outlay? Anything else we need to know or consider? He can afford the mortgage without a tenant so there's some safety net there. Properties will not be being bought with any resale intention so not concerned re capital gains.

MaxiRobriguez

Unless your OH is in the trades and has connections with other tradespeople then the general advice for BTL is that the costs, tax implications, maintenance etc makes it less worthwhile and probably less profitably than investing through other means like a pension (significant tax benefits).

Your OH needs to do a proper plan if they want to go down the BTL route with actual £ numbers. Stamp duty for purchase, costs for advertising the property, tax implications from profit, maintenance charges, non-rented periods and CGT for selling (you can't rule it out)....

Use that plan to first find out if the venture is profitable and worthwhile, and then compare it to alternative investments in something like a pension.