Companies House has confirmed that buy-to-let landlords using limited companies will have until April 2028 to prepare for a tougher annual accounts filing regime, including mandatory profit and loss submissions and software-only filing.
The registrar said small companies and micro-entities will have to file profit and loss accounts for the first time, although they will be able to keep that information off the public register if they opt out of publication. The package had been due to start in April 2027 but has now been pushed back by a year.
For landlords who have moved into company structures after Section 24, the shift matters now because it changes what must be filed, how it is filed and how much preparation accountants and directors will need before the deadline.
April 2028 deadline resets the filing timetable
The government said the reforms under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 will require all UK companies to file annual accounts through commercial software in iXBRL format from April 2028. Abridged accounts will also disappear, while companies claiming audit exemption will face a stronger eligibility statement.
Small landlords operating through SPVs are likely to feel the change most directly. Many have become used to lighter-touch filing, but the new regime points to a more standardised approach across the register.
This follows Residential Landlord’s analysis of the continuing incorporation trend among landlords, which highlighted how tax and borrowing pressures are still pushing new investors towards company structures. The latest filing changes show that incorporation still carries practical compliance costs even when the tax case remains attractive.
Residential Landlord has also reported that limited company landlords now account for a large share of buy-to-let purchases, leaving far more smaller investors exposed to company-law admin than was once the case.
Details of the reform were set out by Companies House in its announcement on accounts filing changes from April 2028.
Why incorporated landlords should not leave this until 2028
In practice, many landlords will rely on agents or accountants, so the workload will not land only on directors. But the extra year should not be mistaken for a free pass. Software choices, filing processes and the information needed from special purpose vehicles all need to be clear well before the first affected accounting period closes.
Landlords with several SPVs may also find the change exposes differences in record-keeping across their companies. That can become a nuisance quickly where portfolios have grown in stages or where older vehicles were set up with minimal reporting in mind.
The other point is political. These reforms are being sold as part of a wider drive for cleaner company data and less room for abuse. That makes reversal unlikely. For landlords banking on limited companies as a long-term structure, this looks less like a technical tweak and more like another sign that company ownership brings more scrutiny than it once did.
Opinion
There is nothing dramatic here for competent landlords, but there is a clear warning. Incorporation may still help with tax and financing, yet it is no longer a light-admin route into buy-to-let. Landlords who like the benefits of company ownership will have to accept the reporting burden that comes with it.
