UK letting landlords, property traders and estate agents in numbers (October 2026)
Part of section L: Real estate activities.
Key figures compared with the UK
| Measure | SIC 68 | All UK | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active companies | 606,940 | 5,166,057 | 11.7% of UK |
| Median company age (years) | 5.2 | 5.6 | close to UK |
| Incorporated in the last 3 years | 34.4% | 34.0% | close to UK |
| Filing micro-entity accounts | 33.2% | 32.4% | close to UK |
| Filing dormant accounts | 10.3% | 10.8% | close to UK |
| Accounts overdue | 1.4% | 1.8% | 0.4 pts lower |
| Under a proposal to strike off | 3.4% | 7.4% | 4.0 pts lower |
| In liquidation, administration or receivership | 0.8% | 2.0% | 1.2 pts lower |
| With outstanding charges (secured lending) | 40.8% | 12.1% | 28.7 pts higher |
| Median net assets | £2,980 | £3,113 | close to UK |
| Negative net assets | 25.7% | 18.8% | 6.9 pts higher |
| Net current liabilities | 56.8% | 36.2% | 20.6 pts higher |
| Median cash at bank | £6,266 | £10k | 38% lower |
| Cash covers creditors due within a year | 25.6% | 35.3% | 9.7 pts lower |
| Holding £100k or more in cash | 13.6% | 20.3% | 6.7 pts lower |
| Median employees (where stated) | 1 | 1 | close to UK |
Balance sheet measures use each active company's most recent machine-readable (iXBRL) accounts with a period ending in 2024 or later: 457,454 companies here (75.4% of active). Net assets 25th to 75th percentile: -£223 to £73k. Cash 25th to 75th percentile: £713 to £36k.
What the numbers say
Ask how many landlord companies there are in the UK and the answer sits mostly in a single five-digit code. 68209, other letting and operating of own or leased real estate, covers 284,610 live companies, close to half of SIC 68 Real estate activities. These are typically buy-to-let and commercial property companies that own a handful of buildings and collect rent.
The second code is almost as large. 68100, buying and selling of own real estate, has 259,676 live companies: developers, refurbishers and companies set up to hold land until it is sold. Between them, letting and trading account for the great majority of the division, which is why its averages describe property owners rather than property professionals.
The service side is much smaller. Real estate agencies (68310) number 27,863 live companies, and management of real estate on a fee or contract basis (68320), which takes in managing agents and block managers, has 52,825. A further 7,940 are registered under renting and operating of Housing Association real estate, and 706 run conference and exhibition centres. An estate agent's balance sheet usually holds no buildings, so comparing one with the division medians below can mislead; for agents, the shape of a normal service business is a better yardstick.
Ownership of property shows up in the debt figures. 40.8% of companies have a charge registered against them, more than three times the UK rate of 12.1%, most likely mortgages taken out to buy property. Median creditors falling due within a year are £43,447, against £13,788 for the UK, and 56.8% report net current liabilities (UK 36.2%). A common reason is that buildings are fixed assets while directors' loans and short-term borrowing sit in current liabilities, which pushes the median current ratio down to 0.51. Median cash is £6,266, below the UK's £10,127.
Yet these companies rarely fail on the register. Only 3.4% face a strike-off proposal (UK 7.4%) and 0.8% are in liquidation, administration or receivership (UK 2.0%). A company that holds a let property tends to be kept for years. Negative net assets, at 25.7% against 18.8% for the UK, are covered on the real estate section page; our guide to negative net assets explains why property held at cost can make a sound company look insolvent. Developers often also appear under construction of buildings.
Share with negative net assets, 2014 to 2025
Share of accounts with net liabilities (total liabilities larger than total assets) by financial year end, for companies on the live register. Dissolved companies are not included because the register no longer lists their industry, so earlier years show survivors. Negative net assets is a warning sign, not proof of insolvency: see what negative net assets means.
Accounts types filed
| Type of last accounts | Share here | Share UK |
|---|---|---|
| Micro-entity | 33.2% | 32.4% |
| Total exemption full | 29.4% | 23.8% |
| No accounts filed yet | 21.6% | 26.0% |
| Dormant | 10.3% | 10.8% |
| Unaudited abridged | 3.2% | 2.9% |
| Small | 1.0% | 1.2% |
| Full (audited) | 0.6% | 1.5% |
| Audit exemption subsidiary | 0.5% | 0.7% |
The type shows how much a company has to disclose. Micro-entity and abridged accounts contain no profit and loss account on the public record. Read more about accounts categories and micro-entities.
Active companies by year of incorporation
Companies incorporated in each year that are still active today. Younger cohorts are larger partly because older ones have been dissolved.
Most common activity codes
| SIC | Activity | Live companies |
|---|---|---|
| 68209 | Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate | 284,610 |
| 68100 | Buying and selling of own real estate | 259,676 |
| 68320 | Management of real estate on a fee or contract basis | 52,825 |
| 68310 | Real estate agencies | 27,863 |
| 68201 | Renting and operating of Housing Association real estate | 7,940 |
| 68202 | Letting and operating of conference and exhibition centres | 706 |
Methodology
Industry is the first SIC code each company declares on the Companies House register (snapshot 1 October 2026); the dormant placeholder 99999 is excluded. Status, accounts type and due dates come from the register. Financial measures come from our parse of 37 million iXBRL accounts filed since 2008; values above £100bn are treated as extraction errors. Companies filing paper or PDF accounts are not in the balance sheet figures. Full details: methodology.
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