Best vehicle for property investment portofolio

[Robert1989]

Following my thread yesterday in which I discussed a very basic version of my intentions to start my property investment portfolio I would like some advice on the best vehicle for purchasing property.

I will be buying property for cash and intend to use the rental income to invest in more properties until a time where I decide to use the rental as part of my income and later as my pension, I may want to consider liquidating some property later to form part of my pension but intend for the bulk of the portfolio to be handed down to my children.

The way I see it there are 2 main options

1. But the properties in my name and declare the rent as a taxable income
2. But the properties through a ltd company, reinvest the profits and only take drawings/salary from the profits later in life

Does anyone have any alternative ideas. My main focus is security of the properties, obviously keeping tax liabilities as low as possible but also retain flexibility in liquidating, taking an income and passing on the portfolio all need to be considered.

 

[nmb]

It all depends on how much you are looking to invest and what size portfolio you are aiming for? My preference would be a ltd company but I know there are other vehicles such a Limited Liability Partnerships:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_partnership

To me one of the problems about having the property in your own name is that in the event of financial troubles they will come looking for any additional assets you hold. Within a Ltd Company you liability is limited. Others might have more detailed advice but that is my take on the subject.

 

[diyhelp]

Personally I would look at a company as the ideal wrapper for a property portfolio - separating the assets from your personal finances, avoiding some of the recent property taxes introduced by the government and when you decide to sell you can simply sell the company rather than go through the process of selling individual properties if they were held in your own name. I would take professional advice as there may be some drawbacks from holding these in a company but it would still be my personal preference.

 

[lookinginvest]

If you are looking at growing a long-term property portfolio then personally I would be tempted to use a company to hold the assets. There are certain tax benefits and if for example you are looking to sell the company in the future, rather than sell each individual property with the mountain of paperwork, you could simply sell the whole company where the properties would be assets of the company.