SIC code
A SIC code, or Standard Industrial Classification code, is the five-digit number a company registers at Companies House to describe what it does. Every company must give at least one and may give up to four, and for a landlord's special purpose vehicle the choice matters because buy-to-let lenders read the codes to decide whether the company is a clean property-holding vehicle or a trading business they will not lend to.
The property codes
Code | Description | Use |
|---|---|---|
68209 | Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate | The standard code for holding and letting property; register it as the primary code |
68100 | Buying and selling of own real estate | Trading and flipping; several lenders, including Paragon and Fleet, treat a company with 68100 alone as a trader and may decline |
68320 | Management of real estate on a fee or contract basis | Managing other people's property; not for an SPV |
68310 | Real estate agencies | Agency; not for an SPV |
55209 | Other holiday and short-stay accommodation | Short lets; most buy-to-let lenders will not accept it in an SPV |
68201 | Renting and operating of housing association real estate | Social landlords only |
What lenders expect
A non-trading company with 68209 as the primary code and, if it will also trade, 68100 as a secondary; no other activity; up to four directors and shareholders at most lenders (two at The Mortgage Works); a UK registered office; and a business bank account. A company registered with 68100 alone, or with 55209, or with an unrelated trading code, narrows the lender panel sharply. The codes can be changed at any time by filing a confirmation statement, so a wrong code is a ten-minute fix before an application and weeks of delay during one.
Where to check
The Companies House register shows each company's codes publicly. The full list is the UK SIC 2007 classification maintained by the Office for National Statistics and Companies House.
From working with landlords across the UK who have incorporated, the declined applications we hear about are rarely about the landlord; they are about a company formed with 68100 as its only code. Which lenders accept SPVs is in the best buy-to-let mortgage lenders guide; who should form the company is in the best SPV formation services for landlords; whether to incorporate at all is in whether a limited company is right for UK landlords. Once the limited company is trading, August's reports produce the per-property figures its accounts are built from.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
