"Buying a property takes days. The structure that owns it lasts thirty years."
We design ownership structures for property across borders that are efficient for stamp duty and inheritance tax, acceptable to lenders, and stand up when you refinance or sell.
How we work with hnw real estate investors.
Buying a property takes weeks; the structure that owns it lasts thirty years. We design ownership structures for property across borders that are efficient for stamp duty and inheritance tax, acceptable to lenders, and stand up when you refinance or sell.
The design comes as a written comparison: owning personally or through a company, where the company sits, whether to add a trust or foundation, whether lenders will accept it, purchase taxes, and who can see the owner. Every trade-off is worked out in numbers before you commit.
We work with lenders, conveyancers and tax advisers in each country — but our structuring work has no hourly billing, is led by an adviser, and independent of anyone selling a product.
What we've seen go wrong.
- Buying UK homes in your own name and losing 40% to inheritance tax on death
- Buying a UK home through a company and paying the 15% stamp duty surcharge without checking the annual tax on enveloped dwellings (ATED)
- Borrowing from a lender that won't accept the country the owning company is in — and having to restructure in the middle of the purchase
- Mixing up the stamp duty surcharge for non-residents, the capital gains tax rules for non-residents and the annual tax on company-owned homes
The steps, in order.
Every engagement is specialist advisory, quoted in writing before any work begins. No hourly billing.
- 01Before you buy: ownership, residence, lender and succession mapped (1–2 weeks)
- 02A written structure plan with stamp duty, capital gains tax and inheritance tax analysis
- 03Setting up the owning company, banking, coordinating the lender, and completing
- 04A yearly calendar for compliance and being ready to refinance
Questions we hear from hnw real estate investors.
- Should UK homes be owned through a company?
- Rarely for a home you live in (the annual ATED tax and the 15% stamp duty surcharge apply). Usually yes for buy-to-let portfolios of more than 4 properties. Always model both before committing.
- Can property owned offshore still get a UK mortgage?
- Yes, from specialist lenders. We check the lender will accept that particular company and its ownership before you make an offer.
- How do the 2025 non-dom changes affect UK property?
- The end of the remittance basis and the move to a residence-based system changes how inheritance tax applies to UK property owned by people from abroad. We restructure or keep things as they are depending on where you're likely to live.
Explore further for hnw real estate investors
Real Estate Structuring
Own high-value property through properly run companies in tax-efficient countries.
Trusts & Foundations
Trusts that protect and pass on family wealth, in every common form, plus Panama and Nevis foundations.
Corporate Structuring
Groups of companies across several countries: holding companies, companies that own your IP, joint-venture companies, and moving a company to a new country.
Every engagement begins with a twenty-minute advisory call. The fee is in writing before any work begins. No hourly billing.