HMRC Property Expenses

Andrea75

Hi peeps, any advice appreciated here.
I've checked the HMRC & GOV websites and can't find what I'm looking for...
Does anyone know if I can claim petrol, hotel and food expenses? I stayed overnight in my local town where I rent my house. The reason for this was to carry out maintenance jobs (cleaning, gardening etc) prior to my new tenants moving in. Thanks for any feedback.

skateykatey

Unlikely to be honest. Why could you not stay in your house if the tenants hadn't yet moved in.

dimbo61

You can claim 45 pence per mile to travel to your rental property.
Why not ask your accountant about this ( well worth the cost)

Andrea75

My house was already rented prior to the new ones moving in. I live in London and my house is in the Midlands so I had to drive up or handover of house etc. Thank u.

florence4

Phone the tax office and ask. I'd think you probably can, since being a landlord is essentially like being a small business 'sole trader'; and certainly in my own freelance work, if I have to stay away from home over night to conduct my business, this is tax deductable as a legitimate business expense.

Andrea75

Thank you. I have tried calling the tax office but it's impossible to get through.

Do you know at all if it's possible to claim the interest element only of my mortgage? A colleague mentined it to me last week but I don't understand why that is an expense. I'm not very good at all this, I've only been renting my house a few months.

Suarez

Andrea75 wrote: »

Thank you. I have tried calling the tax office but it's impossible to get through.

Do you know at all if it's possible to claim the interest element only of my mortgage? A colleague mentined it to me last week but I don't understand why that is an expense. I'm not very good at all this, I've only been renting my house a few months.

Yes you can claim the mortgage interest.

googler

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/agents/toolkits/property-rental.pdf

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/worksheets/2010/SA105-Notes.pdf

Box 27 in the second link - "Other allowable property expenses
Include in box 27 any other expenses of the property rental business not
included in boxes 22 to 26, such as stationery, phone, business travelling
and other miscellaneous costs"

googler

skateykatey wrote: »

Unlikely to be honest. Why could you not stay in your house if the tenants hadn't yet moved in.

Sure. If the OP was renting a commercial property, like a shop, they should sleep in that rather than a hotel, right?

florence4

Andrea, just to be clear: the interest on your BTL mortgage is tax deductible. Any repayment element isn't, and nor is any interest on any house you yourself live in. It's because you gain no material benefit from the interest payment - they are a business expense of having a BTL property.

dimbo61

Like I have already stated you really need to get an accountant as HE/SHE will help you with all of this.
You are now running a business and want to do it right
IE Gas safety check each year, Landlord insurance, safe electrics, fire safety, security, maintenance ETC and filling out the correct tax forms