Buy To Let - What can you offset?

Brynna

Hi there, I'm a new poster,

Hope someone can shed some light on what can / cannot be claimed for in doing a house up before you rent it.

I am buying a buy to let house & need to do some work before it is rentable.
It needs
- central heating installed - new boiler and radiators
- new kitchen (including oven, hob, washing machine and fridge)
- redecorating
Am I able to claim any or all of this back against the rental?
Or is this classified as renovation?
:-)
Many thanks
Brynna

ognum

As far as I am aware you can not claim any of it against rental if it is done before the first rental!

However, keep all receipts as you may be able to claim against capital gains when you sell!

Lovelyjoolz

You can claim for some costs incurred before you let it, as long as HMRC's conditions are met for costs that are preparatory for letting. You'll find those conditions in this HMRC guide (page 13):

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

Also bear in mind that if you are accepting tenants who receive benefits such as housing benefit, there are government grants available to cover some if not all the costs of replacement heating systems. You would have to wait until the property was let though because the tenant has to apply for the grant not you, so if the current heating system isn't working and/or is not safe then this wouldn't apply.