Self Assesment for FIL - property rental

smo59

I am trying to complete a Self Assessment form for my Father in Law for the year until April 2013.

I've managed to dredge together most of the correct paperwork, but I am still left with a few questions.

1) He started to rent out from end of Jan 2013 and received an advance payment for the next 6 months rent. Does this full amount need to be declared as the income, or do I just list the proportion that would be applicable from end Jan until April 5th 2013? If it's a proportion only, do I need to calculate this down to the nearest day?

2) His insurance company did not ask for any additional payment for this property when he changed the policy to "Landlord's insurance". I imagine that the full amount cannot be claimed as an expense because the Landlord part only applied for part of the year. Again, do I calculate the expense down to the nearest day?

3) His situation is that he bought his flat a few years ago, but moved out in Dec 2013 due to problems with the neighbours. He now rents the flat that he owns and in turn rents from another landlord. Can his own outgoing rent be claimed as an expense? (My previous research claims that this is not possible, but it would be great for someone to tell me that I am wrong on this).

4) Any advice on books etc. that I can buy to help with this?
I'm sure that the information is somewhere within the HMRC documentation, but it doesn't seem to be well explained/linked together.

Many thanks for comments and help.

SteveO.

00ec25

smo59 wrote: »

I am trying to complete a Self Assessment form for my Father in Law for the year until April 2013.

I've managed to dredge together most of the correct paperwork, but I am still left with a few questions.

1) He started to rent out from end of Jan 2013 and received an advance payment for the next 6 months rent. Does this full amount need to be declared as the income, or do I just list the proportion that would be applicable from end Jan until April 5th 2013? If it's a proportion only, do I need to calculate this down to the nearest day? Yes - rental income must adhere to the
accountancy concept of apportioning income to the period in which it is "earned" , in the context of rentals that means the month in which it was due not when it was paid
2) His insurance company did not ask for any additional payment for this property when he changed the policy to "Landlord's insurance". I imagine that the full amount cannot be claimed as an expense because the Landlord part only applied for part of the year. Again, do I calculate the expense down to the nearest day?
technically speaking yes down to the day - particularly important where, as in this case, the pre letting amount is purely a personal expense and so is certainly not allowable
3) His situation is that he bought his flat a few years ago, but moved out in Dec 2013 due to problems with the neighbours. He now rents the flat that he owns and in turn rents from another landlord. Can his own outgoing rent be claimed as an expense? (My previous research claims that this is not possible, but it would be great for someone to tell me that I am wrong on this).
you are not wrong - what he spends his income on in terms of paying for a place to live himself is nothing to do with the cposts of running the rental business
4) Any advice on books etc. that I can buy to help with this?
I'm sure that the information is somewhere within the HMRC documentation, but it doesn't seem to be well explained/linked together.
at the end of the day its the HMRC rules that matter so it is best (granted hard) to read the property income manual

as above.....
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pimmanual/

smo59

OK many thanks for the information and link.

I think that I did read part the PIM manual at some stage before but did not find the information that I wanted (admittedly - I may have been scan-reading rather than giving it my full attention).

Thanks again,

SteveO.