Allowable expenses - rented property double glazing install

thrustmaster

Evening all,

Looking for some assistance, I have only been renting a property privately (as a landlord) coming up for 1 year now, the double glazing in the property at present is extremely old with no built in vents and some windows unable to open/close properly meaning they have had to temporarily be sealed shut.

I'm getting some quotations to have all the windows and doors in the house replaced/upgraded to include built in vents to alleviate a damp issue that has also been arising.

Would I be able to in any way offset the cost of these repairs/upgrades against my self assessment next year and if so how much would I be able to reduce my tax by?

Property income is roughly £6000 p.a. and I anticipate the cost of the glazing install to be around the £4000 mark minimum (higher rate tax payer).

madgagoo

thrustmaster wrote: »

Evening all,

Looking for some assistance, I have only been renting a property privately (as a landlord) coming up for 1 year now, the double glazing in the property at present is extremely old with no built in vents and some windows unable to open/close properly meaning they have had to temporarily be sealed shut.

I'm getting some quotations to have all the windows and doors in the house replaced/upgraded to include built in vents to alleviate a damp issue that has also been arising.

Would I be able to in any way offset the cost of these repairs/upgrades against my self assessment next year and if so how much would I be able to reduce my tax by?

Property income is roughly £6000 p.a. and I anticipate the cost of the glazing install to be around the £4000 mark minimum (higher rate tax payer).

Yes, replacement windows are a repair and can be deducted as an expense against rental income.

00ec25

if you don't know how to treat expenses and calculate your net taxable profit do the HMRC course on tax for a landlord

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/courses/syob3/new_letting/HTML/new_letting_menu.html

thrustmaster

Thanks for the helpful information and link, is there any requirement to maintain evidence that this was a required repair (photographs or report from double glazing company perhaps)?

00ec25

thrustmaster wrote: »

Thanks for the helpful information and link, is there any requirement to maintain evidence that this was a required repair (photographs or report from double glazing company perhaps)?

You do not have to justify why you spent the money, you merely have to evidence the fact you did spend it and the evidence shows what it was spent on, not why. Eg, you have an invoice in your name showing purchase of a window

Brighty

A note for future, or someone else reading this. New double glazing is only deducatable as an expense if it is replacing existing double glazing. Getting old single glazing replaced with double is an 'improvement' so then not deductable against income (but is deductable for any future CGT)

00ec25

Brighty wrote: »

A note for future, or someone else reading this. New double glazing is only deducatable as an expense if it is replacing existing double glazing. Getting old single glazing replaced with double is an 'improvement' so then not deductable against income (but is deductable for any future CGT)

NO - that used to how it was viewed, but nowadays installing double glazing for the first time is not an improvement and is specifically mentioned in HMRC guidance. (And as a guide to future readers that is a principle, therefore would apply to double replaced by triple, quadruple, quintuple, or whatever, glazing in the future)

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/property-income-manual/pim2020

"What we regard as a repair will necessarily change with the passage of time to reflect technological improvements. This issue was considered in the tax case Conn v Robins Brothers Ltd [1966] 43TC266. As a result we accept that the replacement of a part of the ‘entirety’ with the nearest modern equivalent is allowable as a repair for tax purposes and not disallowable as improvement expenditure.

An example is double-glazing. In the past we took the view that replacing single-glazed windows with double-glazed windows was an improvement and therefore capital expenditure. But times have changed. Building standards have improved and the types of replacement windows available from retailers have changed. We now accept that replacing single-glazed windows by double-glazed equivalents counts as allowable expenditure on repairs."

Brighty

00ec25 wrote: »

NO - that used to how it was viewed, but nowadays installing double glazing for the first time is not an improvement and is specifically mentioned in HMRC guidance. (And as a guide to future readers that is a principle, therefore would apply to double replaced by triple, quadruple, quintuple, or whatever, glazing in the future)

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/property-income-manual/pim2020

"What we regard as a repair will necessarily change with the passage of time to reflect technological improvements. This issue was considered in the tax case Conn v Robins Brothers Ltd [1966] 43TC266. As a result we accept that the replacement of a part of the ‘entirety’ with the nearest modern equivalent is allowable as a repair for tax purposes and not disallowable as improvement expenditure.

An example is double-glazing. In the past we took the view that replacing single-glazed windows with double-glazed windows was an improvement and therefore capital expenditure. But times have changed. Building standards have improved and the types of replacement windows available from retailers have changed. We now accept that replacing single-glazed windows by double-glazed equivalents counts as allowable expenditure on repairs."

Thanks for the correction, guess they've changed their view fairly recently, the guidlines used to specifically state that double for single was an improvement.