Tax relief on flat Refurb

AlexMac

3card said:

In response to your question.
As you mention betterment isnt allowed so what i did in this situation was take photos of the before and after to show that any 'renovations' were on a like-for-like basis

...seems reasonable, but I wonder if it will ever be tested by HMRC?

When I saw your original Q

... (my BTL having been ) "let for 6 years needs new carpets, curtains a redecoration...The bathroom suite also need replacing to bring it up to date, along with tiles etc, Does anyone have any views on how HMRC might view this regards tax relief?  I am aware of the rules on 'Betterment' ..."

my reaction (based on doing annual self-assessment returns for up to 20 years on two little BTLs) is that I wouldn't even think twice about putting these costs into annual expenses, (as opposed to file noting them as capital inprovements  to offset againt evential CGT).  I certainly added in the £4-5k costs of replacement windows when the Local Authority freeholder threw these into the service charges.

And although I'm always meticulously honest in declaring all income on my tax return, and  only claiming for receipted maintenence, repairs and replacement of domestic items, I've never once been challenged or audited in over 20 years by the taxman.  In fact, as I said in another recent post , HMRC even suggested a few years ago that as most of my pensions are taxed at source, in respect of income from property and for the few grand tax involved, they'd happily let me stop doing returns and charge me on averages til anything major changed.  I refused, and continue to submit 'em as I don't trust HMRC to get it right,.  And their software's pretty user-friendly;

So my answer would be they probably don't care about imperceptible betterment; after all, you probably can't even get avocado bathroom suites (to retain that 70's cachet), or copper boilers like the one we had in the 1950's and early 60's!

berbatov10

Alex Mac I really appreciate your detailed response. Like you I complete my tax return to the best of my knowledge and belief that what I an saying is accurate. I know other landlords who I would call ' creative' in their tax returns