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New bathroom in rental property and tax

LEP
LEP Posts: 137 Forumite
Tenth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
in House buying, renting & selling
I rent out a flat built in 2008 and am thinking of replacing the bathroom completely as the current one is 13 years old and a bit tired.
Clearly this will be an 'improvement' but I'll just be replacing everything like for like.
Can I claim this on my annual rental expenses? I've googled and it seems to be a bit of a grey area.

Thanks

Comments

  • pbartlett
    pbartlett Posts: 1,397 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    i believe this is capital expenditure and thus cannot be claimed against income but rather against cgt when you eventually sell the flat
  • p00hsticks
    p00hsticks Posts: 15,000 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    LEP said:
    I rent out a flat built in 2008 and am thinking of replacing the bathroom completely as the current one is 13 years old and a bit tired.
    Clearly this will be an 'improvement' but I'll just be replacing everything like for like.
    Can I claim this on my annual rental expenses? I've googled and it seems to be a bit of a grey area.

    Thanks

    I'm not an expert, but I'm not sure it is an 'improvement' rather than a 'repair' for the purposes of CGT.
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 16,005 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If similar replacement the repairs, if massive improvement (eg add shower, bidet, electric underfloor heating, etc etc etc then improvement.

    Either way you (under current regs) save tax.

    Ask HMRC or your accountant.
  • dimbo61
    dimbo61 Posts: 13,727 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    You have a bathroom and are replacing that bathroom so you can offset the cost against your profit.
    If you were building a new extension with Extra bedroom / bathroom that is capital expenditure !
  • easterbunni
    easterbunni Posts: 147 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    If you are replacing a B&Q cheap bathroom with a Wickes cheap bathroom, that's repair
    If you replace a B&Q cheap bathroom with a marble sink and a gold bidet and jacuzzi bath, that's an improvement
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,297 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 15 May 2021 at 1:18AM
    LEP said:
    I rent out a flat built in 2008 and am thinking of replacing the bathroom completely as the current one is 13 years old and a bit tired.
    Clearly this will be an 'improvement' but I'll just be replacing everything like for like.
    Can I claim this on my annual rental expenses? I've googled and it seems to be a bit of a grey area.

    Thanks
    HMRC’s guidance explains when a new item is an improvement pretty well. If you’re just replacing a bathroom suite with a new bathroom suite of a reasonable modern equivalent then that doesn’t sound like an improvement to me. Meaning it should be an allowable expense for rental income tax purposes. 

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