New bathroom in rental property and tax

LEP

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

pbartlett

i believe this is capital expenditure and thus cannot be claimed against income but rather against cgt when you eventually sell the flat

p00hsticks

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

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

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

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]

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. 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/income-tax-when-you-rent-out-a-property-working-out-your-rental-income#new-imp