Renting out my house - Fixing a fence - tax offset questions?

boxrick

Hello, I am hoping someone can help me with a question!

I rent out a house and the fence in the back yard fell down due to tenant not keeping the garden clear. Regardless I got some quotes for a new fence and clearing the old one. The clear-up was roughly going to be £800 and the new fence was about £700. 

In the end I decided to clear up the old fence myself then get someone to build the new one, probably took about 20 hours of work and multiple trips up the property ( which isn't particularly close ).

- Can I claim mileage for trips to the property to reduce my tax liability ( ie 45p per mile )
- Can I claim the costs of my time to fix this, roughly based on the quotes provided?
- Can I claim for the materials / and or tools / batteries I had to buy. Such as chainsaw chains, batteries for my power tools and such? 

Bookworm105

- Can I claim mileage for trips to the property to reduce my tax liability ( ie 45p per mile )
Only if the journey was "wholly and exclusively" related to the rental property eg: did not involve mileage elsewhere

- Can I claim the costs of my time to fix this, roughly based on the quotes provided?
NO, you don't claim for own labour for obvious reasons: rental tax saved = personal tax payable

- Can I claim for the materials
yes, if used wholly on the property (ie nothing included for your personal property

 and or tools / batteries I had to buy. Such as chainsaw chains, batteries for my power tools and such?
Potentially. They are tools so they are going to last more than one use, but as such they are therefore capital in nature rather than a revenue expense. As they would not be stored at the rental property, there will be an inherent availability of them for personal use, therefore they trigger the duality of purpose rules, and some apportionment of the cost between business and personal use would be needed. That split is very difficult to justify and so typically may result in the whole lot being disallowed. It is a risk you have to be willing to take, but you could claim the business use only proportion under (capital) annual investment allowance rules. So what % of their use will be at the rental property over the next X years? (and don't say 100% !)

given the basic nature of your questions you should do a lot more learning regarding property tax and expenses

PIM2005 - Deductions: general rules: overview - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

PIM2010 - Deductions: general rules: applying the wholly & exclusively rule - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

PIM2220 - Deductions: main types of expense: travelling expenses - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

PIM2068 - Deductions: main types of expense: contents - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

theartfullodger

Probably. But can't charge for your own time.  

How exactly did tenant not keeping garden clear cause fence to fall down please? (Had some interesting "experiences"....)

Been in the landlord game for 20+ years mainly 4 houses, never happened to me.

There are more than 10 taxes a landlord may pay.  May I 'umbly suggest you get a book on property tax -  likely to save more time & money than it costs to get and read 

AlexMac

I meticulously and honestly record every expense on my two little BTL flats; and keep receipts for tacks, nails, screws, keys, paint, new boilers, replacement doors and windows, mileage to and fro to visit…

as well as all the other obvious stuff; service charges, mortgage interest, professional fees and the cost of paper (to print ASTs) and stamps to send my tenants letters…

And, of course the income. To the penny. All summarised in a few lines on my annual Self Assessment online. 

But I might as well have been making all this up, as I’ve never been challenged or asked for detail or receipts in 25 years of submitting returns…. Maybe I have an honest face?

Mr.Generous

I had a tenant with 2 dogs, often left in the back garden, and next door had a German Shepherd. The fence came down regularly due to "wind" - always the panel the dogs used to try and get to each other. I reinforced it again and again. Tenant left, the wind has never again caused an issue.

I claimed for the wood, and the mileage to fix. The labour ?? you got to be kidding.