Roof repair for Letting Accounts

Chubble69

Good morning
Ok - I have this information regarding a £12k bill for roof repairs..... is it expenditure or capital expenditure .... is it allowable for AIA? ..... one more spanner in the works with this - is that this is a teacher who did not think they had to declare this income to HMRC so I need to declare 10 years worth of undeclared income!
"The reason for doing the whole roof was part of a campaign to solve the damp problems in the house as a whole and was stage 1 of several stages (the subsequent stages of which we never got around to doing). The reason the whole roof needed renewing was to fit materials which allowed ventilation levels suitable for a house of that age across the whole roof, the effect of which would not have been possible by doing just part of the roof. Ventilated materials perform in a similar way to those used ~300 years ago (when we estimate the house was built, if I remember correctly). Materials which had subsequently been put into the roof were not allowing air to circulate which increased the build-up of damp in the house as a whole and this is the main reason why we did the whole roof and not just a small repair.
Part of the work was to the pointing on the back wall of the house, also aimed at correcting damp problems.
Any suggestions?

CeeJaySix

By no means a tax expert, but my initial thoughts would be:

1. No AIA or capital allowances, it's part of the fabric of the building (so you'd really like it to be revenue!)

2. When the structure was purchased, did the issue already exist? If so more likely to be capital as it's an improvement on what your client paid for.

3. If not, more likely to be revenue as issue has arisen during ownership and and needs fixing (ie. repair).

4. Outside chance that BPRA may help if deemed capital.

But more detail needed - if in doubt consult a specialist.

CeeJaySix

Edit: ignore point 4, I missed the title as being a let property. Assuming residential, unless it's a significant improvement or changes the character, it's likely to be acceptable as revenue.