Vat Refund on Home Improvement, refurbishment & conversion

Did you know that if you refurbish or convert a property, you can qualify for lower Vat on your costs? If you didn’t – you’re not alone as this is not widely promoted and many rules and regs apply. 

The change-of -use VAT Break was introduced in 2002 to encourage people to convert & refurbish existing buildings into homes rather than only building new ones that exempt from VAT charge.  You can claim a reduced VAT of 5% on bills and expenditure in the following scenarios:..

• If you convert a property that has never been lived in (barn, warehouse etc)
• If you convert a property of flats into a single residence
• If change of use applies – such as converting a property that was used commercially (office, shop, pub etc)
• Any property that has been empty for three years or more
• If you convert a single home into flats
• Any maintenance, refurbishment or improvement to a buildings’ fabric – this includes fitted bathrooms & kitchens, articles incorporated in a building (building materials wired & plumbed in boilers and heaters, flooring, soft landscaping)

You cannot claim for fittings (such as carpets and furniture), non-building materials, plugged-in electrical & gas appliances, tools & equipment, garden d?cor & landscaping & professional fees. Also, the lower rates of VAT cannot be claimed if you want your conversion to be used for business purposes such as renting out or  B&B.

Not everyone can qualify for a refund of VAT, but if you bother to look into the details you could save a fair amount of money. You can find out more details about the VAT Refund scheme   – just type in Vat Refunds or Notice 708 and follow the links.