Usual Q about home office expenses

Usual Q about home office expenses

Author
Discussion

Gordon Brown

Original Poster:

11,800 posts

237 months

Tuesday 13th November 2007
quotequote all
I know we periodically thrash this one out with the need to show wholly and exclusively, to be reasonable etc, and the usual view that you have to be careful about claiming some maintenance costs for the house as it may have CGT issues and the view that as I amy be getting capital gains on propery values as they increase anyway I shouldn't take 2 bites of the chery, but.....

I have two large rooms dedicated to the business for which I claim heat/light and a pro-rata council tax fee based on footage. The offices are in the old part of the house and the old windows were all painted shut many, many years ago. This can make the rooms quite difficult to work in for long periods because they are very warm in summer and the air gets stale/damp in winter because there is no way of ventilating the rooms . As household rooms not constantlu used, noticeably a dining room and a 'snug' this wouldn't be a problem as they are not used everyday or for long periods but as offices used every day and often for 12 hours a day in the summer we have to cool, and in the winter we have to use a dehumidifier and air filter to make them useable. There is also a safety issue as there is on real escape from fire. We have a similar but less acute problem upstairs in the bedrooms over the offices as those windows are also painted shut.

I have a joiner coming in to try and free up the windows in the offices and the house. Could I legitimately claim the pro-rata cost against the offices as half of the 6 windows are in the offices as I feel it is reasonable to have a ventilated and safe office, and can't see that this adds any real capital value to the bulding itself.

Eric Mc

122,343 posts

267 months

Tuesday 13th November 2007
quotequote all
Yes - is the simple answer.

Gordon Brown

Original Poster:

11,800 posts

237 months

Tuesday 13th November 2007
quotequote all
Succint as ever Eric, many thanks.

Eric Mc

122,343 posts

267 months

Tuesday 13th November 2007
quotequote all
Just be aware of the usual "Capital Expenditure/Revenue Expenditure" caveats.