Property and capital gains tax

Landlords with one property or twenty, people selling a second home or an investment property, and anyone weighing up whether to hold property personally or through a company.

Personal ownership or a company

The restriction on finance cost relief for individual landlords changed the arithmetic considerably. Higher-rate taxpayers with mortgaged property often find a corporate structure more efficient — but incorporating an existing portfolio triggers its own tax consequences, and stamp duty, so it is not automatically the right move.

This is a calculation, not a rule of thumb. We do the numbers for your actual position before recommending anything.

What is actually allowable

Repairs are deductible; improvements are not, but they may reduce a future capital gain. Replacement of domestic items has its own relief. Travel, professional fees, insurance and letting agent costs all have their own treatment.

Getting the repair-versus-improvement line right is where most landlords either overclaim and risk an enquiry, or underclaim and overpay.

Capital gains on disposal

Residential property disposals have a short reporting and payment window after completion, separate from your self assessment return. Missing it produces a penalty even if the tax was eventually paid.

Before a sale there is usually planning worth doing: timing across tax years, use of annual exemptions, transfers between spouses, and whether any private residence relief applies for a period you lived there.