Costs to set off against tax on sale of second home

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Would be grateful for advice from any-one who has any experience of this situation.
I will probably end up using an accountant but it would be helpful to have some ideas of what can be set off (eg costs of replacing original cast iron water pipe on 100 year old cottage etc)
 
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https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-property/work-out-your-gain

"Deduct costs
You can deduct costs of buying, selling or improving your property from your gain. These include:

  • estate agents’ and solicitors’ fees
  • costs of improvement works, for example for an extension (normal maintenance costs, such as decorating, don’t count)"
 
Thanks for you reply JD, I'd already been on to that link, was looking for some-one who'd done this recently with some lessons picked up along the way maybe??
 
No experience, but I guess you could class improvements at things that would appear in the sales blurb regardless of age, and maintenance things they'd not mention or only if they were brand new.
 
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I followed the rules on that page, interestingly, the costs of doing the house up for sale were not deductable as they counted as maintenance, rather as described. The District Valuer (?) was called in to assess the value of the house when it passed to me, at a previous date, so that might apply if there is disagreement.

The cost of a new kitchen and some replastered ceilings were only a tiny fraction of the house value anyway, the rest was redecoration and carpets.

If you were running a business in house development, refurb and resale, different rules would apply.
 
I was thinking of:
Replace old cast iron water supply pipe from main supply with plastic
Lay new drive
New garden shed
Renew bathroom furniture
Install multi-fuel stove ???
 
It really depends what you have been doing; is it just a second home, has it been let, has it been a holiday let have you developed the property for profit?
 
This was our "second home", used by my wife and myself. It was never let or used for anything else of that sort.
 
Then you will be pretty much restricted to the deductions mentioned in John's earlier post.
However there is no clear definition as to what is improvement and what is repair/maintenance. For example if you replaced a broken window that would nearly always be classed as repair or maintenance. However if the place was in a very bad state of repair, then replacing all the windows would be seen as capital improvement, like wise upgrading single glazed windows to double glazed.
Was it ever your main residence and if so for how long, if so do a search for capital gains residential relief.
Speak with an accountant as there may be something you can do to nominate that as your main residence, but you may be too late if you are intending to sell anytime soon. If the property has at any time been your main residence then whatever it's status then the last 36 months of ownership are exempt from CGT to even if flipping immediately prior to a sale, you can benefit from this relief.
 
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Thanks C, most helpful. We sold end of March this year. I did consider "flipping" last year but never got around to it.
With a view to CGT I did start a spread-sheet about 15 years ago listing possible expenses that might qualify, this has proved useful, and was sent to the accountant.
I thought a few second opinions would be a good idea, which has proved to be correct. (I still wonder if I've missed something though!)
 

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