Buy-to-let tax- the wear & tear allowance

Many landlords have heard of the mythical 10% automatic allowance that landlords can claim for their buy-to-let rental properties.

This means that a landlord can claim for wear and tear on the furnishing of their buy-to-let property by using a figure of 10% of the net rent as an expense when calculating their rental profits on their lettings business. This is generous because a landlord can claim this expense even where they have not replaced any of the furnishings or appliances. Once a landlord has elected to use this method for one of your furnished properties then you will have to use it for all of your furnished properties.

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Landlords should be aware that this allowance only relates to furnished property. Part furnished property, those with just white goods such as cookers, fridges and are not classed as being furnished.

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Therefore where a landlord lets unfurnished they need to claim their expenses on a renewals basis. This means as the expense for a new cooker for example is incurred, then this expense should be recorded as an expense in your tax calculations for that tax year.