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Can a landlord claim mileage on his tax return for travelling to view his property?

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By Fred Smith
02nd Aug 2012 22:21

Yes, my understanding is that the landlord can claim mileage for the purposes of visiting rental property.

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Replying to raybackler:
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By sawales
03rd Aug 2012 08:50

Thanks!

Fred Smith wrote:

Yes, my understanding is that the landlord can claim mileage for the purposes of visiting rental property.

 

Thanks Fred. I did find the answer on HMRC shortly after I posted the question. Whats bazar is that my cleint who asked me this question was told by HMRC that he couldnt claim. Do they know what they are doing I ask myslef....

Thanks again.

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Replying to raybackler:
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By sawales
08th Aug 2012 19:39

Can it be back dated?

Fred Smith wrote:

Yes, my understanding is that the landlord can claim mileage for the purposes of visiting rental property.

Fred can it be back dated for other years that have not been claimed ?

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By justsotax
03rd Aug 2012 08:54

The answer to that is in most
cases no. Also claim for visiting the letting agents and meeting with the accountant.

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By tladirect
03rd Aug 2012 18:27

Just to take this further...

I confess that I have not encountered any landlord who claims the costs of travel/mileage; I suspect that this may be because their rental properties are often fairly close by and the small value of the claim may not be worth the "hassle" of maintaining a journey log.

However, does this mean that a landlord, residing abroad, could claim for travel to the UK, say once per year for the sole purpose of checking their rental property?  Does anyone do this?

tladirect

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By Fred Smith
03rd Aug 2012 22:52

I did have a client living in HK that had a rental property in London.  They stopped using a letting agent and did fly to London solely to meet with the tenant, deal with contracts and satisfy themselves that the tenant was acceptable.  The cost of the trip was claimed.  I am not suggesting that this was a sensible business trip but even bad expenditure decisions are deductible.

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By tladirect
04th Aug 2012 08:23

Fred, Did the HMRC

specifically say this was acceptable, as opposed to not querying the deduction, to your knowledge?

I would agree with your point regarding "bad expenditure decisions" from a purely business/accountant's view but have found that, certainly with "small"/private landlords, their rental properties can be treated as more than just an income source - rather - more as a valuable investment; thus, expenditure which may not appear to make economic sense to onlookers can be deemed by the landlord to be necessary to protect their assets. 

Provided the claim for travel expenses is "HMRC approved" in these circumstances, I would not have thought that the use of a letting agent would be entirely relevant provided that the landlord only traveled back to the UK at "reasonable" intervals, say annually or bi-annually.  Incidentally, I should be interested to know if, in your example, any associated expenses such as the cost of accommodation etc involved were claimed/allowed?

Many thanks

tladirect

 

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