New landlord advice - CGT & maintanence offset tax

[Toptime]

Hi everyone,
I am looking to buy a new house and rent my existing. I have 2 questions.

1. If I rent my existing house for 12 months and then sell it within the next 6 months I can reclaim the 2nd home stamp. My question is whether I will need to pay CGT as I have rented it??

2. I will rent the house unfurnished but I need to do some maintenance repairs before renting,
A. Paint the soffits and facia.
B. Replace a threadbare carpet
C. Replace a 3 way CH/HT valve
D. Remove an over grown tree in the garden.
My question is, are these all approved expenses? Can I subtract the costs from the tax I'm due to pay? Is it ok to action these before tenants move in so that I can still claim against tax??

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

[jpkeates]

1 - You will not have rented it for long enough to attract any CGT - you have an 18 month allowance, so the CGT bill will be zero.
2 - All of those are allowable expenses (you will find conflicting advice about carpets, as the rules have changed recently), they are treated for tax as though they are incurred on the dat your first tenant moves in.
Note that you can't claim for your own time/labour (or tools), so if you are doing the work, it will be materials only.

[Toptime]

Thanks for the advice. Yes I have read many conflicting stores regarding carpet too but I'm assuming if I can prove the carpet is not fit for purpose with photos and can provide receipts I don't see why it would be an issue. I would have professionals carrying out the maitanence work for me.

[jpkeates]

Until this April carpets were excluded because they were furnishings and claiming for furnishings wasn't allowed in unfurnished property.
That has now changed (even though the law to make the change is not in effect, as far as I can see).

[DPT57]

You should also bear in mind that things can go wrong with this plan. I'm sure everyone would like to get tax relief on refurbing their home prior to sale, but we now have a new Chancellor and tax rules could change. In addition you could easily get a tenant that trashes the place costing you £many to put right or refuses to leave at the end of their tenancy, or there could be a delay in the sale of your existing property that takes you over the 18 month limit for reclaiming the additional SDLT. Its probably worth running the numbers on different scenarios to make sure this is really worth it. For me, with all the risks and complexities of letting at the moment, it wouldn't be.