newhome

I never enter that, I just put in my annual consumption.

There are tariffs that allow this but they don’t tend to have the best rates unfortunately. Most companies want monthly direct debits, an online only account (ebills etc.) and regular customer reads. I’d use one of the price comparisons and read the small print as I’m not sure if ‘pay for energy in arrears’ ( which is essentially what paying a bill equates to) is one of the options you can select. https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub?_ga=2.121589514.368469421.1610133549-802344845.1610133549

Oh and if you rip it out or install an alternative heating system you will no longer be eligible for RHI payments but I’m not sure if anyone ever checks whether the kit is installed as it was originally.

They are pretty toothless. As long as someone is on the MCS list (it’s not their list, just anyone who has MCS accreditation) they will approve the loan. They won’t ever recommend a supplier so everyone is stuck with the selection they make unfortunately. You could possibly complain to MCS or via the RHI scheme but I bet they don’t have much power either.

Data Protection Act possibly.

I’ve had female dogs for years (they don’t go on the lawn area more because of the mud issue than anything else). I’ve recently got an entire male and his pee stinks much more than any of the females. My vet confirmed that this was normal!

From a heat pump group apparently they have admitted on the phone to sending many of these emails in error. It’s a pity that they haven’t managed to send an apology out as yet!

I have one but have never been brave enough to use it outside! ?

IME the blokes would rather pee in a bush than use a portaloo.

Certain organisations are still blaming Covid where others have managed to move forward and adapt. As an example, many dog breeds should have their hips X-Rays and checked prior to breeding from them. The British Veterinary Association that grades the X-rays shut down completely and only reopened recently. They have a huge backlog. They have now shut down again and cite that they can’t do the grading unless on site. X-rays are submitted digitally so there is no reason why they couldn’t have adapted in the 9 months since the initial lockdowns but they’ve done nothing. Now UK breeders are sending their x-rays to be graded in the US or Australia as they have managed to sort themselves out to work remotely and returning the grading in under 3 weeks. They are a lot cheaper too. It’s just pathetic how many organisations (I don’t say businesses as most businesses have had to adapt or go under) are still blaming everything on covid.

When I did my reclaim for my house the plot had PP for 2 houses. HMRC queried what I intended to do about the second house. As it happened the plot had been divided and split into 2 plots before I bought my plot so it was all fine but if they know that there is planning permission for 4 houses they may ask you about your intentions for the 4th. I took that to mean that they would be sending in 3 claims but that the 4th house was shared between the 3 sets of paperwork and ‘hidden’ for want of a word. It depends what HMRC asks when the claims are sent I guess. You are better getting a relative to live in 4th house for a while in truth.

That sounds like a decent quote. My quote for the same kit (more or less) without the VAT is £10,852. If it’s any consolation they sent a ton of these emails yesterday.

To be honest it’s not that easy to get your head around the rules especially with a conversion. Many tradespeople don’t understand the rules either!

Good post @Temp. You explained it much better than me. I would just add that you absolutely need to confirm that your conversion is eligible for the reclaim scheme as if not you may decide to go down the supply and fit route to pay 5% VAT rather than buying materials in at 20%.

A note of caution re CIL because it’s really rigid. Examples of where full liability has to be assumed include: Self builder died before he had occupied the house for 3 years - council claimed CIL liability from the estate Developer sold plot after an access was made to the plot - self builder who purchased it was denied an exemption as development was judged to have started. Developer gained planning permission for several plots under the same planning permission. First plot was sold to a self builder and building commenced after a CIL exemption was granted. Other plots were denied self build exemptions as the development was deemed to have started. The way round that is to apply for phasing within the PP or ensure that there are separate permissions for each plot. Tis a minefield ...

If you are a self builder and intend to live in the property for 3 years after it is completed you can apply for a CIL exemption anyway. Do not start ANY work on site however before you have the exemption paperwork submitted and confirmed at the appropriate point (there are several forms so ensure that you submit each one at exactly the right time or you become liable for the whole lot).

If your conversion is eligible for the reclaim scheme you claim 20% back on eligible materials when you do your reclaim. All self builders either building a new dwelling or an eligible conversion have to pay 20% VAT on supply only materials and then reclaim it later. If any of your work is labour only or supply & fit it must be charged at 5% VAT. You reclaim the 5% when you do the reclaim. What the form means by correct VAT rate is (for example) where someone has charged 20% VAT on labour instead of (for a conversion) it being charged at 5%. If you try to reclaim the 20% you will be directed back to your tradesperson to revise the invoice, refund you 15% and then HMRC will refund the 5%. Here are the relevant notes from 431C VAT wrongly charged? If you’ve been wrongly charged VAT, you cannot claim it back from HMRC. You should raise the matter with the supplier of the goods/services who charged you the VAT. Supply­ only materials that you buy from a retailer will have VAT charged at the standard rate. Two rates of VAT may apply to the costs of services supplied to you by a VAT­ registered builder or contractor. These will either be a standard rate, or a reduced rate. Eligible building materials that a business both supplies and installs follow the same VAT liability as the service. This means that if the service is reduced­ rated then the building materials will be too. The Scheme will only refund the correct amount of VAT (that is the VAT that was properly chargeable). If you’ve been charged VAT at the wrong rate (for example, because VAT was shown as standard­ rated, rather than reduced­ rated) your claim will be rejected. If the builder or contractor has charged the wrong rate of VAT on their services and materials that they installed, they should correct the liability. You’ll need to ask them to provide you with an invoice showing the VAT that has been correctly charged. But do not leave it too late. They have a limited amount of time to correct their VAT account with us, and are likely to refuse to make a correction if it is out of time. If you re­present the claim with an invoice showing the correct rate of VAT, we will make a refund to the extent that other aspects of the claim are satisfactory. You should also be aware that you cannot claim back VAT on all building materials and services. This will work as long as your conversion is clearly eligible for the reclaim scheme (not all are). If it’s not eligible (but still eligible for reduced VAT) then you can benefit from the reduced VAT rate of 5% for labour only or supply & fit work, but you cannot reclaim any further VAT and have to pay the full 20% on supply only materials.

Then it’s 20% VAT. The term ‘works’ means installation, not equipment on a supply only basis. If your conversion is eligible for a VAT reclaim you can reclaim the VAT paid via the reclaim scheme.

Yes I believe that many buyers’ reports say that the roof may not be adequate for the solar panels and when they pay for the full structural survey they come back with the solar panels are ok on the roof ?.

Indeed but they’re ticking boxes I think. My SE had no issue with confirming what was wanted.

I have solar thermal rather than PV but building control insisted on seeing something from my SE that supported the panels being on the roof. They also wanted something that assessed the fire risk that seemed odd to me at the time.

Write a review here. Seems like they read these. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.howdens.com?page=58

3 new neighbours! That’s some feat to p*ss off 3 sets of old ones ?

Nah, his kids would see sense and sell it as a plot for someone to flatten like 90% of the other places up there.

Are you asking them to supply the goods or supply and fit?