newhome

What’s the break even position on this now @ProDave? Must be a bit more favourable?

I had a different warranty but I was given a quote at the start and paid the entire amount as a single payment. The cost was fixed as far as I was concerned. You note that there has been a premium increase however so are you paying for the cost as you move through the build rather than upfront? Ultimately it will depend on what your policy docs say and whether it allows for the price to change once the quote has been accepted. Have to admit I assumed that warranty costs were fixed at the point of quote acceptance. There was a case a few years ago where the insurer went into liquidation and those who had policies were asked to pay more as the back end insurer had changed but this doesn’t appear to fit that criteria.

I very much doubt it but I think the ‘how long has it been occupied for in the last 12 months’ is really for existing dwellings rather than new self builds so not sure that you would need to lie anyway.

The builder has charged 5% but for eligible conversions this 5% can be reclaimed from HMRC as part of the DIY house builders scheme.

I think I replied to you elsewhere but send them an information pack including the contract, details of how it was to be invoiced (monthly), an explanation that all work in progress would be shown on each monthly invoice so work in progress could show for several months until completed, that it was a fixed price supply and fit arrangement so you were not quoted for materials separately, and send photos of the work. They can’t understand the scope of the work and the contract detail simply from the invoices supplied. It’s not unusual for them to request further details for things that aren’t completely clear.

HMRC have lost a number of cases at tribunal when they decided that a property was complete using a spurious assessment of when that was likely to be. In some cases it defied all logic and they even contradicted themselves several times. Certainly the legislation appears to point towards the completion certificate as the key document that defines completion and the legislation has some provision that allows for people to apply for the reclaim if they wish before the completion certificate is ready, but no one should be forced to apply for the reclaim early if they choose not to. Clearly it makes no sense to push the boundaries and challenge HMRC to a dual so it also makes sense to leave some key work to complete after the property is occupied and without which the completion certificate can’t be issued. I believe that @jack took this approach by leaving some key work to his balconies to the end and had a record of fairly regular purchases leading up to completion to evidence work still to be done / still being done. So my advice (caveat emptor) would be to ensure that you clearly document work still to be completed post habitation, ensure a steady stream of purchases are entered into the reclaim form up until the completion certificate is issued, take lots of photos with clear dates, and look out for tribunal cases that appear to be turning the tide in HMRC’s favour. Currently the flow has been towards the tribunals siding with self builders. The other thing to note is that if a case goes to tribunal whatever HMRC have written on the claim form or tell you either verbally or in writing has no bearing once the case hits the tribunal. They are only there to uphold the law which is always based on the legislation. They may heavily criticise HMRC and have done in many cases but it will not change the outcome.

No you don’t need it. I never had one, I just waited for the completion certificate. You only need it if you want to live in the house with the council’s blessing but I don’t think many councils will care much as you have planning permission and will be paying council tax.

Ask building control.

Interestingly however the tribunal case linked above determined that the regulations imposed by HMRC are ultra vires (or beyond authority) by restricting applicants to one claim. It could also be argued that their stance on ‘completion’ is ultra vires too as can be evidenced in several tribunal decisions in the last year. I’m not sure why a professional would be able to claim more back as if you submit every invoice for materials I can’t see what else there is to claim but great if it made you some additional money.

I think if you have evidence that it took 5 months to receive notice of the listing which you clearly do have then you should be ok. It’s pitiful that they can’t work some of this out themselves however! I would take the opportunity to tell them that as you don’t yet have the completion certificate and there are still a few things to finish you intend to submit a supplementary claim at a later date a la the tribunal decision in the linked case below ? Ellis and Bromley tribunal decision

Personally I would never never use Hermes as they have such a bad reputation round here. I sent mine by Royal Mail tracked and signed for, delivery before noon. At least it was in transit for under 24 hours. Ensure that you send it at the start of the week so that the office is properly open when it arrives.

That’s interesting. There is mention of a supplementary claim being allowed in HMRC’s internal manual however not in the circumstances described in the article, and I’ve never heard of anyone sending a supplementary claim and being successful. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-construction/vconst24550 The decision also seems to fly in the face of the view that once the completion certificate has been issued zero rating ends too but it’s difficult to see how a builder is supposed to determine when a property is ‘complete’ if there is no clear guidance from HMRC. I guess they would need to check the planning permission and decide whether the work is contained within the plans.

I think that doing it in 2 stages may complicate the CIL position. If you are planning to live in the house for at least 36 months post completion I would do the whole planning app in 1 go and then immediately apply for the self builder CIL exemption. If you apply for the exemption for the annex I’m not sure where that leaves you in terms of then applying for an exemption for the main house too given that it’s all the same title. On the annex front are you prepared to pay council tax on this too because 2 self contained units will attract 2 lots of council tax?

10% off Screwfix orders over £50. https://www.screwfix.com/

A valid full planning permission is considered to be the start date for invoices submitted for the reclaim. All ground prep work and if applicable demolition is also eligible for reclaim / zero rating.

To reclaim the VAT you need a supply only invoice in your own name from the window company. Any VAT that is paid on that invoice is what can be reclaimed. I had a deposit and 3 stage payments for my timber frame. I was able to reclaim the VAT on all 4 invoices and I very much doubt that HMRC linked the 4 invoices together. So essentially if you receive the correct invoice (not quote) from the window company you should be able to reclaim the VAT paid, although as it’s a supply and fit arrangement technically you should be paying your contractor with zero VAT who would then pay the window company.

I didn’t create anything, those were simply the quotes. I needed a UVC to replace the TS and a correctly sized ASHP. UFH is already present everywhere so surely it’s a case of installing the 2 new components and commissioning it all? These guys are supposed to be the gold standard where sizing and installations are concerned so I was quite concerned about the very different ASHP outputs I was quoted.

How long has it been unoccupied for? A VAT concession is available if a property has been empty for 2 years.

I totally agree. I had 3 quotes from MCS registered installers. One quoted an 18kw heat pump and the cost was just shy of 30k, another quoted for a 12kw heat pump @ 15k, and the third an 8kw heat pump @ 12.5k (the UVC seemed way too small too). So I ended up with no confidence about what to do. The other thing that put me off was the fact that heat pumps run much more often than I need to have my boiler on for. As I have a plug in car I would like to move to a time of use tariff and have everything set to run during the cheap period and that doesn’t lend itself to a heat pump.

I’ve been on a heat pump group as I was vaguely reconsidering whether to swap my electric boiler for a heat pump. The cost to install is still too expensive and I’ve seen post after post from people seeking advice when their heat pump doesn’t perform to the standards needed to heat the house or the bills are astronomical. These are systems fitted by supposedly MCS certified engineers. So I don’t think the costs stack up at all yet, and nor is the expertise in place to make it a mainstream choice just yet. As I can’t have gas here I will trundle on with the electric boiler which needs next to no maintenance and once I can eventually move to a time of use tariff I will do so as heating, DHW and car charging are my big hitters and can easily be run in a 3 hour window.

I’m on a semi flexible tariff that changes twice a year. It guarantees to be at least 2.5% under the price cap. Mine changed today to 14.1p from 12p which at the time I wasn’t that happy about but on reflection it doesn’t seem that bad. It will stay at that rate until April. I have a second meter at a lower rate but can see that going up when the fix it is on ends in November. It’s a much smaller proportion of my usage however. I built up a credit balance to cover my higher usage in winter and I can see that they’ve just refunded it back to my bank. So now I start winter in debt ?‍♀️ Go figure!

22 month 0% credit card for purchases https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/0-purchase-credit-card-for-22-months-at-ms-bank-3796820 Section 75 protection too if you pay by credit card. In these uncertain times that's good to remember when deciding how to pay.

Mine is rising to 14.1p in October (EDF). I guess with Go it depends how much you can use in the cheap period. If I had a smart meter I could flip all of my heating, DHW and car charging to run during that period so I would probably save money but would need to do the maths.

I found this on MoneySavingExpert

Unfortunately not. All of the self build claims are delayed. Covid is just a convenient excuse. Mine took 20 weeks in 2018 when covid wasn’t even a thing. They just blamed staff shortages at that time. The important thing is to ensure that you don’t get anything wrong on the claim to maximise your chances of it all being accepted. There is a fairly comprehensive guide available on here but it’s a sub forum for regular members and you need more posts to be able to view it. You do get a letter from HMRC to confirm that your claim is eligible well in advance of the invoices being checked and that’s the first hurdle really. Beyond that it’s just a case of them checking individual invoice for eligibility and paperwork correctness. You do get the opportunity to provide further information if you have an invoice rejected. If it’s an order rather than an invoice for example you can go back to the supplier and ask for a proper VAT invoice and then resubmit although clearly it’s best to submit the correct paperwork to begin with. Remember that you can only claim for eligible MATERIALS bought on a supply only basis and preferably in your name or you may need to provide payment evidence if they’re not. Labour invoices and supply & fit arrangements need to be zero rated to you and are not claimable and nor are services many of which are standard rated.