newhome

With RHI you sign to say that the system won’t be altered and it has to be open to inspection (in theory). You can use ST for DHW but not space heating with RHI unless you have a meter for performance on an ASHP from memory. Bloody stupid if you ask me but those are the rules.

Lol, I don’t do it all in one go! I break it down into sections and it’s a lot of effort. My tiles are 30 x 45 so not huge and there is a lot of grout. It won’t be getting done again for a while though as I’ve just had a knee op so that rules out kneeling for a while!

They’ve issued this announcement on their website: Aedis Update

I have Mapei Jasmine but it can get quite dirty if you have pets. It’s fine on the walls. I just end up using grout cleaner and a brush every so often. Takes a bit of effort though.

I chuck wads of mine into my pension tax free, or as much as the annual allowance allows me to. Yes I will need to worry about the lifetime allowance as already up to that pretty much, but given that I intend to retire early and the lifetime allowance increases year on year at present I'm not worrying about that too much. I will most likely move back to England when I draw my pension anyway and benefit from the lower tax there. It's apparently anathema up here to earn a half decent wage even if you work hard for it. This comment I read this morning is typical of the type of thing spouted about people earning a mid range income here "millionaires, trust-fund educated double barrelled name fox hunters". A salary was mentioned in that comment and it's completely laughable that someone earning that salary would be in the category stated. The reality is that the middle earners are the ones who pay the most relative to their overall wealth. The very wealthy can hide vast amounts and not blink, whereas those who are in the middle seem to be the ones who get caned here.

So when my husband was terminally ill we had to buy him some equipment to help. We found that the specialist companies that provide such equipment are much better set up to buy eligible items VAT free. Somewhere like Screwfix will be less enabled to cover such scenarios so it may take more effort to sort. Here’s a Facebook link I found (and screenshot for those who don’t do FB). Not sure if the details are still valid so worth messaging them

Welcome! Once you've made enough posts (10) you become a regular member and the VAT sub forum opens up to you. Worth reading the guide on there early on so that you understand and maximise the opportunity to pay as little VAT as possible during the build and to ensure that your reclaim is successful. There are some things you have to pay standard rate VAT on but a few ways round some of that (not all) if you organise things correctly. Once you've made enough posts you can view it via this link:

Mostly by the LA it seems but some appeals go to central government and the CIL process (or 'tool' as they call it) is set centrally. That said there doesn't seem to be scenario where you can claim if the LA reverses the Self Build exemption after the house is built (unless you can call that a 'surcharge' but I thought that a surcharge was where they had added additional costs). Types of CIL appeal The appeals are here. CIL Appeals

You've hit enough posts to see the VAT subforum now . Have a scout round there to see what people have said about lead times. I'm sure someone said that their claim came though much more quickly that most people seem to be experiencing. Recent focus has been on HMRC refusing claims for apparently not sending the claim early enough even though it was within 3 months of the completion certificate but they've lost their first case at Tribunal so that may ease a bit hopefully. I'm sure they get bonuses triggered by the number of claims they can refuse

Welcome to the forum. Another build in Scotland. There are plenty on here . We would love to see what you plan to build if you can manage to post some details / plans.

That generally means that the claim has passed the criteria then. Well done! The processing takes weeks but on the bright side the money only takes about a week to come through afterwards.

The rules are quite complex in that area it seems so I don't hope to understand all rules around 'built for a business purpose' or 'property not separately disposable' or 'can only be occupied by someone working for XX business'. It's interesting understanding the different scenarios though as it helps us give better advice (albeit unofficial advice) when a claim is a bit more unsual. What letter have you had? The one that says 'claim received' or the one that says they've assessed your claim and confirm it to be eligible and are now working on the detailed invoices?

Looks lovely. Have HMRC approved your claim yet? I know there are rules about self builds being tied to business use.

I never got anything else when my house was finished. Maybe I should have. Hopefully someone will come along and let us know ?

Not sure about deeds. Won’t that just be the document the Land Registry holds?

It’s beyond ridiculous that the CIL process links into an HMRC process with no commitment to an SLA in my view but there you have it. A retrospective warranty will cost quite a lot so worth avoiding!

@Samhelliwell there is a thread on the VAT sub forum here that has some waiting times (and there are other threads discussing the topic too) but you won’t be able to see the sub forum until you’ve made 10 posts. Post an intro telling us what you’ve built and that will get you post count up. We’re all dead nosey about other people’s builds anyway ?.

Yes you only need 1 so the warranty will do.

My VAT claim took 20 weeks end to end last year. A week can be taken off that timeline as that was when I received the ‘approved’ letter. I had no CIL so wasn’t an issue for me (other than being long ...). It’s annoying because they have an SLA that they breach constantly without even letting you know how much longer they will be. In addition to @PeterW‘s advice I would also write to HMRC explaining the deadline you have. You can’t be the only person in this position surely? They do seem to vary. People who sent their claims just after me had their approval letters in about the same time or much less. No rhyme nor reason apparently.

It’s been discussed here previously. You have a warranty though @nod so can just use that (see there was a good reason for one after all ?). Get it all done as soon as you get the warranty certificate then that’s a big box ticked.

I don’t think it’s purely economics in the main but if we’re talking about pretty hefty 4 figure sums not everyone has that sort of money spare. If more people could fit them a bit more cheaply it would encourage people to fit them more. Our installer network hasn’t caught up with the demand for renewables either unfortunately. I haven’t been able to get someone to come out and fix my solar thermal system for love nor money so all of my heating is electric which is neither green nor cost effective.

My quote was circa 5k above the RHI and given that it would have been a retrofit I’ve stuck with what I already have albeit not incredibly economical if I used the whole house.

I tried to but only got 1 company to quote and at 14.5k felt that was too much to install kit to the value of circa 5.5k. I approached about a dozen installers but only received the one quote. The EST told me to widen my search area for a quote and they accepted that getting installers was challenging but I believed that would come with potential support issues so didn’t widen the search area further than 2 hours.

We just phoned up and asked for wheelie bins. The woman did mention council tax but as it was a touring caravan no council tax was due. I was already paying 2 lots elsewhere at the time but the woman was keen to point out that it wasn’t to Borders Council. Nevertheless she sent 2 wheelie bins and asked that we didn’t use the service for build rubbish.

Nope, happy days, VAT back on 8k of paving!