shuff27

Yes it's now 6 months. We moved into new house in Oct 22, got regs sign off in Jan 24 & submitted VAT reclaim in July 24 - the day after delivery of final load of stone chippings to finish the driveway & just a few days before the 6 month deadline.

Have you considered putting the hob on the island? That works well for us & is more sociable - in your layout whoever is cooking faces the wall rather than other people in the room.

KTS is part of the Kingspan Group: "Kingspan was dishonest and cynical, Grenfell Inquiry finds" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyne526506o

I doubt any paint mixing service would guarantee an 'exact match' in its small print. What I am certain of, having used both, is that 'trade' versions of paint from Crown, Dulux etc are better quality than their 'retail' versions available from the DIY sheds.

Paint buying tip - Farrow & Ball is now owned by Crown. So open a trade account at your local Crown Decorating Centre (mine is happy to give the trade discount to self builders) & they will mix their excellent trade emulsion to the exact F&B colour using the code number off the F&B colour card. And don't forget to reclaim the VAT from HMRC.

Received VAT reclaim in my bank account today & as the online process is relatively new (it may be mandatory now?) I thought that the timescale might be helpful for others who are about to go through this. 29 May - submitted claim. I had been keeping track of all my invoices on a spreadsheet so it was an easy procedure to upload these to HMRC in the format requested, along with the various supporting docs. Received email response from HMRC with a claim ref number. 11 June - email from HMRC confirming my claim is valid & requesting copies of 10 specific invoices (my claim had 117 invoices) which I scanned & uploaded. The 10 invoices were all relatively high amounts but I'm unsure whether they were picked randomly or specifically. 13 June - email from HMRC confirming receipt of 'additional info' i.e. the 10 invoices & stating they aim to process payment within 3 weeks. 10 July - payment received. The amount paid is approx £300 less than I claimed which I assume is due either to claiming for invalid items or miscalculation of VAT on my part (the latter possibly happened where invoices included both reclaimable & non-claimable items). In due course I expect to receive an explanation of the underpayment from HMRC & will update this post then. All in all, I found the reclaim process straightforward & I should think the online process is a great improvement on the previous paper/postal one.

One of the many mandatory documents you're required to submit is the property title deeds. Also, because I have neither a mortgage nor a warranty I had to submit proof of a valid VAT reclaim (I'm still waiting for the actual refund but HMRC has at least verified my claim which the planners accepted).

Just received confirmation letter from the local planning dept, 19 months after we moved in; my delay in submitting the Part 2 form was mainly due to waiting ages for Land Registry to sort out the title deed & plan. But guess what - the planning dept addressed the letter to my previous home which I sold in 2021, which is an appropriate reflection of its incompetence.

You can submit an approved VAT reclaim or proof of a self build mortgage instead - I made sure to check this as I don't have a warranty.

Another vote for Spanish slates. I was originally going to use Sandtoft clay tiles but as they were unavailable due to lockdown I switched to slates & very pleased I did so. Capimor 1st grade Spanish as recommended by my roofer who only works with slate.

My chippies made a sturdy temp staircase out of scrap timber (mainly left over from the timber frame package) for £200 & installed it shortly after the plasterers had finished the final skim coat. The design more or less mirrored what I wanted for my permanent staircase, albeit with narrower treads. They came back about a week before we moved in to remove the temp 2 flights of stairs & install the permanent ones. I kept the same half landing as it was already in the correct position (laid vinyl click flooring on the board, same as on the GF) & they attached a hardwood fascia to the pine. Where the temp stringers were removed there were just a few small areas of bare plaster to paint. My staircase is made from ash by a local joinery, with glass balustrades - I didn't want oak (too common!) so I visited their workshop to look at various hardwood samples. I've left the ash untreated as I prefer that look & don't have young kids or pets to worry about.

I had a similar situation although the 2nd property was to sell not let. My solution was set up a VAT registered limited company to build the 2nd one so I could reclaim the VAT on materials & other expenses. The 1st property was for us to live in so usual self build rules applied. It was a bit complicated to keep all the invoices etc separate but not a major issue. I did employ a good accountant & HMRC were fine with the arrangement. In building terms I did the groundworks & foundations simultaneously (making sure the contractors invoiced for 2 separate jobs - 1 zero rated to me & 1 with VAT to my company). Then I completed my self build & moved in before completing the 2nd property (which went under offer before 2nd fix had been done).

If you applied for CIL exemption you need to include the Final Certificate at the final stage of the exemption process (Form 7, Part 2).

I don't agree with your last point. My wife is from SE Asia so naturally does plenty of wok cooking - no problem on an induction hob, according to her, with a large flat bottomed wok from IKEA.

Will be interested to hear about this - I probably (until I remember something else!) just have to buy interior paint & stone chippings for the drive before I submit mine. I've already re-formatted my spreadsheet to the new HMRC template.