miike

Bit about the business zero rating the bill is correct. If the invoice was supply + fit, then it should be zero rated at purchase. If supply only, then you pay VAT then reclaim. You should be able to get it back from them with an explanation though, they won't be out any money. Not sure why you'd have issues with windows/door/roofing, that seems exactly what you should be able to reclaim for.

They just said ‘please update the descriptions with more detail’. And how much do you want to bet that if I provide exact details of every item, they won’t know how to categorise everything and then ask me to put items in more general categories…

Just got my reply - apparently the description ‘building materials’ for some of the invoices that contained multiple items from builders merchants was too vague. So they want more detailed descriptions and now I’m back to the end of the queue again.

I called today and they said they’re on stuff submitted 27th July. And once invoices are submitted, it’s back to the end of the queue, so another 5+ weeks. If they’re just selecting the largest invoices, or a few random ones, I don’t see why they couldn’t automatically request them after the initial submission, rather than dragging things out. Even at the previous request, just ask me for insurance docs and invoices at the same time, rather than separately.

Thanks for providing an update. Is that 31 invoices in total? I suspect your call helped move things along as I submitted the additional info a few days before you and haven't heard back.

Have you heard anything back from them? I'm at 2+ months since submission and haven't even been asked for copies of invoices yet.

I re-read the email and noticed that it only gives two options for sending documents - online via their website portal, or by post. And if they haven't got the docs in a month they'll reject the claim. I'd replied to the email with the documents attached to it, but realised they could technically ignore it and reject the claim after a month as I hadn't provided the documents via their listed methods. Just gone to the portal and uploaded the additional docs that way to be safe.

I don't see how that could be the case - the house insurance is a tick box you fill in online and select a date you want coverage from, it's also entirely optional. The bc cert + council tax occupation date are far more relevant. Plus, if you're suggesting that they want to check the insurance doc because you couldn't have coverage if still doing building work, then I feel that HMRC would be delighted about this - it means they can keep the VAT you pay on any ongoing works.

That's what I thought. Here is the exact wording: 'We need some more information before we can look at your claim, concerning your occupation of the property. Please provide a copy of the house and contents insurance documentation for the property...'

Never heard of anyone else being asked for it. Suspect that they have a backlog and they're asking for random things from people to fudge their internal performance metrics to make it look like they're dealing with the cases instead of further delays.

Finally got an update to say they will only look at my claim after I send them a copy of the house insurance...

Early June for me and haven't even got the claim ref yet. Guess they've slowed right down at the moment as other people have previously said on here that they've had their claim reviewed, asked for invoices, and paid out in a similar time frame.

The consensus seems to very much be on the let sleeping dogs lie side. After the initial visit I placed a couple very visible ring cameras by the road side and that may also have discouraged further complaints as you can't take photos without being recorded doing so.

Towards the start of my build, I had a site visit from planning enforcement because of a complaint on the roof being built too high. The officer was somewhat confused when they arrived and found that the house didn't actually have a roof yet. They revealed that they'd had complaints for 9 other things including not following the landscaping plans, when no landscaping was close to even starting. This led them to concluding that the complaints were obviously vexatious and I never heard from them again, other than to confirm the case had been shut. The house has been completed now, and I'm willing to bet they received a variety of other nonsense complaints during that time. I'm wondering if it's worth contacting them myself now to ask them to officially confirm they're satisfied the house has been built to plans, or if its better to let sleeping dogs lie? My concern on the former, is if it's inviting them to go through everything with a fine tooth comb, potentially leading them to find a wall is an inch out, then asking me to rebuild it or apply for a planning alteration, which I believe would invalidate the CIL relief. My concern with the latter, is that if they decided in the future to investigate a complaint of 'the wall is an inch too wide' they might try harder to find fault than if I had contacted them myself to take a general overview of the house.

I think that's more ambiguous as the answer should technically be 0 if you have a kitchen but no utility room.