Can I still reclaim VAT if I have been living in the new build for years (before completion)?

[AlanQ]

Hi all - looking for a bit of advice please? 

 

Is there an issue for VAT reclaim if I have been classed as living in the new build for a number of years before getting completion? 

 

I'm worried because a local builder told me that I could no longer get my VAT back because I'd been paying council tax on the new house for too long, so therefore would be classed as living in it. Is this true? 

 

My new build took a number of years to complete - I started it in 2013 and I have finally booked Building Control to come for final inspection next month. Briefly, main reasons for delays were: running out of money, two bouts of cancer (amongst other health issues) & COVID (forced to isolate as clinically vulnerable).

 

My original planning permission was for a replacement dwelling to be built alongside the existing substandard house. My understanding was that demolition was to be carried out on the existing house, once the new house had been signed off for completion. However my local planner arrived on my doorstep soon after I completed the watertight shell (despite no water or heating inside) & stated that since I now had two houses, I would owe them two lots of council tax. 

 

Long story short, to avoid getting bankrupted, I fitted a temporary kitchen & bathroom in the new house & ripped out the kitchen & bathrooms in the old house - the council accepted that the old house was now classed as non-habitable, and started charging me just one council tax for the new house (at a vastly increased rate, of course). Despite that, since I had no floors, stairs, heating etc in the new house, I continued living in the old house until finally demolishing it a couple of years ago (further delays to sign off because of landscaping). 

 

So could this be an issue for reclaiming my VAT? Has anyone managed to get their VAT back in similar circumstances? 

 

Thanks

[nod]

Yes

[nod]

44 minutes ago, nod said:

Yes

We’ve just been signed off after living in our build a year and paying CT for 18 months and will claim the vat in the next six months 

 

I recently contacted the vat helpline and they stated that the length of time living in the build has no baring 

Just the period between sign off and claim 

Six months 

[AlanQ]

17 minutes ago, nod said:

We’ve just been signed off after living in our build a year and paying CT for 18 months and will claim the vat in the next six months 

 

I recently contacted the vat helpline and they stated that the length of time living in the build has no baring 

Just the period between sign off and claim 

Six months 

 

Thanks so much.. That's such a relief - I've been worried sick about it!

[nod]

18 minutes ago, AlanQ said:

 

Thanks so much.. That's such a relief - I've been worried sick about it!

I would definitely enclose a letter explaining you situation and reason for delay 

But you’ve paid the vat and are entitled to reclaim it 

 

  I hope you repost when you have your claim paid 

 

 

 

[jack]

12 minutes ago, AlanQ said:

Thanks so much.. That's such a relief - I've been worried sick about it!

 

This has all changed over the last 2-3 years. Before that, there were a few years where HMRC regularly rejected VAT reclaim applications based on all sorts of odd definitions of "completion" (including some definitions that went against their own written instructions to applicants and internal employee guidance documents).

 

Eventually, a few appeals went against them, and thankfully they appear to have become a lot more reasonable.

[Temp]

23 hours ago, nod said:

We’ve just been signed off after living in our build a year and paying CT for 18 months and will claim the vat in the next six months 

 

Six months? I thought it had to be submitted within three months?

[jack]

1 hour ago, Temp said:

Six months? I thought it had to be submitted within three months?

 

Looks like it changed in 2023:

 

 

I think this must have been when the changes I mentioned above went through. I assume that's also when they moved to electronic submissions.