In February a gathering of Southampton Property Association members heard a presentation by Capital Allowances consultant David Rees, which centred on the latest changes being introduced on how allowances are dealt with in property transactions, and also the impact of the coming EPC Sanction.
David said: “The theme was that both of these issues lie in wait for the unwary and that the old adage of “Failing to prepare, means preparing to fail” is particularly apt. The changes on allowances – known as the Fixtures Rules – mean that after April 2014 unless adequate preparation takes place then a property transaction may see valuable entitlements to tax relief being permanently lost. Whilst the future EPC sanction will in some instances, force vendors or leasehold assignors to have to undertake last minute buildings improvements to improve the EPC rating and avoid the property becoming unusable”.
The event was organised by Richard Nevines at Keygrove Chartered Surveyors for SPA. Richard commented: “Rather than seeing this purely as an obstacle for property professionals, David argued that pro-active strategies with clients will both protect their interests and also create fee-earning opportunities for their advisers.”
For those unable to attend the event, David Rees can be contacted to request an in-house team briefing.
