Pied a terre

[supersteamer]

Is BIK for the "it's available at the weekend" really a thing? Any record of it being enforced? The few times I've rented a flat I've never tried to pay only Monday-Friday. It was a big enough ordeal just getting somewhere to stay without negotiating weird contract terms: letting agents work in whole number of months, not individual days!

My travel was receipted so I could demonstrate I wasn't there at the weekend, but the place was still notionally available. I guess I could argue that MyCo was using it as a paid for storage facility near the client for belongings and equipment over weekends.

However, the OP mentions "a couple of days in the office". I can't see how that could financially justify a long term let (pied a terre style): just book somewhere for those couple of days you actually need it and either save your cash or upgrade to something nicer.

As for the beach - well I did the same myself recently to get a break from the home office, and it was very nice - but it would never have crossed my mind to even think of making the company to bankroll it! I don't see how you could possibly argue that. If it's something you really want to do long term, either budget it into your post-tax rate or sell up and move to the beach!

[eek]

Is BIK for the "it's available at the weekend" really a thing? Any record of it being enforced? The few times I've rented a flat I've never tried to pay only Monday-Friday. It was a big enough ordeal just getting somewhere to stay without negotiating weird contract terms: letting agents work in whole number of months, not individual days!

Actor loses battle for tax relief for accommodation costs - RossMartin.co.uk is all you need to know.

[supersteamer]

Actor loses battle for tax relief for accommodation costs - RossMartin.co.uk is all you need to know.

Hmmm. Reading this, that decision doesn't appear to be based on him paying for weekends (or whatever days it is actors don't work!) but rather "As accommodating friends and family was not a business purpose, the fact that the three bedroom flat cost no more than a hotel was not material to the conclusion."

Sure, setting yourself up as a holiday home for your mates isn't a business expense, but that's a completely different scenario to paying for your own one bed hermit's hovel when you go home at the weekend.

[northernladuk]

Hmmm. Reading this, that decision doesn't appear to be based on him paying for weekends (or whatever days it is actors don't work!) but rather "As accommodating friends and family was not a business purpose, the fact that the three bedroom flat cost no more than a hotel was not material to the conclusion."

Sure, setting yourself up as a holiday home for your mates isn't a business expense, but that's a completely different scenario to paying for your own one bed hermit's hovel when you go home at the weekend.

Doesn't matter what who was actually in it, it wasn't work. Same theory applies regardless of who is using it, if at all. It's about the proposed usage and at weekends it's available but not for business.

[eek]

Hey, I'm only posting the actual case that is case law rather than people's opinions. That case is a combination of dual purpose and using it outside of the days it was necessary (from memory both issues were frowned upon but the visitors was a killer issue).

The other case that is relevant is where someone based himself in the south west to get work rather than for work (I can't find the case to hand). There it was also disallowed because the travel wasn't directly connected to a particular piece of work. That would be the other stumbling block here.

You can expense travel to visit a client, but not because the view is better.

[supersteamer]

Disallowing accommodating house guests or travel for highly speculative purposes seems entirely reasonable. Disallowing rentals that include weekends seems somewhat impractical. Whilst you may get the occasional private landlord who can accommodate this, trying to persuade a high street letting agent that you don't want to pay for Saturdays and Sundays would seem an uphill struggle, especially in parts of the country with high demand for rental properties. (And in reality, the private landlord is probably just going to increase the Mon-Fri rate to compensate, so you pay the same amount anyway, making no difference to the relief claimed).

As far as I'm aware, HMRC will allow, say, monthly train season tickets and monthly business phone contracts, even though these are "available" for weekend use, and a similar argument could be made: this is, generally, the normal terms and conditions that suppliers of this service provide in the market.

Maybe, instead, myCo could expense hiring a bouncer to keep me from entering the property at the weekend....

[WTFH]

Disallowing accommodating house guests or travel for highly speculative purposes seems entirely reasonable. Disallowing rentals that include weekends seems somewhat impractical. Whilst you may get the occasional private landlord who can accommodate this, trying to persuade a high street letting agent that you don't want to pay for Saturdays and Sundays would seem an uphill struggle, especially in parts of the country with high demand for rental properties. (And in reality, the private landlord is probably just going to increase the Mon-Fri rate to compensate, so you pay the same amount anyway, making no difference to the relief claimed).

As far as I'm aware, HMRC will allow, say, monthly train season tickets and monthly business phone contracts, even though these are "available" for weekend use, and a similar argument could be made: this is, generally, the normal terms and conditions that suppliers of this service provide in the market.

Maybe, instead, myCo could expense hiring a bouncer to keep me from entering the property at the weekend....

Maybe you could stop polluting the forums with your patently daft concepts of how to commit fraud.

Do you have any family members you could add to your company to make it even easier?

[supersteamer]

Maybe you could stop polluting the forums with your patently daft concepts of how to commit fraud.

Yeah, ok, last line was just an attempt at levity which fell flat. But the rest stands: it is very much standard practice for properties to be let on a monthly basis. Renting such a property is not an attempt at fraud, it is due to the nature of the rental market.

Do you have any family members you could add to your company to make it even easier?

Eh? Make what easier?

[WTFH]

Make what easier?

Have you read any of the other threads you've started?

[supersteamer]

Have you read any of the other threads you've started?

The last thread I started was about NOT using myCo equipment on an Umbrella contract which was the very antithesis of fraud (playing strictly by the rules) but was shouted down for being ridiculous. Seems that when querying any regulation any smidgen over-lenient interpretation is considered fraud, and any over smidgen under-lenient interpretation is considered daft. If it wasn't a grey area it wouldn't be grounds for discussion.

It's a rather strange definition of fraud if you actually WANTED to pay extra for a property you're not using if there was any option about the matter.

You wouldn't ask Vodafone, O2, EE etc. for a business phone monthly contract that only connects Monday-Friday because, technically it may be doable, but that's not standard business practice in the telecoms market. I'm only making the point that medium-term lets are monthly, not Monday-Friday, as that is what is standard business practice in the property rental market.

Yes, as has been pointed out, there are some people who will let to you Monday-Friday, but these are certainly not common and if you're starting a new contract in an unfamiliar city, trying to find your feet at the client, you have little enough time to find ANYWHERE to stay without trying to seek out Unicorn letting agents. Any competent business would focus their time on getting the work off to a good start, not faffing about trying to dictate weird rental terms which are of no concern to your client.