Claiming rental costs after moving to UK

[meridian]

I know he isn't sent here in the capacity of an employee - he has come here seeking employment. The heading of the HMRC instruction that you quote is "employees on secondment to the UK" EIM77010 - Appendix 1: Employees on secondment to the UK - and as it would appear that the person in queston has not been sent here on secondment it is unlikely that the instruction quoted will apply in this case. The fact that there is legisaltion relating to people coming here from abroad does not mean that this is the legislaton that must apply to them - I said in my previous comment that the law governing travel expenses is:

S337
S338/339
S373 - 375

in that order ...

any travel claim under S373 is dependent upon domicle not ordinary residence and applies ONLY if claims under S337 or S338/339 fail.

I will revise my example as folllows:

Compare this example - I live in my own home, with my wife and the dog, in Chester and I am out of work - I decide to seek my fortune and go to London. I enter into a 4 week lease on a flat - I go to an agency and towards the end of the four weeks I am offered a 12 month contract in London - I need an Umbrella so I go to .. Contractor Umbrella. I expect this to be the first of a series of temporary contracts all over the country so there is no doubt that the first assignment is temporary - I therefore rent the London flat for another 12 months - I assume we all agree that the flat in London is allowable - subsistence if applicable - plus travel Chester to London and London to client.

No, I wouldn't assume that we all agree. By your own admission, you've gone to London to seek your fortune. You haven't been sent to London by an employer.

You then gain a contract in London, simultaneously gaining an employer also in London.

The deductible cost of business travel is that which is over and above costs incurred in the course of the journey that are additional to any costs that the employee would incur if it were not for the business travel. I know you're aware of this, you've argued this in another thread. In this instance, if the friend did not gain the contract (and the employer), the costs would not be deductible as they are on his personal account and not as an employee. He has rebased himself in London (however temporarily) as his own choice, not as that of his as-yet nonexistant future employer.

For the costs to have a chance at being deductible you would need to (for example) set up a company beforehand and have the company send you to London to look for contract work.

Contrast with this example - I live in my own home, with my wife and the dog, in Paris etc etc

You refer to S339(5) - that is the 24 month/one workplace rule - I specifically discounted that by the comment in my example "I expect this to be the first of a series of temporary contracts all over the country" - therefore S339(5) doesn't apply - in my example - if it applies in practise then the claim fails....
Bob

[Bob Jones]

S338 ITEPA 2003 denies relief in respect of ordinary commuting. Ordinary commuting is essentially travel between home and a permanent workplace - home and a temporary workplace is not ordinary commuting. If a person attends a workplace to perform a task of limited duration and provided none of the other restrictions apply the workplace is temporary. Travel between home and a temporary workplace is allowable. As long as the accomodation in question is not "home" as in there is other accomodation that is "home" and is being maintained, there is extra cost as a result.
1 If I am out of work in Chester and by means of a telephone call to an agency I secure genuine temporary workplace employment in London I am not being sent to London by my employer. I have accepted employment, a new position, and I travel to London in order to take up that position - I engage an Umbrella to look after things ..... the travel and associated subsistence is allowable subject to my having a home in Chester.
2 If I am out of work and, rather than use the phone, I decide to go to London to seek employment and spend two weeks in a hotel before finding the same position as above, the workplace is temporary, Chester is home, and the travel and subsistence is allowable.
3 If I am out of work and travel to London to seek opportunities and rather than stay in a hotel I take a cheaper option of a flat on a short lease Chester is still home and the situation as in 2 applies.
4 If I am single living with parents and travel to London to seek my fortune, live in a rented flat and obtain the same position as above the London flat is home and because I am not maintaining a property elsewhere there is no allowance for accomodation and travel is restricted to London flat to workplace and return.
5 If I have a row with the Mrs and do the same as 4 the London flat is home.
6 If a married man with wife and home stays in a B & B , then has an affair with the landlady and later decides to concentrate his affections on the landlady and not return home then the "home" changes and from the date of change the travel is based on the B & B address and not the address that was the matrimonial home .. and this was an actual case about which I was consulted ....
7 The fact that in the orignal question the person concerned came here from abroad makes no difference provided it fits in with the examples quoted above. If for any reason the travel is not alowable as above and the person is non domiciled then there is the possibility of further relief under S373 but that is only if Ss 337,338 and 339 do not apply ...
Bob