Readers’ forum: Renovation

William is UK resident and domiciled. He owns a number of buy-to-let properties as investments. In 2005 he bought a property for £120 000. The property was always let to unconnected tenants on commercial terms and was never used as his main residence. In March 2019 the tenants vacated the property and William decided to sell it. At that point the property was in poor condition and was valued by an estate agent at £220 000.

William decided to refurbish the property before sale and it was completely redecorated rewired and a new kitchen bathroom and flooring put in at a total cost of £32 000. The property was then sold in October 2019 for £283 000.

My question for Taxation readers concerns the tax treatment of the refurbishment costs. These appear to be primarily of a revenue nature in that they related to...