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I have been sent an interesting letter from a reader. It was from a stamp duty land tax rebate company which had written to her because she had purchased a property with a low energy performance certificate (EPC) rating. It suggested that this might be grounds for claiming an SDLT rebate, on the basis that the property could be deemed to be uninhabitable. The letter is obviously based on the First-tier Tribunal decision in the Bewley case (TC6951), and the rebate company refers to this on its website.
The question for me is whether there should be any restriction on firms sending out such mass mailings. Having a low EPC seems to me to be a very flimsy basis for making a claim, but to be fair the letter does not say that a claim is due – merely that the individual could be entitled to a rebate and should contact the letter writer.
It could possibly be that, after a full investigation of the facts, the property was uninhabitable at the time of purchase and that the poor EPC rating was a symptom of this. So long as there is a proper assessment of whether a claim can be made then letters like this do perhaps fulfil a purpose in alerting individuals to potential rebates. But, and it is a big but, we have seen too many cases where there is no proper evaluation and people are led into making claims for which there is no justification. HMRC will make repayments based on the claim and all too often the individual is left high and dry when it turns out that the claim was not valid and the rebate has to be repaid.
Sometimes you do have to look a gift horse carefully in the mouth.
If you do one thing…
Read the revised information requirements for research and development claims – HMRC has made some late changes (tinyurl.com/hmrcranddinforeq).
