Updating post from Reddit.

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QUESTION
Posted by anju3182 1 week ago
Legal fees claimed as tax deductions

I had to to pay law firm charges on payments along with the missed/late payment (management fees)

Can this be claimed as expenses for tax purposes, I have all documentation/ statement as proof from the claiming party.

thanks in advance.

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Posted by phpadam 1 week ago

I dont understand what the fees were for, and probably ill-equipted to answer it anyway lol. However my understanding is that legal fees ca be deducated in the course of business but not for capital expences such as Legal fees incurred for the conveyancing, including all disbursements cannot be claimed against the rental income.

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Posted by anju3182 1 week ago

Fees were for service charges + late fees (missed payment) + fees from solicitor as they had to recover money for management company via ccj. Hope this helps.

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Posted by Ok-Assistant1958 1 week ago

Your post is not entirely clear who you were late paying for but as a property owner you are responsible for paying fees associated with owning the property whether or not the tenant pays rent on time and you can't tax expense the fees that come from you paying your fees late.

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Posted by mousecatcher4 1 week ago

I think the poster means that they a) are a landlord - they don't actually say that at all, b) the property in question is one they are letting out - they don't actually say that at all c) they (the landlord) failed to pay their service charges to the block, and were penalised and sued beyond the service charges themselves.

The answer to that question is, if a and b are actually true, yes it can be offset against rental income (but not other income) as an expense. Costs which are incurred as a result of incompetence are a legitimate business expense (although perhaps not fines from HMRC itself - which is an interesting question).

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