I need to reclaim my vat before I can complete

A JONES • Jul 19, 2017

In some circumstances you may need to submit a vat reclaim earlier than on building control completion

In order to submit a Vat reclaim, HMRC require evidence the building is complete. Complete being to a habitable condition. By far the most popular and simplest form of evidence is a Building Regulations Completion Certificate issued by your local authority LABC or a private licenced company. Scotland is slightly different and so is NHBC. If for whatever reason you wish to trigger the reclaim before the point of building control issuing a completion certificate the next most popular is at the point when you first start paying council tax. Your council tax banding is done by an independent organisation called The VOA (Valuation Office Agency), this is in fact a subdivision of HMRC. They will provide you with a document called Notice Of Making A New Entry In The Valuation List (In England & Wales), HMRC will accept this instead of a building control completion certificate. In Scotland, it is called Notice Of Council Tax Banding, this is issued by the Valuation Joint Board or the Assessor, depending on which region of Scotland you are. Another option is a Habitation Letter, this is a letter from Building Control confirming that the property is habitable and substantially complete. This needs to be on council letter headed paper, with the date and the name of the council employee with their signature. Again in Scotland you have additional options in the form of a letter of comfort or a certificate of temporary occupation/use. The final option and by far the most difficult is a letter from your lender or mortgage provider. It must be supplied on the lenders paper and must read these exact words - ' This is to certify that the Bank/Building Society released on......(date) the last instalment of its loan secured on the building at.......................(address) because it then regarded that building, as complete. Please be aware, this is a very difficult letter to obtain.

Please do not confuse any of the above with: