Until 5 April 2016 landlords who were letting residential property fully furnished could claim a 10% of rents as an additional cost called “wear and tear allowance”.  Wear and tear allowance can be claimed for the last time on 2016 tax returns.

For the current tax year (2016/17) and onwards landlords can instead claim a tax deduction for the actual cost of replacing furniture, furnishings, appliances and kitchenware for the use of the tenant in the let property.

Note that there is no tax deduction for the initial fitting out of the rental property, just the cost of replacement Items. Furthermore the allowable tax deduction applies on a like for like basis so if there is any significant Improvement then the tax relief will be restricted. So, for example, where a washing machine is replaced with a washer/dryer costing £600, tax relief would only be available for the cost of the equivalent washing machine costing say £400.