The furnished holiday let rules end today: what it means for capital allowances

From today, 6 April 2025, the special tax treatment for furnished holiday lets comes to an end for individuals. For companies the change took effect from 1 April 2025. For years a qualifying holiday let was treated more like a trading business than an ordinary rental, and that opened the door to capital allowances on the fixtures inside it. That door is now closing on new spend, and if you own a holiday let it is worth knowing exactly where you stand.

What has changed

Until now, a qualifying furnished holiday let could claim capital allowances on its fixtures, the heating, the hot water, the fitted kitchen and bathrooms, the electrical systems, in a way an ordinary residential let never could. From the dates above, that special status is gone. A holiday let is treated like any other property rental, and new expenditure on its fixtures no longer attracts plant and machinery allowances the way it did.

What has not changed

This is the part that gets missed in the noise, and it is the part that matters most. The change does not reach back and erase what came before.

If you incurred qualifying expenditure on your holiday let before the change, that position does not simply vanish. And if you bought a holiday let some years ago and never had the fixtures looked at, that unclaimed relief may still be sitting there, waiting. Allowances that were validly available do not expire just because the rules changed for new spend. They have to be checked properly, on the facts of your property and your ownership.

Why this is worth a look now

A lot of holiday let owners will read the headline, assume the whole thing is dead, and never ask the question. Some of them will be walking past a claim worth a real sum, on money they spent while the rules still allowed it. Assuming you have missed the boat can cost you as much as assuming you qualify when you do not.

What to do

If you own a furnished holiday let, or you have sold one, and the fixtures were never looked at, it is worth finding out where you stand before you write it off. We will look at the history and tell you honestly whether it seems worth taking further, with any claim going to a qualified accountant to review and decide. We only charge if there is a claim to make.

It is a free review with no pressure attached. It costs nothing to ask, and after today it is a question worth asking sooner rather than later.