Care Home Capital Allowances
A care home or nursing home typically holds a high proportion of qualifying plant and machinery, because the care equipment, assisted bathing, hoists, nurse-call systems, commercial kitchens, laundries, heating, lighting, lifts and communal fit-out are all capable of qualifying for capital allowances. A registered care home is not a dwelling-house, so the qualifying plant runs right through the building. A capital allowances review identifies that expenditure and puts it in front of your accountant to claim.
This page covers residential and nursing care homes. If you run a GP surgery, dental practice or veterinary clinic, the clinical side is covered on our medical and dental page.
Do care homes qualify for capital allowances?
Yes, and they are one of the strongest property types for it. A care home is heavily serviced and full of specialist equipment, and because a registered home is not a dwelling-house, the qualifying plant is not restricted the way it is in ordinary housing.
Capital allowances are tax relief on money spent on plant and machinery inside commercial property. The rules sit in the Capital Allowances Act 2001, and HMRC sets out how they apply in its Capital Allowances Manual. HMRC’s own guidance draws the line clearly: the beds and equipment in a nursing home are not for use in a dwelling-house, so they are not caught by the restriction that applies to residential lettings.
The relief is not automatic. It has to be identified, valued and claimed. Where a home has been bought, built or extended without a proper capital allowances review, most of it is usually still there.
Why care home properties hold so much unclaimed relief
A care home is built to look after people around the clock, and that shows in the servicing. Very little of the cost is bare structure.
Start with the care equipment. Ceiling and mobile hoists, assisted and specialist baths, profiling beds, nurse-call and monitoring systems, and the plant behind them are working equipment for the trade. Hoists are named as qualifying plant in the Act.
Then the building services, which run at a scale ordinary buildings do not need. Heating and hot water for every room and bathroom, extensive electrical and lighting installations, ventilation, and often a lift or several. These are integral features and qualify at the special rate.
The support areas add more. A commercial kitchen, a laundry with its own heavy equipment, sluice rooms, cleaners’ and staff facilities, and shared lounges and dining rooms, all fitted out and serviced for constant use.
Fire, security and communications carry through the whole building: fire alarms and detection, sprinklers where fitted, door entry and access control, CCTV, and the call and data systems that keep staff connected to residents.
Put together, the qualifying proportion of a care home is usually well above what an owner assumes, because so much of the building is equipment rather than shell.
What qualifies in a care home
The table below sets out plant, machinery and integral features commonly found in a care or nursing home. The basis for each is the Capital Allowances Act 2001, applied as set out in HMRC’s Capital Allowances Manual. Exact treatment depends on the individual home and how each item is installed and used.
| Item | Category | Basis in plain terms |
|---|---|---|
| Ceiling and mobile hoists | Plant and machinery | Hoists are named qualifying plant, List C |
| Assisted bathing and specialist baths | Plant and machinery | Care equipment serving the trade |
| Nurse-call, monitoring and alarm systems | Plant and machinery | Care and safety technology |
| Heating and hot water systems | Integral feature (special rate) | Space and water heating |
| Electrical installation and distribution | Integral feature (special rate) | Wiring and power serving the home |
| Lighting | Integral feature (special rate) | Lighting installation |
| Ventilation and air handling | Integral feature (special rate) | Air systems serving the building |
| Lifts and hoisting between floors | Integral feature (special rate) | Vertical transport |
| Commercial kitchen equipment | Plant and machinery | Catering equipment |
| Laundry equipment | Plant and machinery | Heavy laundry plant |
| Sanitaryware, sluice rooms and wet rooms | Plant and machinery | Fitted washroom and clinical waste equipment |
| Fire alarms, detection and sprinklers | Plant and machinery | Safety systems |
| CCTV, door entry and access control | Plant and machinery | Security systems |
The bare structure and general building works are more likely to fall outside plant and machinery and may instead be relevant to the structures and buildings allowance. A review keeps those separate and does not overclaim.
A worked example
The figures below are illustrative. They show the shape of a typical care home review, not a real client. Figures are illustrative and clients are protected in accordance with GDPR.
Take a care home bought for 1,800,000 pounds, with forty beds, assisted bathrooms, a commercial kitchen, a laundry and two lifts.
A capital allowances review might identify qualifying expenditure along these lines.
| Element | Illustrative qualifying expenditure |
|---|---|
| Hoists, assisted bathing and nurse-call | 70,000 |
| Heating, hot water and ventilation | 90,000 |
| Electrical installation and lighting | 80,000 |
| Lifts | 55,000 |
| Commercial kitchen and laundry | 60,000 |
| Sanitaryware, sluice rooms and fit-out | 65,000 |
| Total qualifying expenditure identified | 420,000 |
On this illustration the review identifies around 420,000 pounds of qualifying expenditure inside an 1,800,000 pound purchase. What that is worth in tax depends on the owner’s position, their rate of tax and the allowances available, which is exactly the part a qualified accountant works out and claims. The job of the review is to find and evidence the expenditure, not to file the claim.
Why owners miss it
Most care home owners are not missing this relief through carelessness. They miss it for reasons that sound sensible until you look closely.
My accountant has already done my tax. Almost certainly, and it changes nothing here. A general accountant prepares the accounts and the return from the figures in front of them. Breaking a care home down into its qualifying plant is a separate, specialist exercise. It is not a criticism of your accountant, it is a different job. Our post on embedded capital allowances explains the split.
I thought residential care counted as housing, so nothing qualifies. Not so. A registered care home is not a dwelling-house, so the restriction that applies to residential lettings does not bite, and the qualifying plant runs through the whole building.
I bought it years ago, so it is too late. Usually not. Capital allowances on embedded fixtures do not run out because time has passed. If the qualifying expenditure has never been claimed, and the entitlement was not signed away at purchase, it can generally still be identified now. See our guide to capital allowances when buying commercial property.
We have extended and refurbished over the years, so it is a muddle. That is normal and workable. A review looks at the purchase and each phase of work in turn, and sorts the qualifying expenditure accordingly.
How PTRC handles a care home claim
PTRC prepares the capital allowances report. We do not give tax advice and we do not submit claims. A qualified accountant, your own or one from our panel, reviews the report and makes any claim to HMRC. That line never moves.
We start by understanding the home and how you came to hold it, whether you bought it, built it or extended it over time. We look at the care equipment, the building services, the kitchen and laundry, the lifts and the communal areas. Then we break the expenditure down item by item.
Every figure goes into SiteRegister, our reporting tool, and every figure carries its source, whether that is the Capital Allowances Act 2001 or the relevant part of HMRC’s Capital Allowances Manual. Nothing is a round number pulled from the air. You and your accountant can see the working behind each line.
We then hand the report to a qualified accountant to review and act on. They decide eligibility and make the claim. We stay available to answer questions on the detail.
There is no upfront cost. You pay only when a claim succeeds. If you want to know what to ask any capital allowances firm before you engage them, read our piece on the cowboy problem in this market.
To understand the full mechanism, see our pillar guide to capital allowances. Where you bought the home, our page on capital allowances and commercial property transactions covers how the purchase affects a claim. If you have been building or refurbishing, the annual investment allowance and full expensing pages explain how the reliefs apply.
FAQ
Do care homes qualify for capital allowances?
Yes. A care or nursing home holds substantial qualifying plant and machinery in its care equipment, heating, lighting, lifts, commercial kitchen, laundry and communal fit-out. Because a registered care home is not a dwelling-house, the qualifying plant runs through the whole building rather than being restricted as it is in residential lettings.
Is a care home treated as a dwelling-house for capital allowances?
No. A registered care or nursing home is not a dwelling-house, so the restriction that stops plant and machinery allowances in residential lettings does not apply. HMRC’s own guidance treats care home equipment, such as the beds, as not for use in a dwelling-house.
What can you claim capital allowances on in a care home?
The common qualifying items are the hoists and assisted bathing, the nurse-call and monitoring systems, the heating, hot water, ventilation and lighting, the lifts, the commercial kitchen and laundry, the sanitaryware and sluice rooms, and the fire and security systems. Each item is valued and evidenced against HMRC’s guidance rather than assumed.
Can I claim if I bought the care home years ago?
Usually, yes. Capital allowances on embedded fixtures do not expire simply because time has passed. As long as the qualifying expenditure has never been claimed and the entitlement was not given away at purchase, it can generally still be identified and claimed now.
Do I need my own accountant involved?
Yes, and that is by design. PTRC prepares and evidences the report, but a qualified accountant, yours or one from our panel, reviews it and submits any claim to HMRC. PTRC does not give tax advice and does not file claims.
What does it cost?
There is no upfront cost. You pay only when a claim succeeds. If a review finds nothing worth claiming, you are not out of pocket.
See if your care home qualifies
The quickest way to find out what your home may hold is the qualify calculator. It takes a couple of minutes and there is no cost or commitment.
Use the qualify calculator to start, or read how it works to see the process end to end.
PTRC has prepared capital allowances reports on commercial property for six years, applying HMRC’s own published guidance and showing the working on every figure.
Reviewed: 14 July 2026. We check our sector pages against current HMRC guidance each tax year. We are not accountants or tax advisers. A qualified accountant reviews every report and makes any claim.
See whether there is a claim in your property
A short, no-pressure conversation. There is no upfront cost, and you only pay when a claim succeeds.