Our rented residential property resides in a hard water area, and thus the installation of a water softener would be good for both the tenant and property. The question is whether this could be treated as an expense on the property tax return or whether this would be treated as a non-taxable improvement.

Arthur Weller replies:
In HMRC’s Property Income manual (webarchive. nationalarchives.gov.uk/20180105171910/https:// www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/propertyincome-manual/pim2020) it states: ‘So if you add to the premises something that was not there before, for example if you build an extension or a new porch, this is capital expenditure. It does not matter