Can I claim for furnishing a rental property?

Not the first time. Replacement of domestic items relief covers replacing an item, never providing it initially — HMRC states the relief cannot be claimed for the initial purchase. Furnishing an unfurnished flat is a capital cost with no deduction against rental income.

How is the deduction calculated?

The cost of the new item, plus the cost of disposing of the old one, less anything you received for the old one. A £850 replacement sofa, £40 to remove the old one, £100 received for it, gives a £790 deduction.

Can I claim a better replacement?

Only up to the cost of an equivalent. Replacing a £300 washing machine with a £1,200 washer-dryer is an improvement, and you claim what the equivalent replacement would have cost. A reasonable modern equivalent is not an improvement, though — including a more energy-efficient appliance where the original model is no longer sold.

Does it cover a new bathroom or fitted kitchen units?

No. Fixtures — baths, toilets, boilers, fitted units — are excluded from domestic items because they are part of the property. Replacing them is treated as a repair under the normal revenue-versus-capital rules instead, which is a different regime rather than no relief.

Replacement of domestic items relief: what furnished landlords can claim

Scope: applies UK-wide to residential lettings. 2026/27 tax year.

The old 10% wear and tear allowance is long gone. What replaced it is narrower, and its central restriction is in the name: replacement.

The rule in one line

You can deduct the cost of replacing a domestic item provided for the tenant’s use. You cannot deduct the cost of providing it in the first place.

HMRC is explicit that the relief cannot be claimed for the initial purchase of domestic items.

What counts as a domestic item

Furniture — beds, sofas, wardrobes, tables, chairs
Furnishings — curtains, carpets, rugs, linen
Household appliances — fridges, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers
Kitchenware — crockery, cutlery, pans

It must be for the tenant’s exclusive use in the dwelling.

What does not count

Fixtures are excluded — anything fixed such that removing it would damage the fabric. Baths, toilets, boilers, fitted kitchen units. Those are not domestic items; they are the property, and replacing them is a repair instead. The distinction matters because it decides which regime you are in, not whether you get relief at all.

The first-purchase trap, worked

You buy an unfurnished flat and spend £4,000 furnishing it. Nothing is deductible. Not that year, not against rental income at all — it is a capital cost.

Three years later the £800 sofa fails and you replace it with a similar one for £850. Now you claim, and the amount is worked out as HMRC sets out:

cost of the new item
plus the cost of disposing of the old one
less anything you got for the old one

Sell the old sofa for £100 and pay £40 to have it taken away: £850 + £40 − £100 = £790.

The improvement restriction

The replacement must be broadly the same as what it replaces. Replace a £300 washing machine with a £1,200 washer-dryer and you cannot claim the whole £1,200 — a washer-dryer does something the old machine did not. You claim what the equivalent replacement would have cost.

Modern equivalents are fine. If the like-for-like item is no longer sold, the nearest current model is not an improvement just because it is more efficient. HMRC allows a reasonable modern equivalent, including a more energy-efficient appliance.

Where it does not apply at all

Rent-a-room lettings in your own home.
Where you are claiming the £1,000 property income allowance, which replaces all actual expenses.

What to record

For each claim you need the new item’s cost, evidence it replaced something, any disposal cost and any proceeds. A receipt on its own does not show it was a replacement — and "was there an old one?" is exactly what an enquiry asks.

Documents live with the property. Check what else applies to yours — five questions, no signup.

Information tool, not tax advice.