Is Painting and Decorating Tax Deductible?
Redecorating between tenancies, after damage, inside or out — allowable. The pre-letting and DIY-labour exceptions.
The short answer
Yes. Painting and decorating a let property — inside or out — is routine maintenance and fully deductible from rental income. The only exceptions are decorating that forms part of a capital project, and work on a property you have not yet started letting where it is really part of making it lettable.
Decorating is the simplest allowable expense there is, which is why the questions are all about edge cases: between tenancies, before the first tenant, and when you do the work yourself.
Between tenancies
Redecorating between tenants is maintenance. It does not matter that the property is empty — expenses in void periods are allowable as long as you intend to re-let. Keep evidence of marketing the property if the void runs long.
Before the first tenant
If you bought a property in reasonable condition and freshened it up, the decorating is allowable; the rental business is treated as starting when you first let and pre-letting revenue costs (within seven years) are deductible on day one. If you bought a wreck at a discount and the decorating is part of a refurbishment that makes it lettable, HMRC treats the lot as capital.
Doing it yourself
You can deduct materials and any tradesperson you pay. You cannot deduct a notional charge for your own time or labour — there is no such thing as paying yourself an allowable wage in an unincorporated rental business.
| Scenario | Likely treatment |
|---|---|
| Repainting between tenancies | Allowable |
| Exterior painting, gutters, fascias every few years | Allowable |
| Decorating after a leak or damage (not covered by insurance) | Allowable |
| Decorating as part of an extension or loft conversion | Capital — part of the improvement |
| Full strip-out refurbishment of a derelict purchase before first let | Capital |
| Your own labour | Not deductible — materials only |
Worked example
A landlord spends £1,400 (decorator £1,100 + materials £300) between tenancies in 2026/27.
| Deducting £1,400 in 2026/27 | Effect |
|---|---|
| Basic-rate landlord (20%) | £280 less tax |
| Higher-rate landlord (40%) | £560 less tax |
| Additional-rate (45%) | £630 less tax |
| From April 2027 (property rates 22/42/47%) | slightly more — the deduction is worth more as rates rise |
Common mistakes
- Claiming the whole refurb as decorating. If plastering, rewiring and a new bathroom happened at the same time, split the invoice — only genuine repairs and redecoration are revenue.
- Forgetting the insurance excess. Where insurance paid for damage, only the excess and any uninsured element are deductible.
- Furnished holiday lets. Since April 2025 the FHL regime is gone; holiday-let decorating follows exactly these ordinary rules.
What to keep
The invoice describing the work, proof of payment, and — for anything near the repair/improvement line — a sentence in your records saying what was there before. HMRC enquiries into landlord expenses turn on that single fact. Digital copies satisfy MTD’s record-keeping rules.
Where it goes under Making Tax Digital
If you are inside MTD for Income Tax (mandated from April 2026 above £50,000 gross), the cost belongs in your quarterly update under the matching expense category, in the quarter you paid it (cash basis is the default for landlords). Get the category right now — the final declaration only tidies totals, it does not re-classify. Check whether MTD applies to you.
HMRC Property Income Manual PIM2020 (repairs and renewals — like-for-like modern equivalent is a repair) · gov.uk “Work out your rental income when you let property” · rates from our verified 2026/27 dataset. Checked 31 Aug 2026.
Quick answers
A repair. Redecoration maintains the property and is deductible against rental income in the year you pay, unless it is part of a wider capital improvement or a pre-letting refurbishment of a run-down purchase.
Yes if the property was already lettable and you refreshed it — pre-letting revenue expenses within seven years are allowable when letting starts. No if it was part of making a run-down property fit to let.
No. Only materials and payments to others are deductible; your own labour has no tax value in a personally-owned rental business.
Box 25, repairs and maintenance — or the repairs category of an MTD quarterly update.