Recessions may come and go – and we’ve seen more than our fair share over the years, but Britain’s love affair with property and construction seems to roll on unabated. As an island nation, we’ve always had to make the most of the space we have available and when the politicians and planners cry “Enough!” we just redevelop the old to make way for better more suitable homes, offices and commercial premises.
At Harwood Hutton, we have partners who have ‘lived the sector’, owning and managing a ground works company and development companies, as well as holding senior roles within national house builder organisations. This expertise came to the fore in the 80’s when we built our own offices, on a site that we acquired prior to obtaining planning consent. Employing all the expertise to hand, we were able to maximise the planning potential and space utilization!
It’s this kind of first hand insight that helps in our work acting for many clients in all the different branches of the property and construction sector. It also motivates us to hone and strengthen the considerable expertise that we deploy on behalf of our clients.
We remain keenly aware of the risks associated with the differing activities within the property sector and work with our clients to create suitable limitation of liability structures that offer protection of assets in the event of claims that are all too common in this industry. We are also aware of the myriad of property related VAT pitfalls; but on the other hand still have avenues to help with finance for property development.
All of our clients are offered our fee protection scheme to put them in the position of being able to vigorously defend themselves against unwarranted attacks by HMRC without concern over the cost of our fees in coming to their defence.
With regard to sub contract labour within construction, the latest recommendations on the wording of contracts for self employed services are kept under review, and the tactics of HMRC in pursuing their status enquiries is closely monitored.
Expertise is available to undertake surveys of buildings in order to substantiate optimum claims for Capital Allowances or to advise on the complexities of VAT or the tax treatment of lease premiums in all their guises.
In other words – Harwood Hutton knows about property and construction.