cadas

The 5.5% issue is a bit more complicated now.  The last set of documents and attestations that my accountant sent out give a long series of criteria in order to benefit from 5.5%.  The forms appear to be trying to reinforce the point that 5.5% is for repair not renovation, the main disclaimers included: - not affecting foundations or structure - not involving more than five or six second fix elements. - not involving new construction or increasing the habitable area by more than 10%. Moveable furniture is excluded but fixed items, such as a kitchen are allowed.  One area of greyness we do have is the issue of proportion, they guidance notes seem to indicate for certain items, such as windows, replacing all windows in a house is renovation, whereas replacing a proportion is repair; one form asks you to justify the 'repair' and asks for the proportion of windows being replaced in number or area. What this all means is that it is rather complicated and especially when you are dealing with modernising second homes as much of the work being carried out is renovation, hence why many artisans charge 19.6% for simplicity.