EL Flood & Sons Partnership v Revenue & Customs

Value Added Tax� -� whether work in replacing a damaged plasterboard ceiling with a lath and plaster ceiling in a Grade II listed building, the change of fabric resulting from insistence by the planning authority, qualified as an alteration to the fabric of a listed building, and thus to be zero-rated� -� Appeal allowed

This case related to whether plastering services rendered by the Appellant firm on a sub-contract basis to a firm of builders undertaking work on a listed building, were zero-rated or standard-rated. This hinged on whether the supply was made �in the course of making an approved alteration to a listed building�, and whether if it was, the work was excluded from the resultant zero-rated status by virtue of Note 6 to Group 6, Schedule 8 of the VAT Act 1994 by virtue of the fact that:

�approved alteration ��� does not include any works of repair or maintenance, or include any incidental alteration to the fabric of a building which results from the carrying out of repairs, or maintenance work.�

The Appellant was engaged on a sub-contract basis by a building firm called Alisa Properties Limited, which firm was renovating a small Grade II listed building, comprising two flats, at Royal York Crescent, Bristol.

The building had been empty for some time before the renovation work commenced, and the ceilings had been damaged by water that had presumably leaked through the roof. This had led to some warping of the ceiling joists. There was no dispute that the ceilings needed repairing.