VCONST06530 - Reduced-rating the conversion of premises to a different residential use: qualifying services: works within the immediate site of the building

Immediate site means the land on which the building stands and its curtilage, that is the land which is used for ‘comfortable enjoyment’ of the house or other building. Usually this would be all the land enclosed by the property’s boundaries.

In cases where the property is very large, for example, a building on a farm, or set in large grounds, ‘immediate site’ would not extend to the boundaries but would be restricted to the curtilage that is the land immediately surrounding the building.

Work off-site or away from the curtilage of the building (if the site is large) is not work within the immediate site and is excluded from the reduced rate.

In practice, as water, mains electricity, and so on will already exist most work will take place within the site and fall within paragraph 11 to the Notes, such as increasing the number of sewage pipes that feed into the existing outlet on site that leads to the mains.

Where the work involves first-time connection to a main an apportionment should be applied to cover connecting to the main to the extent that the main is situated off-site, for example in the highway outside a house.