Allowable expenses - legal fees?

[solange]

Hi Guys

Hoping someone can help.

I used the fully managed service of a letting agent as I live abroad, however I terminated the contract after 5 months as they were so poor.

I am hoping to take them to court to be reimbursed for their poor service.

I assume that any legal, office fees etc are not a tax deductible expense, and that any award would not be tax deductible either.

Could anyone confirm?

Thanks for your help!

[RMC]

Did the agent fail to pay over rent, caused tenants to sue because of failure to maintain the property or was he homophobic towards you?

[solange]

Agent was late, by up to month, in passing over rents , but aside from a minor amount never failed to pass over rent.
Agent failed to carry out repairs but I was never sued by a tenant as I left them in a matter of months and got repairs sorted promptly before that could happen.
Rude but not homophobic lol!

[RMC]

If you were suing for rents not paid over or commissions overcharged, these items would be included in your lettings income and expenditure, so related legal costs would be allowable.
It would seem that the problem is that the agent behaved in a way that caused annoyance; this is a personal matter, so legal fees are not deductible from lettings profits.

[solange]

Thank you for your kind reply rmc, I understand the position now.

Commissions were over charged so that's interesting.

Thank you once again!