- Alterations to a listed building have been standard rated at 20% since 1 October 2012.
- Repair and maintenance of a listed building is 20%, and always has been.
- A listed building can still get 5% or 0%, but only under a relief that has nothing to do with being listed.
Most work on a listed building is standard rated at 20%. The zero rate for approved alterations to protected buildings was withdrawn on 1 October 2012, and repairs were never relieved in the first place. A listed building can still get 5% or 0% on some work, but only by qualifying under a relief that has nothing to do with being listed.
What changed on 1 October 2012
Before that date, approved alterations to a listed building were zero rated and repairs were standard rated. The whole argument on a listed project was whether a piece of work was an alteration or a repair.
On 1 October 2012 the zero rate for approved alterations was withdrawn. An alteration is now 20%, exactly like a repair. The grade of listing makes no difference.
Why old paperwork still says 0%
Listed building work runs on precedent. Specifications are copied from the last scheme and schedules of rates are carried forward from job to job. Plenty of that material was written when alterations were zero rated, and it still assumes they are.
The gap is the full 20%. As an example of scale only, on £150,000 of alteration work the difference between 0% and 20% is £30,000. A contractor who invoices at 0% still owes HMRC that VAT, and will normally look to you for it, often after the budget has been spent.
The opposite mistake is just as common. Someone learns that "listed buildings are 20% now" and stops looking, and a relief that does apply gets missed.
The reliefs a listed building can still use
Listing gives no relief of its own. But a listed building is tested like any other building, so it can qualify by another route:
- Two years empty. Renovation of a dwelling nobody has lived in for two years before the work starts can be 5%. See empty property renovation.
- A qualifying conversion. A listed barn into a house, or a listed house into flats, can be 5%.
- Energy-saving materials. Installation of qualifying energy-saving materials in a home is 0% until 31 March 2027, then 5%.
- Adaptations for a disabled person. Certain specified works are 0%.
There is also a zero rate for the first sale or long lease of a substantially reconstructed protected building. It relieves the developer's sale, not the builder's invoices.
Each route has several conditions, and any one of them can defeat the relief. None is automatic. Our listed buildings page gives the broader picture.
Where it goes wrong
- A quote, cost plan or tender still pricing alterations at 0%.
- A flat 20% that has never been tested against the other routes.
- Whether the occupation history really supports the empty homes rate.
- Which lines stay at 20% even when a relief applies, and how a part-qualifying job is split.
The sensible next step
Send us the builder's quote and we will tell you whether there is anything worth pursuing. If there is, the fee is fixed and agreed before any work starts. Plenty of listed building work is correctly charged at 20%, and when that is the answer we will say so.
Questions people ask
Is there VAT on listed building repairs?
Yes. Repair and maintenance of a listed building is standard rated at 20%. That was the position before 2012 and it is the position now, because the old zero rate only ever covered approved alterations.
Can you get 5% VAT on a listed building?
Sometimes, but not because it is listed. The 5% rate can apply where a listed dwelling has not been lived in for the two years before work starts, or where the work is a qualifying conversion, such as a listed barn into a house. The conditions are the same as for any other building.
Are alterations to a listed building still zero rated?
No. The zero rate for approved alterations to protected buildings was withdrawn on 1 October 2012. Alterations are now standard rated at 20% unless the work qualifies under a different relief.