Major Works/Service Charge - Voluntary Prepayments - When to claim as expense

I have a property that I am currently renting out and declaring rental income and expenses via self assessment. The property is currently subject to a large ongoing amount of major works (these are replacement and maintenance and not improvement) - these have already been ongoing for 18 months or so and although I have requested an estimated end date one is not being provided. I have been provided with an actual costs incurred to date figure on work on the schedule that has been completed which is in excess of £30k this is also in excess of the original estimate for the whole schedule of works, I am looking to make voluntary prepayment against these incurred service costs to spread the eventual costs. If I make this voluntary prepayment how/when can I declare as an expense for SA purposes - can I claim as expense in the tax year when the voluntary prepayment is made or do I have to wait until work has finally completed and final costs/invoice known/received.

Hi Dave jeffrey
You didnt specify the major works being undertaken which we would prefer to know before judgement of expenses however, the prepayment nature of your costs may be covered by:
PIM2040 - Deductions: repairs: other rules
Where the liability to pay is incurred in a tax year and is not simply proposed to happen.
Thank you. 

Thanks for your reply. The major works being undertaken fall under a number of activities but all are refurbishment rather than improvement e.g. door replacements (communal, shed and bin storage), window/door replacement for flats, loft insulation and fire separating, renewal of roof together with flat roofs, scaffolding rental for duration of work, asbestos removal, communal door and window replacement, communal asphalt and concrete repairs, brickwork repairs, communal areas decoration, replace door entry and security doors, replace external lighting and communal lighting, electrical installation testing, associated management costs for these items etc. I have already been notified by the landlord (Enfield Council) under Section 20b of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 on the 24th November 2023 that the total expenditure to date for my block is £346,376.30 (my cost is one twelfth approx £30k) - these costs to date are for items of work that have been completed and I am liable for my apportionment of that figure but that total amount will not be finalised until all work is completed - they cannot give me a date for final completion but this will not be this tax year. As mentioned in order to spread this cost I am to make a voluntary pre payment for some of the actual costs notified but need to know that I can claim expense in the tax year that this voluntary payment is made. This does seem to me to fall under "A customer can deduct expenditure on repairs where the liability to pay for the work is incurred during the tax year but payment has not been made by 5 April ----. " you refer to in "PIM2040 - Deductions: repairs: other rules" - but I would like clarification/confirmation before going so. Thanks

Hi,
Your referral is of such a nature that should be better suited to a letter for the attention of a tax inspector to review and hopefully approve particularly with the communal changes.
The refurbishment/improvement aspect requires examination.
We can therefore only re-iterate that at this time:
PIM2040 is for pre-payments of work to happen
Thank you.