Presented by Rosie Jones | 1 July 2026

Public authorities often share their premises with others, granting leases and lettings and they seek to cover their landlord costs through service charges etc. These landlord costs will invariably come with added VAT, so the question they ask is, “can we recover it?”

Part 3 is about the supplies made as the landlord of land and buildings, and it is the session that helps you avoid the classic outcome: the paperwork is signed, the VAT position is assumed, then someone asks the question that should have been asked at the start.

Why this is a big topic for the public sector right now

Councils are doing more with their estates, often under pressure.

• Selling surplus assets to manage budgets
• Releasing sites for housing and regeneration
• Granting leases and licences to partners and operators
• Restructuring occupation across civic, depot and community buildings
• Using short-term arrangements to keep buildings in use

All of those create land and building supplies. And land and building supplies are where VAT can quietly shift between exempt and standard-rated, with consequences for VAT recovery, partial exemption, and project budgets.

This session is built for those real decisions, not textbook examples.

What this Land and Property VAT session helps you get right

Land and property VAT part 3 focuses on the points that create the biggest downstream issues for local authorities.

1) Knowing what the supply actually is, and who is making it

It sounds obvious, but it is a common cause of mistakes. Are you granting occupation or are you providing a facility, or hosting an event? Are you selling and building, or a business?

Once you pin that down, the VAT decision becomes much clearer.

2) When land and building supplies are a business supply, and when they are not

Property supplies often sit in the exempt default, which can feel reassuring until you look at the impact on VAT recovery.

We explore the practical risk areas that councils deal with most, including leasehold service charges, lettings, peppercorn rents, barters and transfers of going concerns.

3) The moments that trigger rework and delay

This is where teams lose time.

• Agreements are signed without the VAT position being clear
• Buyers, tenants, solicitors and surveyors all have different assumptions
• VAT and partial exemption teams get involved late, when options are limited

The session gives you a clearer set of questions to ask early, so you are not fixing things under pressure later.

Who should attend this VAT training 

This session is relevant for:

• VAT and tax teams supporting property and capital activity
• property finance and capital accountants
• estates teams involved in disposals, leases and asset management
• legal and governance colleagues who support transactions
• regeneration teams and project leads who need decisions quickly
• anyone dealing with property income and service charges

If your council is selling, letting, restructuring, or sharing buildings, this session will be useful.

Book the course  Contact the VAT team