Capital Allowances Act 2001 section 277

Exclusion of dwelling-houses, retail shops, showrooms, hotels and offices etc

Section 277 excludes certain common types of buildings from qualifying for industrial buildings allowances, while providing a limited exception for employee welfare buildings connected with overseas plantations or mineral extraction.

• Buildings used as dwelling-houses, retail shops, showrooms, hotels or offices are excluded from being treated as in use for a qualifying trade, and therefore do not qualify for industrial buildings allowances
• An exception applies for buildings constructed for occupation by, or the welfare of, employees working foreign plantations or mineral deposits, provided the building will have little or no value once operations cease or will no longer be owned by the trader when a foreign concession ends
• A foreign concession means a right or privilege granted by a government, municipality or other authority in a territory outside the United Kingdom
• The exclusion is also overridden by the de minimis rule in section 283, which allows a non-industrial part of a building to be disregarded where it is small in relation to the whole