VAT Treatment of Serviced Apartments: Exemption or Standard Rated?

The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has made a decision regarding the VAT exemption of serviced apartments.
Realreed Limited owns Chelsea Cloisters, a property with 656 self-contained apartments.
The appeal is about the VAT treatment of the letting of 235 serviced apartments.
Realreed argues that the letting of the apartments is exempt from VAT.
HMRC argues that the use of the apartments is not exempt due to an exception for hotels, inns, boarding houses, or similar establishments.
The High Court previously considered the issue of “legitimate expectation” but ruled against Realreed.
The FTT considered the question of who supplies what to whom and concluded that Realreed is letting the apartments.

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.