VAT Treatment of Serviced Apartments: The Realreed Limited Case

Realreed owns a property called Chelsea Cloisters in London with 656 self-contained apartments.
The VAT treatment of the letting of 235 apartments is in question.
Realreed argues that the letting of the apartments is exempt under The VAT Act 1994.
Chelsea Cloisters operates like a residential building and does not offer hotel-like services.
HMRC argues that the apartments are not exempt due to the provision of sleeping accommodation in a similar establishment to a hotel.
The court determines that Chelsea Cloisters is an establishment in potential competition with the hotel sector.
The FTT finds that Chelsea Cloisters is suitable for use by “visitors or travellers”.
The VAT treatment of the serviced apartments is not exempt.

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.