17 March 2020

HMRC - Conditional Exemption - advice for Historic House owners

As matters stand, current UK Government advice would mean that if historic house owners were to delay their opening to later in the year on the grounds that they have been advised to self-isolate, perhaps missing some of the period specified by an undertaking, then that would not be considered a breach of an undertaking.   

It is appreciated that this will mean that it will be difficult to produce the printed advertisements which might be a requirement of the terms of the conditional exemption and failure to do so will likewise not be considered a breach of those terms.  Should the situation improve then HMRC would expect properties to be open later in the year to make up for lost days. 

In the coming period when it is announced that the UK is moving into social distancing measures to protect the elderly and vulnerable HMRC would expect properties to do what they need to, and not view closures as a result of this as a breach of undertaking, even should this mean that a property has not been able to open in 2020. However, this is a moveable situation and updates from HMRC should be monitored.