CORONAVIRUS GRANT

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ianh100
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Post by ianh100 »

We did not claim for November for our second property as we had permitted guests (moving house). I emailed about claiming in January as they have not added the ability to do so, only claiming if shut in November. I was told I could apply for November but it really does not feel right to do so. This does not seem to be applied the same in each region at all, some seem to be asked for more evidence of impact we have been asked for no more than our business rates account number. We are all going to have to pay this back in higher taxes for many many years to come, after all it is not the governments money being spent, it is ours!
J B
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Post by J B »

Norfolk Canary wrote:.........but are the rest of you in the UK getting this amount? It seems OTT. I guess they have taken the low admin option of using a tiny amount of means testing.
Our FHL's are in Wales
We eventually got the 10K initial grant and have then had 2+1 in November and then another 3 after Christmas
Norfolk Canary wrote:It all feels a little uncomfortable as we are hugely better off than we would be in a normal season, particularly as 24% of our turnover would normally go to our letting agents.
Hmm, we were probably worse off in the Summer but then about level over October (Nov payment) but then only lost one booking over Christmas so were better off there.
Swings and roundabouts.

And .... who know what will happen as the year progresses??
J B
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Post by J B »

J B wrote: And .... who know what will happen as the year progresses??
Looking like Wales is giving us another 3K :oops:

https://gov.wales/further-details-200-m ... businesses
CarolineJ
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Post by CarolineJ »

In the Highlands we had the initial £10k and then nothing until last week when we got the first payment under the Strategic Framework Business Fund grant, which is being paid at £2k per property, every 4 weeks in arrears. Very, very grateful as I was reaching the bottom of my bounce back loan!
Faint heart never won fair holiday let...
Norfolk Canary
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Post by Norfolk Canary »

Received an email from the Council today saying we are now eligible to receive a COVID restart grant!
ianh100
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Post by ianh100 »

Have they given an indication of how much that could be? We can open again in 2 weeks so I was not expect much if anything additional. The descriptions for my council cover so many industries it is hard to work out what the grant could be.
Karen&John
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Post by Karen&John »

If we are offered more council grants I will ask that they be paid after April 5th

Best to all,
K&J
Last edited by Karen&John on Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

https://ukhospitality.us14.list-manage. ... d9c80e51e2

The Restart Grants are not paid till April. Hope I’ve copied this link correctly, if not I will edit and try again.

Please note, they are not council handouts. You do need to apply and meet specific criteria. Not all businesses have had any support - my sister who is not in hospitality has received nothing throughout the pandemic.
Please try to be sensitive on a public forum. Others will read what is said and may lose respect for us as individual owners.
Norfolk Canary
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Post by Norfolk Canary »

ianh100 wrote:Have they given an indication of how much that could be? We can open again in 2 weeks so I was not expect much if anything additional. The descriptions for my council cover so many industries it is hard to work out what the grant could be.
We have been told we will be getting £8K which came as a massive shock. It seems ridiculous to me so I did a lot of googling to make sure in my own mind that we are eligible, particularly as our rates bill is zero. This link, albeit for Cheshire, confirms that a zero bill does not matter. I presume these grants are the same whether you own a single one bedroom place with a small annual met profit or several large properties with a substantial annual net profit. We have the former, so the money we have received is several times our typical annual profit. They will get a lot of it back of course as it is taxable and I am a 40% tax payer, but it feels kind of wrong. All this money will sit in our account until such a time that it is clear the Government is not going to try and claw any back. I have always been a believer of the saying ‘If it seems to good to be true, it probably is’.
https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov. ... esses.aspx
J B
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Post by J B »

Norfolk Canary wrote:............ so the money we have received is several times our typical annual profit.
I suppose it's the 'problem' with the 'one size fits all' system - winners and losers
Sadly (?) some of the much larger businesses miss the cut and get nothing.

:?
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

Norfolk Canary wrote: We have been told we will be getting £8K which came as a massive shock. It seems ridiculous to me so I did a lot of googling to make sure in my own mind that we are eligible, particularly as our rates bill is zero. This link, albeit for Cheshire, confirms that a zero bill does not matter. I presume these grants are the same whether you own a single one bedroom place with a small annual met profit or several large properties with a substantial annual net profit. We have the former, so the money we have received is several times our typical annual profit. They will get a lot of it back of course as it is taxable and I am a 40% tax payer, but it feels kind of wrong. All this money will sit in our account until such a time that it is clear the Government is not going to try and claw any back. I have always been a believer of the saying ‘If it seems to good to be true, it probably is’.
https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov. ... esses.aspx
We had to apply and show eligibility for the second grant so we chose not to. Just like Waitrose which got very bad publicity for not repaying grants when it hadn't lost out, I think that you shouldn't be claiming this if you don't need it. It's so wrong to be better off when some businesses have really suffered.
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

J B wrote:
Norfolk Canary wrote:............ so the money we have received is several times our typical annual profit.
I suppose it's the 'problem' with the 'one size fits all' system - winners and losers
Sadly (?) some of the much larger businesses miss the cut and get nothing.

:?
Yes, and if you are a winner, it may be down to the simple fact that you probably don’t have a mortgage, or at least not one with the monthly repayments that we had when we first started out and the repayment term was shorter than usual.

There is no way for the government to get a quick system organised and up and running if you are going to try and sort out the level of detail that targets more specifically. We as a group are very lucky to have been specifically “named” as businesses who are eligible for some sort of support - some in need have struggled to get applications accepted.

Listening to the experts, I am not hopeful we will get any income from the end of October to probably March 2022, and this might occur the following year as well.

The virus is expected to cause problems again either as a result of travellers bringing in new variants, or the slow pace of vaccinations outside the UK.
We aren’t through this yet, but will soon have to start paying back what has been spent to support businesses so far.
ianh100
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Post by ianh100 »

Hi Zebedee

We are also trying to pay off our mortgage over a shorter term so payments are very steep but I don't view paying off the capital as a business cost, that is our choice to invest profits to pay off the asset. The business cost is really just the interest you still pay plus and interest you could have made if the capital had been invested.

I have had a few people ask what return we get from running a FHL vs buy to let. I always remove the mortgage capital payments from my annual cost. I appreciate you still need to find that money each month.
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