How much of the repair etc. costs can I reclaim against the potential capital gain of the sale?

Question
As a landlord, I have let a property to the same couple for the past eight years. Unfortunately, we had to evict them to gain access to the property. They left the property in a very poor state of repair and maintenance and we have had to: (a) spend significant time and effort removing abandoned goods and rubbish from the property which has meant several visits to the property 100 miles from our home incurring overnight stops, travel & accommodation costs; (b) get contractors to do an in-depth clean; (c) get the decorators to do a significant amount of re-decoration; and (d) spend more days working on the garden which had become a wilderness which has incurred more travel and accommodation costs. When this is all done, we plan to sell. How much of the above costs can I reclaim against the potential capital gain of the sale?

Arthur Weller replies:
If you look at www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pimmanual/PIM2020.htm, in the section headed ‘Dilapidations’ (first bullet point), the implication is that your expenditure is not an allowable revenue expense, because it is not in order to further your future rental business; the reason being because your intention now is to sell the property.