Readers' forum: Home improvements

I act for a client who owns a detached house that will be lived in by his disabled daughter and her partner. No rent will be charged by my client. The VAT is substantial because the property is being extended and improved at a total cost for building work of between £150 000 and £200 000.There will be specific rooms built in the extension for his daughter to use which I assume will be zero rated but other parts of the house will have some work done on them so that she can gain access and use the other rooms. Would all of this work also be zero rated?

There will be some other improvements done to the property but all of them would probably enable disabled access. The challenge is to explain the situation to potential builders to enable them to accurately assess how much of the...