I purchased a grade 2 listed cottage and have been given a schedule of items by the local council, listing the required repairs, but they must be in the old type of materials for roof, windows, etc. so there is no ‘enhancement’.  Some textbooks state that one is allowed to claim some repairs costs before starting to receive rental income, as long as they are just repairs and not enhancements, whereas other text books state that no expenditure prior to rental is allowed against rental income, only against future capital gains. In your opinion would any of these required repairs be allowable against future rental income?

If you look on www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pimmanual/PIM2505.htm you can see that an expense incurred before starting to rent out can be allowable.  Also if you look at www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pimmanual/PIM2020.htm you can see that a distinction is made when doing repairs to a newly bought property before starting to rent it out, between whether the property was fit to be rented out when bought, or whether it wasn't. If not fit, then the repairs are classified as capital expenses, and can only be claimed against future capital gains when the property is sold.