Murphaph,
As to your question re vat on leases the answer my friend is blowing in the wind! In other words vat on property transactions is nightmarish. There are usually no simple answers as there can be many variables. Problem with vat is that while most of us can get to grips with the basic concepts behind income tax,inheritance tax and capital gains tax vat follows just a set of rules ..in my opinion not very understandable rules. A judge in the UK in a famous vat case descibed vat as" existing in a kind of fiscal themepark" i.e where things were often not what they seem.
This is a roundabout way of saying that you will not get an accurate answer on AAM. You need to your solicitor and your accountant to work together on this and they might well advise that you need to get specific advise from a vat specialist. I am a solicitor and I have no problem saying that vat scares the living daylights out of me...I know just enough about it to know that I am no specialist. I also think I know the answer to your queries but thinking and knowing are very different things.
It doesnt help that there are some major changes afoot in the whole vat on property system ...get specialist advice AAM is not a substitute for that especially re vat.