Another from Ten Things… I get asked a LOT how long someone has to live in a house before it will be tax free.
It will surprise you to hear there is no minimum length of time you have to live in a house. Really. That’s because time isn’t really what is considered. It’s the quality of the occupation that is much more important. You can “say” you live someone for ten years but if you never set foot in it you will struggle to ever argue it was your home.
Time is one factor and that is all. It’s definitely true that you would struggle to argue that you lived somewhere for a few weeks but it’s possible. Let’s say you move house, completely, move all your things in, change your address everywhere (including HMRC) and you get a job offer overseas. You move out a couple of weeks later. Genuine occupation of a house as a home for a short period.
If you’re trying to make a claim for Principal Private Residence relief be sure that you can provide all of the evidence it will need to show that you intended to live there and did in fact live there. “Moving” in to one of your rentals just before sale just won’t cut it. As an aside even if it did you still have a taxable gain up until the day you moved in but that’s for another email…