Sell or rent only home

tdb320307

I'm planning to move in with my partner who has her own place like myself. I have 3.5 years left on my fixed mortgage and am already on the 40% tax bracket. In time, perhaps in the next 2 years, we would look to buy a house together.  My question is what should I do with my property.  I imagine I'll have to pay 40% on any rental income, and from what I understand I will have to change my mortgage to buy to let. Also, would I have to pay capital gains when I come to sell the house in the future if I do rent it now?  I assume that I would not have to do this if I sell now as it's my primary home. 
Is there any other information that I am missing to help me make the best decision at this time? 
Thanks for reading

Keep_pedalling

Unless you fancy the hassle of being a landlord then sell it.

GrumpyDil

If you are a 40% taxpayer, given how finance costs are now taken into account with only a 20% tax credit, it is possible that if you choose to rent the property out you will actually end up losing money depending upon the mortgage size and payments.

I would sell rather than let in that situation. 

p00hsticks

tdb320307 said:

Also, would I have to pay capital gains when I come to sell the house in the future if I do rent it now?  

You'd be building up a potential CGT lability, but it may be small depending on the figures involved - you'd get relief for the period in which you've lived in it as your main residence, and can also deduct buying and selling costs. If you've lived in it for some time and the rise over the period of ownership is not massive, many find that the CGT involved is not as large as you might fear.

How fond are you of your current property ? And how confident are you about the relationship ?  
In your shoes I think I'd either sell it now or, if you can afford to,  hang on to it for a short period of time - say six months to a year - without getting tenants just in case living together doesn't work out as well as expected. 

(I don't want to pour cold water on things but we do see quite a few posts about people who move in together and realise after quite a short time that it's not going to work, so I'd avoid burning bridges early on). 

BikingBud

tdb320307 said:

I'm planning to move in with my partner who has her own place like myself. I have 3.5 years left on my fixed mortgage and am already on the 40% tax bracket. In time, perhaps in the next 2 years, we would look to buy a house together.  My question is what should I do with my property.  I imagine I'll have to pay 40% on any rental income, and from what I understand I will have to change my mortgage to buy to let. Also, would I have to pay capital gains when I come to sell the house in the future if I do rent it now?  I assume that I would not have to do this if I sell now as it's my primary home. 
Is there any other information that I am missing to help me make the best decision at this time? 
Thanks for reading

I would resist either selling or renting for a period until you are both sure about the commitment and compatibility.

There are no end of queries about splitting and trying to resolve the share of the house and its proceeds.

Once you are fully committed to each other the commitment to shared housing, and potentially a different house, should be easier to navigate.  

So keep paying the mortgage, keep visiting the property, perhaps staying there as frequently as required to ensure insurance doesn't lapse. 

If you really are considering renting it is more than just worrying about the tax, and there are many pitfalls that could cost you a lot of cash, see: Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants 

Do not become an "accidental" landlord!

tdb320307

Thanks all for your input, much appreciated