Land Registry and Capital Gains Tax

DibbyJelly

My parents bought a plot of land in 1953 and built a house on it.  My father died in 1999 and my mother in 2022.  They lived in the same house all this time and it was never registered with the Land Registry.  I spent nearly 10 years living full time in my parents’ house looking after my mother.  I had a flat in London which I sold shortly after my mother died and on the advice of my accountant declared my mother’s house as my main residence.  We then found out that my mother’s house had been sold from the estate of my mother as the house wasn’t registered with the Land Registry.   You cannot claim Private Residents Relief on an estate. Because of this I cannot declare it as my main residence for capital gains tax purposes.  It doesn’t seem right that because the house wasn’t registered with the land registry (and had never been registered since it was built in 1953) that I have to pay £55,000 in capital gains tax. My sister and I were both executors of my mother’s will. No one mentioned that we should register the house with the Land Registry.  When I sold my London flat that wasn’t registered with the Land Registry either.

Keep_pedalling

I think it highly unlikely that you will have such a big CGT liability. Assuming you inherited the house on your mother’s death then any CGT payable will be based on the gain in value since the date of your mother’s death not the gain since 1955.

Notepad_Phil

Keep_pedalling said:

I think it highly that you will have such a big CGT liability. Assuming you inherited the house on your mother’s death then any CGT payable will be based on the gain in value since the date of your mother’s death not the gain since 1955.

I think you may have missed the word 'unlikely' as in 'highly unlikely '?

Keep_pedalling

Notepad_Phil said:

Keep_pedalling said:

I think it highly that you will have such a big CGT liability. Assuming you inherited the house on your mother’s death then any CGT payable will be based on the gain in value since the date of your mother’s death not the gain since 1955.

I think you may have missed the word 'unlikely' as in 'highly unlikely '?

Whoops! ….

sheramber

Was your flat empty for the 10 years you lived full time with your mother?
 

Did you pay CGT on the same of the flat since you had not lived in it for 10 years?

When was mother’s house sold?

Did you live there after her death until it was sold?

If the house remained in  your mother’s  estate until sold , any  CGT  due on the difference in price between the value at date of death and the selling price will be payable by the estate-  not by you personally. 

madbadrob

DibbyJelly said:

My parents bought a plot of land in 1953 and built a house on it.  My father died in 1999 and my mother in 2022.  They lived in the same house all this time and it was never registered with the Land Registry.  I spent nearly 10 years living full time in my parents’ house looking after my mother.  I had a flat in London which I sold shortly after my mother died and on the advice of my accountant declared my mother’s house as my main residence.  We then found out that my mother’s house had been sold from the estate of my mother as the house wasn’t registered with the Land Registry.   You cannot claim Private Residents Relief on an estate. Because of this I cannot declare it as my main residence for capital gains tax purposes.  It doesn’t seem right that because the house wasn’t registered with the land registry (and had never been registered since it was built in 1953) that I have to pay £55,000 in capital gains tax. My sister and I were both executors of my mother’s will. No one mentioned that we should register the house with the Land Registry.  When I sold my London flat that wasn’t registered with the Land Registry either.

Registration only became compulsory in all areas of teh UK from 1990 and this would only occur when a sale or someone voluntarially reguistered the property.  I dont understand how this affects liability for any taxes.  Also there is very littl reason I can find that would stop you listing it as your main residence for tax reasons however thwe cojmplication will come with you owning the flat in London.  Where was you listed on the electoral roll for during all the time you stayed at your mums for the 10 years to help her out?  Its all about provong what was your main residence but note this could affect the monies you received for your flat in London because you could be liable to pay CGT for 10 years of not living at the flat.  

I may have this totally wrong but in either way I would probably suggest you seek professional financial advice from a STEP accredited accountants/financial advisors

Rob