Selling House - capital gains when no living there but only property

mazda_man

Hi All 

Looking for some pointers or advice. 

Question is do you think I am liable for capital gains ?

Am a home owner. Purchased the property in early 2021 and moved in in mid 2023 when I split with my ex.

 My ex and my child continued to live in the property until we recently agreed our settlement. I’m now due to move back in this month when they move to their new property.

i have lived with my parents in that interim period. 

I want to sell the property - but it’s a minefield regarding if I am liable to pay capital gains tax.  if I have to it’s not worth selling tbh - I may as well remortgage and rent it out. All the guidance is around people who own two homes etc or have been landlords - which isn’t  me . I simply let my ex and child live in the property while we were sorting a settlement. 

Any help greatly appreciated !!!

pumas

Presumably the property has increased in value. Do you mean you moved out 2023, not moved in? Surely CGT can't be worth more than the hassle of remortgaging and renting out?

Keep_pedalling

You will be able to claim PR. relief for the period you lived there plus the last 9 months of ownership. You will also be able to deduct your annual allowance (£3k) unless you have already used that plus your buying and selling costs, so if there is any CGT payable it is going to be a tiny amount and not worth putting off the sale for.

km1500

could you just nominate it as your main residence

https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home/nominating-a-home

subjecttocontract

An accountant should be able to handle your CGT calculation and any tax return required if you provide your details, dates & your costs/expenses......probably for a couple of hundred pounds.

p00hsticks

km1500 said:

could you just nominate it as your main residence

https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home/nominating-a-home

I may be wrong but I think that only works if you own a combination of properties - OP says they've simply been staying with their parents since moving out. I think you also may also be asked to show some sort of evidence that it genuinely is your main residence for the period you are claiming - e.g. you are on the electoral roll there, your banks etc have it as your address etc. 

Having said that , there may be some allowance made for cases such as the OPs where a couple seperate and one moves out of the marital home. 

As others have said, it's probably worth actually running the numbers to see if there is much in the way of CGT due -  by the time you factor in the PPR relief period when the OP was living there, a final 9 months and buying and selling costs, chances are that there won't be much due unless the house is in an areas where prices have risen dramatically over the last four years, 

sheramber

You can get an idea fo any CGT due with his calculation

https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-property/work-out-your-gain