PRR and 9 month rule query

I am purchasing a house which is due to complete in the next couple of weeks - property 2. About to put my current property - property 1- on the market in the next week or so. We wanted to sell our property AFTER buying a new house purely to avoid the stress of being in a chain. My current property is my main residence which I've lived in continuously as my main residence since 2011. I am planning on staying living full time in property 1 pretty much as close to the sale completing as possible and using this time to do decorating at property 2 and it needs a few repairs doing etc... I've read about PRR and the 9 month rule but I'm not sure about what the relevant dates are. Would we get PRR until the date we stop using property 1 as our main residence, then an additional 9 months relief on top of that, or do we just get 9 months relief from the date we start to own 2 properties? If it's the former would we have to formally declare property 1 as our main residence within 2 years of selling it, or within 2 years of starting to own 2 properties? If we sell property 1 within 9 months of purchasing property 2, I'm assuming no declaration would be needed? Thanks

Hi ,
 

As you will have two or more properties at the same time, you would need to write to HMRC at H.M. Revenue and Customs Self Assessment and Pay As You Earn BX9 1AS, to confirm whick of your properties is your main residence or to confirm that property 1 ceases to be your main residence at date x.  Private residence relief is calculated in months.   You would need to calculate how many months property 1 was your main residence and add a further 9 months to this figure and place this over the total number of months you owned the property.  Please have a look at helpsheet HS283 (   Private Residence Relief (Self Assessment helpsheet HS283  ) . Thank you .

Thanks for your reply though I'm still not clear on your last paragraph. Does this mean that in order to not be liable for CGT I need to: 1) write to HMRC to advise that from 18th November I will own 2 properties and property 1 will remain my main residence 2) if for example after 2 months we have sold property 1 and want to move in to property 2, I would then write to HMRC again to confirm that we moved out of property 1 on 18th January and property 2 would be the main residence from this date 3) from 18th January I would have 9 months to sell property 1?? This is the bit I'm not sure of. Thanks

Hi,
Please see further guidance at:
CG64485
Thank you.