Skip to main content

This is a new service – your feedback will help us to improve it.

Posted Fri, 03 Nov 2023 13:55:38 GMT by
Re : Policy Paper "Capital Gains Tax: separation and divorce" published 20 July 2022 My ex-partner and I were never married, and were not in a civil partnership. We bought a house together and lived together with our 2 children for 12 years. The relationship broke down and I moved out. He still lives at the property and now, after the passage of a further 14 years, says he is in a position to buy my 50% share. That property is the only property I own as I have not been able to buy another and have been obliged to rent in the meantime to house myself and my children. Having taken advice a couple of years ago, and read the HRMC guidance, I understood that I would have to pay CGT, based on the market value of my 50% share, less purchase cost and expenses, for (most of) the proportion of time of my ownership since I left the property. My ex has shown me the Policy Paper "Capital Gains Tax: separation and divorce" published 20 July 2022 and he thinks that this applies to our situation - which would mean that I got PPR relief as it was my main residence and is the only property I own. Having read the document myself, my interpretation differs and I think it only applies to separating married couples or civil partners (we are neither). If I am correct, it seems extremely harsh that I am penalised by comparison to him: We each only own a share of this one property but since I was unable to live there due to the breakdown of the relationship, I have both incurred the huge costs of renting since the breakdown and then will also have to bear a substantial CGT burden. He, on the other hand, having remained in the house is able to claim PPR relief on his entire gain when eventually selling the property. Can you please clarify and advise of any other routes that may be open to me? Many thanks.
Posted Wed, 08 Nov 2023 12:23:20 GMT by HMRC Admin 25 Response
Hi Willowmina 23,
You will be entitled to claim for Private Residence Relief, for the period that the property was your main residence, over the period of ownership.  This can be set against any capital gain arising.
As the property will be sold to a connected party, it will not be at 'arms length'.
Where this is the case. the market value of the property is used for capital gains purposes.
Guidance on Private Residence Relief can be found at HS283:
HS283 Private Residence Relief (2023
A calculator for working out the capital gains is available at:
Tax when you sell your home.
Where capital gains tax is payable, you have 60 days to report an pay the Capital Gains Tax.
 You can do this by registering for an online capital gains account:
Report and pay your Capital Gains Tax
Where this is not possible, you can download a capital gains return from:
Report and pay your Capital Gains Tax and submit it within 60 days.
Thank you. 

You must be signed in to post in this forum.