JillSwift

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

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