One of the most common misunderstandings we encounter is the belief that “if I lived there, there’s no CGT.” That’s true if the property was your main residence for the entire period of ownership. But if you lived there and then let it, the relief is time-apportioned. Only the period of actual occupation (plus the final 9 months of ownership, which is treated as deemed occupation) qualifies for PPR relief. The letting period does not. In this case, the client owned the property for 15 years: 7 years as their home, 8 years as a rental. Approximately 52% of the gain was exempt. The remaining 48% — around £77,000 — was chargeable at 24%. The client had planned not to report the disposal at all. That would have been a serious mistake. HMRC receives Land Registry data on all property disposals and cross-references it against CGT reports. An unreported disposal attracts penalties on top of the tax and interest — and the penalties are significantly higher when HMRC discovers the omission rather than the taxpayer disclosing it voluntarily. We prepared the PPR computation with evidence of occupation dates, filed the 60-day report, and ensured the client’s position was fully documented. The tax was payable, but the filing was clean.
