Husband and wife separated

Husband and wife separated

Didn't find your answer?

A husband and wife separated for 7 years. They thought it would be permanent. Wife continued to live in marital home (house 1) Husband bought his own house (house 2) and they have lived separately, but never involved solicitors.
House 1 remained in joint names. House2 is just in husband's name.
They now want to get back together.
Which house is ppr for cgt for husband? Was there separation formal enough for him to have his own PPR for the last few years, or will it still be house 1 throughout?
MT

Replies (1)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By Paul Soper
21st Apr 2008 23:18

Oh dear
Perfectly understandable but there may be problems lurking. Did they indicate that they were separated on their tax returns if they had to file them, if they didn't it may be very difficult following reconciliation to establish that they had separated?

Assuming they did the matrimonial home is exempt for the spouse in occupation throughout. The spouse who moved out has a new residence and that will be exempt and now will qualify for three years after he moves back into matrimonial home, assuming he does.

His half of house 1 is chargeable from when he moved out to when he returned, but with three years to offset at the end. You can't claim the separate three years of absence rule as he had another main residence.

Now they have mover back together it would seem logical to expect that this would revive a right under s222(5) to elect which is now to be the main residence but I don't think they can, although there is an argument that it may present that choice to the spouse who stayed in house 1, however the revenue require that notice to be given by both spouses and one spouse hasn't acquired it, as he already owned it. Might be worth rying if it is in their interest. Otherwise main residence now is determined in fact assuming HMRC won't accept a s222(5) election.

Thanks (0)