Put your houses in order

With most clients thinking wistfully of another home in the sun, at some time they are going to become aware that on the sale of their second property, there will be a capital gains tax charge. 'No problem' is the thinking. 'Just claim that the second property became your main property at some time and then switch it back again within five years.' But it is not quite so easy as that. The motivation for making a claim is to secure 'only or main residence relief' for the last three years of ownership as 'exempt' (plus the time spent with that property as the main residence - also 'exempt'...