Part VII Other property, businesses, investments etc.
Private residences
223 Amount of relief.
1
No part of a gain to which section 222 applies shall be a chargeable gain if the dwelling-house or part of a dwelling-house has been the individual’s only or main residence throughout the period of ownership, or throughout the period of ownership except for all or any part of the last 36 months of that period.
2
Where subsection (1) above does not apply, a fraction of the gain shall not be a chargeable gain, and that fraction shall be—
a
the length of the part or parts of the period of ownership during which the dwelling-house or the part of the dwelling-house was the individual’s only or main residence, but inclusive of the last 36 months of the period of ownership in any event, divided by
b
the length of the period of ownership.
3
For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) above—
a
a period of absence not exceeding 3 years (or periods of absence which together did not exceed 3 years), and in addition
b
any period of absence throughout which the individual worked in an employment or office all the duties of which were performed outside the United Kingdom F3or lived with a spouse or civil partner who worked in such an employment or office, and in addition
c
any period of absence not exceeding 4 years (or periods of absence which together did not exceed 4 years) throughout which the individual was prevented from residing in the dwelling-house or part of the dwelling-house in consequence of the situation of his place of work or in consequence of any condition imposed by his employer requiring him to reside elsewhere, being a condition reasonably imposed to secure the effective performance by the employee of his duties, F4and in addition,
F5d
any period of absence not exceeding 4 years (or periods of absence which together did not exceed 4 years) throughout which the individual lived with a spouse or civil partner in respect of whom paragraph (c) applied in respect of that period (or periods),
shall be treated as if in that period of absence the dwelling-house or the part of the dwelling-house was the individual’s only or main residence F6if conditions A and B are met.
F73A
Condition A is that before the period there was a time when the dwelling-house was the individual’s only or main residence.
3B
Condition B is that after the period—
a
in a case falling within paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (3), there was a time when the dwelling-house was the individual’s only or main residence,
b
in a case falling within paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of that subsection, the individual was prevented from resuming residence in the dwelling-house in consequence of the situation of the individual’s place of work or a condition imposed by the terms of the individual’s employment requiring the individual to reside elsewhere, being a condition reasonably imposed to secure the effective performance by the employee of his duties, or
c
in a case falling within paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of that subsection, the individual lived with a spouse or civil partner to whom paragraph (b) of this subsection applied.
4
Where a gain to which section 222 applies accrues to any individual and the dwelling-house in question or any part of it is or has at any time in his period of ownership been wholly or partly let by him as residential accommodation, the part of the gain, if any, which (apart from this subsection) would be a chargeable gain by reason of the letting, shall be such a gain only to the extent, if any, to which it exceeds whichever is the lesser of—
a
the part of the gain which is not a chargeable gain by virtue of the provisions of subsection (1) to (3) above F1... ; and
b
£40,000.
5
Where at any time the number of months specified in subsections (1) and (2)(a) above is 36, the Treasury may by order amend those subsections by substituting references to 24 for the references to 36 in relation to disposals on or after such date as is specified in the order.
6
Subsection (5) above shall also have effect as if 36 (in both places) read 24 and as if 24 read 36.
7
In this section—
“period of absence” means a period during which the dwelling-house or the part of the dwelling-house was not the individual’s only or main residence and throughout which he had no residence or main residence eligible for relief under this section; and
“period of ownership” does not include any period before 31st March 1982.
F28
This section is subject to—
a
section 224 (amount of relief: further provisions), and
b
section 226A (private residence relief: cases where relief obtained under section 260).