The Lemon Fool

My partner has a BTL property with his ex-wife. Both their council tax is registered at their old joint house, not the BTL, but his driving licence & car insurance/tax is still registered at the BTL.

Although separated for nearly 7 years, they are not legally divorced. If he were to give the tenants notice and register the BTL as his PPR, what are the CGT rules, over what time period, and does divorced/not divorced have any impact?

Many thanks,

Violinista wrote:My partner has a BTL property with his ex-wife. Both their council tax is registered at their old joint house, not the BTL, but his driving licence & car insurance/tax is still registered at the BTL.

Although separated for nearly 7 years, they are not legally divorced. If he were to give the tenants notice and register the BTL as his PPR, what are the CGT rules, over what time period, and does divorced/not divorced have any impact?

Many thanks,

It will achieve nothing. Which isn't as bad as it sounds. It was once their PPR, so they get that period CGT free, plus the last 18 months. In addition they get some relief on the period whilst it was let.

This https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home/let-out-part-of-home covers what you are asking reasonably well.

I know that this is off topic for the question (sorry mods), but surely he shouldn't be paying council tax at his old joint house 7 YEARS after he separated from his ex-wife? How does the council tax work out where he is currently living? Okay, I'm making assumptions that they are not still living in the same house.
Also, having his driving licence, tax and insurance at the BTL, which presumably he hasn't lived in for a lot more than 7 years, is also not allowed. What if he got a parking fine and the letter went there? The first he would know about it was when the baillifs turned up at his current house (they will find him) with hundreds of pounds of court fees put on. I think it's illegal not to update the DVLA (not totally sure on that though), so there would be penalties there as well. And if the reson is to do with insurance being cheaper, the insurers might look on that as fraudulent. If he was of no fixed abode, perhaps he could get away with it I suppose.

I would get them sorted out before worrying about other things.

LouP

Hi Loup,

Just to put your mind at rest - he has to pay council tax somewhere, and as we currently live on a narrowboat that we move every two weeks, it seems as good a place as anywhere. Try NOT paying council tax and see how excitable they get then. In fact, as part of the boat licence, it covers canalside facilities such as rubbish collection from recognised points, so some services, he is paying twice. But unless he has a permanent address, he is disenfranchised, and that seems unfair.

As for the address he has his driving details at - similarly, but he does pop round to pick up his post and check the tenants don't have any issues once a month. They ring him if anything ominous or out of the ordinary arrives. Again. Try getting car insurance if you claim you live on a boat without a permanent residential mooring.

So no, he won't be sorting them out first.

Violinista wrote:Just to put your mind at rest - he has to pay council tax somewhere, and as we currently live on a narrowboat that we move every two weeks, it seems as good a place as anywhere. Try NOT paying council tax and see how excitable they get then.

Not to question your main point, but it is very possible for someone to reside in the UK and never pay council tax.

So for example if you are the third adult member of a household then the council tax for that property does not increase because of your presence, so effectively you live free of council tax.

There was a discussion on another thread recently about why councils want to know everyone who lives at an address even though the third and subsequent resident do not add to the tax due.

The other method would be to be perpetually peripatetic, as in your narrowboat example. I believe that perpetual campers and travellers enjoy similar perks, at a personal cost of course.

And speaking personally, there was a seven year period when I happily lived in the UK and paid zero council tax. It's possible.