How long do I have to live in a house to avoid capital gains tax?

There is no fixed minimum period. Private Residence Relief depends on the property genuinely being your main home, and HMRC looks at the quality of occupation (where your family lives, where you are registered, your intentions) rather than counting months. Moving in briefly just to claim relief is exactly what the 'not bought just to make a gain' condition targets.

Do I pay capital gains tax on an inherited house?

Not when you inherit it. If you later sell without having lived in it as your main home, you pay CGT on the increase in value since the date of death, because your base cost is the market value at death rather than what the deceased originally paid.

What is the capital gains tax rate on property in 2026/27?

18% on the part of the gain that fits inside your unused basic-rate band and 24% on the rest, after deducting the £3,000 annual exempt amount. Your income for the year determines how much of the band is left.

Do I need to tell HMRC when I sell my main home?

Usually not. If the gain is fully covered by Private Residence Relief there is normally nothing to report for UK residents. If any CGT is due, for example on a second home or a partly let property, you must report and pay it within 60 days of completion.

Can a married couple have two main residences for CGT?

No. Married couples and civil partners can only count one property as their main home at any one time, so if you own two properties between you, only one can attract Private Residence Relief for any given period.

// Source citations for the factual claims in this guide (kept out of the // rendered tree: flow-level MDX comments break Next scroll-on-navigation). export const sources = [ "Private Residence Relief conditions verified 2026-06-12 at https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home: full relief requires one home lived in as your main home for the whole ownership period, grounds including all buildings under 5,000 square metres, no part used exclusively for business, no part let out (lodgers are fine), and not bought just to make a gain; married couples and civil partners can only count one main home between them.", "Letting Relief and the final period exemption verified 2026-06-12 at https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home/let-out-part-of-home: Letting Relief only applies if you lived in the home at the same time as your tenants, capped at the lowest of the Private Residence Relief amount, £40,000, and the chargeable gain on the let portion; the last 9 months of ownership always qualify for relief even if you were not living there.", "60-day reporting and payment deadline verified 2026-06-12 at https://www.gov.uk/report-and-pay-your-capital-gains-tax/if-you-sold-a-property-in-the-uk-on-or-after-6-april-2020: any CGT due on UK residential property must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion, with interest and penalties for missing it.", "Inherited property base cost: assets passing to personal representatives are deemed acquired at market value at the date of death under TCGA 1992 s62(1)(b), and no chargeable gain accrues on transfer to a legatee under s62(4); verified 2026-06-12 at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains-manual/cg30730 and https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains-manual/cg30770.", "2026/27 CGT rates (18% within the unused basic-rate band, 24% above), £3,000 annual exempt amount, £37,700 UK-wide basic-rate band, and gain = proceeds minus purchase price minus allowable costs, from site/lib/capital-gains-tax.ts (rates verified there 2026-06-10 against https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates and https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/allowances).", "Worked example computed with computeCapitalGains in site/lib/capital-gains-tax.ts: £50,000 property gain, higher-rate taxpayer, full annual exempt amount available → £47,000 taxable at 24% = £11,280.", ];

Guide · 5 minute read · Updated 2 Jul 2026

Do I pay capital gains tax when I sell my house?

Usually no. If the house has been your only or main home for the whole time you owned it, Private Residence Relief wipes out the gain entirely. CGT only bites on second homes, buy-to-lets, inherited property you did not live in, and a few edge cases.

Why your main home is normally tax-free

Private Residence Relief (PRR) is automatic; you do not apply for it or even report anything. HMRC gives you full relief if all of these hold:

You have one home and you lived in it as your main home for the whole time you owned it.
The grounds, including all buildings, are under 5,000 square metres in total (half a hectare, just over an acre).
No part of the home was used exclusively for business.
You did not let part of it out (a single lodger does not count as letting for this purpose).
You did not buy it just to make a gain.

Tick all five and the answer to the headline question is a flat no, regardless of how big the gain is. A house bought for £150,000 and sold for £400,000 generates no CGT and no paperwork.

Married couples and civil partners can only count one property as their main home between them, which matters if you each owned a place before moving in together.

The exceptions that actually catch people

Second homes and buy-to-lets. No PRR at all if you never lived there as your main home. The whole gain (sale price minus purchase price minus allowable costs like stamp duty, legal fees, and improvement works) is in scope.

Inherited property. Inheriting a house triggers no CGT; any inheritance tax is the estate's problem. But if you later sell it without having lived in it as your main home, you pay CGT on the growth since the date of death. The base cost is the market value at death (broadly the probate value), not what the deceased paid, which usually shrinks the gain considerably.

Periods you did not live there. PRR is apportioned by time. Live in a house for six years, rent it out for four, then sell, and roughly four-tenths of the gain is potentially taxable. One softener: the final 9 months of ownership always count as if you lived there, even if you had already moved out. That covers most people who buy their next home before the old one sells.

Letting part of it out. If you let a portion of your home while still living in it, that portion's share of the gain is chargeable, but Letting Relief can cover it. The current rules are stricter than older guides suggest: Letting Relief now only applies if you lived in the home at the same time as your tenants, and it is capped at the lowest of your PRR amount, £40,000, and the gain on the let part. If the whole house was rented out while you lived elsewhere, Letting Relief does not help at all.

Exclusive business use. A room used only as an office, salon, or surgery loses relief on its share of the gain. Working from the kitchen table, or a study that doubles as a spare room, is fine; the test is exclusive use.

Large grounds. Gardens and grounds over half a hectare only get relief if the extra land is genuinely required for the reasonable enjoyment of the house, which HMRC contests case by case. Selling a paddock separately from the house is a classic trap.

How much tax, if some is due

For 2026/27 the rates on residential property gains are 18% on whatever fits inside your unused basic-rate band (£37,700 of taxable income, UK-wide even for Scottish taxpayers) and 24% above it. The first £3,000 of gains each tax year is covered by the annual exempt amount.

So a higher-rate taxpayer selling a buy-to-let at a £50,000 gain pays 24% on £47,000, which is £11,280. A basic-rate taxpayer pays less, but be careful: the gain itself stacks on top of your income, so a large gain can straddle both rates. The capital gains tax calculator does the band-splitting for you, including the income side.

The 60-day deadline

This is the part that genuinely surprises people. If any CGT is due on a UK residential property sale, you must report it and pay it within 60 days of completion, using HMRC's online property account. This is separate from, and much earlier than, Self Assessment. Miss it and HMRC charges interest and penalties. If no tax is due (your main home, or a gain fully covered by reliefs and the exempt amount), UK residents normally have nothing to report at all.

The honest caveats

PRR boundary cases (what counts as your main home, periods of absence, large gardens, nominating between two homes) turn on facts and elections, and HMRC does challenge them. If your situation involves more than one property or a long absence, the rules above are the map, not the territory; a tax adviser is worth the fee before you exchange, because some elections have deadlines you cannot fix afterwards.

Free tool

Capital gains tax calculator

CGT on shares or property, with the £3,000 allowance and band-by-band rates.

Common questions

How long do I have to live in a house to avoid capital gains tax?: There is no fixed minimum period. Private Residence Relief depends on the property genuinely being your main home, and HMRC looks at the quality of occupation (where your family lives, where you are registered, your intentions) rather than counting months. Moving in briefly just to claim relief is exactly what the 'not bought just to make a gain' condition targets.
Do I pay capital gains tax on an inherited house?: Not when you inherit it. If you later sell without having lived in it as your main home, you pay CGT on the increase in value since the date of death, because your base cost is the market value at death rather than what the deceased originally paid.
What is the capital gains tax rate on property in 2026/27?: 18% on the part of the gain that fits inside your unused basic-rate band and 24% on the rest, after deducting the £3,000 annual exempt amount. Your income for the year determines how much of the band is left.
Do I need to tell HMRC when I sell my main home?: Usually not. If the gain is fully covered by Private Residence Relief there is normally nothing to report for UK residents. If any CGT is due, for example on a second home or a partly let property, you must report and pay it within 60 days of completion.
Can a married couple have two main residences for CGT?: No. Married couples and civil partners can only count one property as their main home at any one time, so if you own two properties between you, only one can attract Private Residence Relief for any given period.

Guidance and education, not regulated financial advice.