how many month we have to live in 15 years old house i can save capital gain that is my principal residence

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Im getting divorced and im paying the mortgage on a rented property which has some tenants in it. my ex husband has said he will transfer it to me as ive been looking after things and paying the mortgage for teh lst few years and i owe very little on the mortgage now. however the buy-to-let mortge will not let it transfer to my name only as the buy to let rules have changed and im not earning enough to actually take it over in their eyes - althought the rent more then adequatley pays the mortgage and repairs and insurance and also do the tax return - but im just below the level to pay tax as i m still only working part-time. my morgage advisor has asked me to look at capital gains tax if its transferred to solely my name only am i liable and also how can i get out of paying capitla gains tax when i die and trnasfer it to my duagher and son ? we ddi live in the property as our main home when we first bought it and had to move due to work. im also wondering i a solicitor can draw up a papaer to say the property will be transferred to me once ive paid off the mortgage and my ex is happy to have nothing to do with the house so long as i can pay it - the mortgage is only 147 a month

You are getting some odd advice. A buy to let mortgage will only look at the income stream from the property. If you have over 30% equity and enough rent in 10 months a year to carry the mortgage you should be fine. Having said that, if your husband is ok remaining on the mortgage, this will work out cheaper than a refinance and yes, the divorce document can state that the property became yours alone at the time of the divorce but that his name remained on the deed until the mortgage was paid off. There is no capital gains tax on assets divided up in a divorce. Just remember that your cgt liability when you do eventually sell will be on the original purchase so make it your home for a couple of years before you sell. Transferring it to your children is going to be more complex. You can gift it to them once the mortgage is paid off but you will have to hand it off entirely and give them the income stream. If you retain an interest in the property (say by living there or by receiving rent from your tenants) you will be considered to have made a 'gift with reservations'. Google this and you will see that this is a nightmare scenario whereby the house is clawed back into your estate on death but is also liable for capital gains tax

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My wife and i purchased a house in 2003 whilst working as a housemaster (and wife) in a boarding school. it has been necessary to live in school accomodation in order to discharge our duties, and therefore we rented out our house. it has gained about £50,000 in value over the past few years,and although we have never lived in the house we would now like to sell it. i believe that there are special dispensations relating to capital gains tax if you have to live in accomodation in order to do your job(i.e. a vicar for example) and therefore are unable to live in your own house. under these circumstances the property is treated as your principle residence. is this true? and, 1. does this apply to housemasters? 2.are we able to claim the house as our principle private residence even if we have not lived in it? 3. if not then how long would i have to live in it to avoid paying capital gains tax? any insights into yhis problem would be very gratefully received. thank you.

If you have been living in job related accommodation, then the sale of the property would not attract CGT, even if you never lived in it. You simply would not declare the sale. Your employer would have to be ready to confirm that you were required to live on school premises should HMRC ever raise an enquiry into this aspect of your tax return.

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I currently live in the income property in california. my roommate and i pay just enough rent to cover my parents property taxes. the basis is $120,000 owned (from the 1st house they owned), they had a 1031 exchange and purchased this one 3 years ago for $800,000, the house is now worth $840,000. we want to avoid paying estate taxes because their net worth is about 3.5 million including this property. my parents are elderly and do not expect to live long. we already have a family trust that gives the property to my brother and i when they die, but we are not completely covered by the estate tax exemption for 2008 and 2011, etc. i have a brother who is willing to be a middle man in case we need to transfer more than the $24,000 gift exemption from both my parents. what is the cheapest way my parents can give me the property while paying the least amount of taxes (gift tax, estate tax, capital gains tax, etc) and fees (estate planner, estate lawyer, appraiser, real estate agent, etc) i make $30,000 per year which is very little if you live in the san francisco area. the house is worth $840,000 which is average for a house in the bay area. i am not rich and do not have a retirement because my job is not great.

See what tax bracket you are in and have them set up a trust in which they gift you a certain amount of the assets each year up to the top of your bracket. One of my sisters is doing this. She is giving 2.5% of the assets each year this is based on her being below the inheritance tax limit before her death. You need to see a very good tax lawyer/accountant. Pray that you get this set up and sadly that your parents pass before the Democrats get in office because they plan on repealing the inheritance tax limit and you could get socked with a 60% inheritance tax. I know so many people who are farmers and ranchers where I am from. They own property that has been in their families for generations. They are by no means rich just middle class farmers that own several hundred acres. The problem is that the land value has went up so much that their land is now worth 10,000 an acre or more. When they pass their children are being forced to sell the land because they can't pay the inheritance tax. They are being forced to giving up their way of life, this is happening to an entire generation of small farmers and ranchers.

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I purchased a property in 2001 and have been living there since. if i move to another house in someone else's name (move in with them) and rent out my own property, would i have to pay capital gains when i sell my property and how much would it be? i know it is based on the profit of selling price and buying but i can i avoid it since i lived in the property for so long?

There is an exemption which allows you to rent out your main residence for up to 6 years after you move out before any tax is payable on the capital gain (if the property was sold). In the mean time, you can't apply the main residence exemption to another property that you own during that period.

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I will try not to waffle, my partner and i want to sell our three bedroom house that we currently live in because my two elder children are coming to live with us and the house we are in is no longer big enough. we have put our house on the market but the kids will probably be moving in with us before the property sells, so we will move into a rental property. my question is, will we have to pay capital gains tax if our house sells and we are not living in it? i know that at the moment we will not have to pay capital gains tax if it sells while we are living in it as our main place of residence, will this change if we rent while it is on the market? thank you.

If you are currently entitled to the main residence exemption for the entire period you have owned your home, and you do not purchase another dwelling (and treat it as your main residence) before your current one sells, and you rent the property out while waiting for it to sell, then you are still entitled to the exemption for up to 6 years of income producing. I would advise you to get some professional Taxation Advice in regards to what you can claim as deductions on the property while renting it out, and the consequences of some of those deductions. eg: Capital works, Depreciation... Here is a link to an ATO CGT calculator which you can use to calculate any assessable gain. http://calculators.ato.gov.au/scripts/axos/axos.asp?CONTEXT=&KBS=CGT_and_real_property.XR4&go=ok And info for treating a dwelling as your main residence after moving out. http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/36887.htm

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I'm 53 years old and don't mind renting a house.i have a nice 3 bedroom on 2 acres, and with utilities it comes to $950 a month - heat and all. i have enough for a 20% + down payment for a house in rural montana ($130k) where i live (housing is inexpensive and real estate slowly going up) in the long run do i really gain anything by buying? i have no one to leave it too, i don't pay insurance now , or have to fix anything or pay property taxes. it is better just to keep my money in the bank and in long term cds or buy a house? is a house "that' good an investment at my age?

Well at 53 you are still pretty young. You could live another 30 or 40 years or more. One advantage for you to buy would be if you lock in a 30 year fixed rate loan is your payments will not go up, like they would if you rent. (property taxes may still go up)

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Hi, just about a year ago, or a little longer i lived with my ex. i woke up one morning with this nagging thing that wouldn't let me sleep. i was supposed to tell him that he should sell his house before he couldn't, and if he saw that the bank of america started to drop he needed to get out. so, i told him that. the town was kind of going downhill and this message confirmed it for me - i already knew we were going to break up very soon, so i had nothing to gain from this and knew the message was for him. i suspected it was from his grandpa who had passed the year before and had 'spoken' a couple of words to me at his funeral. a couple days later, his friend dropped by and was chatting that hasidics wanted to buy property for a, um, darn, forgot what that's called, where they wouldn't have to pay property tax, and so the rest of the town's property tax would skyrocket and he would be paying upwards of $9000/yr. when had the town decided this? the morning i received the message. so, a few minutes ago, i got curious and checked out bank of america, and, you know what? in the last year is has dropped below half. did anyone else get a message like this just over a year ago? was it about bank of america? please share. thanks! in fact, since may '08 bank of america has dropped from 38 to 20.

Part of the reason for the Bank of America's decline in stocks the past year is the fact that they support illegal aliens and give them credit cards, regardless of their bad or no credit rating. Their regular customers who are citizens, left by the droves, me included. I don't do business with those who give rewards to people who are here illegally and drain our country's resources. But no, I don't get messages from dead friends or relatives, nor do I want to because they are not who/what you think they are. God bless!

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My mother is interested in signing a quitclaim deed over to me. my wife and i have been living in my childhood house for over two years. my mother has her own home in a different city and both properties are paid off and mortgage free and located in california. i have two siblings (an older brother and a younger sister), my brother has told me several times that he has no interest (financial or otherwise) in the childhood home property. however, my sister i can say otherwise – she has an interest in everything. my mother is at the age where she lives on a fixed income and the taxes and insurance are killing her where we live, on top of where she lives. we pay rent to my mother each month to live here, and for her to supplement her income with. we want to set up the quitclaim so that we continue to pay her the monthly rent, until the day she dies or if the state steps in if she were incapacitated. we offered to pay the home insurance and the property taxes, to help us and mom. i want to know what will protect my wife and i, in the event when the time comes that my mother passes away, and my sister (who is on the will – it is power of attorney in the trust) would basically evict us and have us out on the street in a heartbeat – this is no joke. i know she would sell the house and get her part of it and if i were to die, then my wife would be out in a heartbeat too – my sister never liked my wife from the day of our wedding. it has been years for my wife and my mother to talk, due to my sister – my wife loves my mom and they have become closer since moving into the childhood home. my mother complains about my sister to my wife all the time, but my wife cannot do anything to my sister - well because we all fear her. she is intimidating and a downright bully. . the house needs an extensive amount of work since it was built in the early 1920’s, and this includes bringing many things up to code and some things need to be removed due to age and health hazards. my mom wishes the house to remain with me and my wife (when she talks to my wife she always refers to the house as “your” house, meaning our house.) we badly want to fix the house up and live here for a long time – we have so many ideas and plans for this house – yet, the sister recently has decided she wants to come over here and instruct us how to remodel the home – against, the mother’s wishes – and we live here – who will pay for our costs to move out while all the remodeling is done? once she starts one thing – many more will come too. i know my sister. my sister wiped out my mom’s account on the remodeling for the home she currently lives in now, and my mom had to borrow $3000 from my sister – now my sister feels she is part owner of that house and my mother is very down about this fact – so we want to help her pay back my sister to get her off my mother’s back. my sister has her own home, and so does my brother – however, my wife and i don’t have the same income or tax bracket as my siblings and this is why we live in the childhood home and try to help out mom as best as can. sorry for the long ramble...just want to state my case: here is the million dollar question...how binding is a quit-deed and do i have to worry about capital gain or my siblings running this through the court system to get their part? if you got this far...thank you.

Do NOT quitclaim this. Gift tax rules will trip you up. Do this the simple way. 1. BUY the house. Then it's yours and your sister can't meddle.... 2. Have your mom owner finance it. (The interest rate could be 5%.) 3. Instead of rent, you pay her interest an principal. You get the interest and property taxes as a deduction on YOUR taxes. 4. Do this before you've lived in the house 3 years--as she only has a 2 of 5 year window to still claim the $250,000 exclusion on any capital gain. She will have to declare the interest income, any capital gain above $250,000, but not the principal as income. 5. Talk her into getting a will--the will can state that the remaining part of the loan is cancelled at her death or must be your part of your inheritance even if you end up with more "money."

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Please could anybody tell me if my ex husband will have to pay capital gains tax when i buy out his interest in the matrimonial home? he wants £5,000 from me as he says he will have to pay that amount. i think it's just a scam on his part and that he won't have to pay any cgt. when we split up 12 years ago he bought a buy to let property but he didn't live there.....just his tenants. he lived with his auntie. he lived in the matrimonial home (his sole residence) for 16 years. however, recently (i'm not sure when)....in the last 2-3 years he has got rid of his tenants and has moved into his buy to let property and is also using it as a business property and is using one of the bedrooms for his office. would the 3 year rule count when he lived in the matrimonial home.......and therefore exempt him from cgt? also, how could i find out how long ago he moved into his buy to let house? would the council tell me or would they claim data protection?

Capital gains tax is only paid when you sell a property, and then it must be over an amount laid down by the Government. As your husband is only selling part of the house and the other is owned by you then he will not be liable for CGT. If you are still married then he may be entitled to half the matrimonial home, and you could be entitled to half of his property, it does not matter when he acquired it, if you are, or were married at the time of acquisition then could be entitled to half. You would have to seek legal advice about this,