Over the years, I would buy a house, live in it for a while and then rent it out when I bought another one to live in. This was not planned but has happened about three times. I know that by living in a house at the start I could gain some PPP exception (period lived in plus last 3 years of rental + up to £40,000 lettings relief) but in one of the cases, I only lived there for about 3 months (moved to be nearer my daughter's new school). Would the Inland Revenue judge this to be too short a time to qualify as PPP?

Arthur Says:
In Revenue Interpretation 73, the Revenue say: "A minimum period is not specified and we do not intend to impose one. We take the view that it is the quality of occupation rather than length of occupation which determines whether a dwelling-house is its owner's residence. As Millet J in Moore v Thompson, 61 TC at page 24 comments: “the Commissioners were alive to the fact that even occasional and short residence in a place can make that a residence; but the question was one of fact and degree ".

So I would say, based on the above, that if you moved in with all your belongings, lock stock and barrel, with the intention to stay long-term, but after 3 months something happened that made it necessary to move to another house, then this would be enough occupation to make it your main residence.

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