A second house

Planning opportunities

An increasing number of people have a second house, through marriage, inheritance or as an investment. There are both opportunities and pitfalls in receiving income or making a capital gain on sale or giving it away to children.

Arranging the mortgages

It is quite common to acquire a second house whilst there is still a large mortgage on the main home. If you are going to let the second house, you can rearrange the mortgages to qualify for tax relief on the interest.

Living in both

If you have two or more homes, it is very important to make a "main residence election" within two years of acquiring the second home. This opens up several capital gains planning opportunities that would otherwise be lost. It is particularly important to make the election if you have previously or may in the future let one of them.

Helping children onto the property ladder

The likelihood is that your child's first house will be only a stepping-stone and that the child will move onto another property fairly soon. Several banks are now offering joint parent-child mortgages. If you do not need to take out a mortgage to help your child, there are ways of arranging your support that gives similar capital gains tax benefits.