Hello team,
I’ve been reading through information regarding the 6-year rule for main residence exemptions and I’m a bit confused. I was hoping someone with more knowledge on this could help clarify.
One of the eligibility criteria states that the property must first have been your main residence, and that you cannot apply the main residence exemption to a period before the property became your main residence (for example, if the property was rented out before you moved into it).
In the following scenario, would the 6-year rule still apply after the owner moved out?
For example:
- Owner A purchases a property in 2010
- The property is rented out from 2010 to 2011
- Owner A then moves into the property and lives in it as their PPOR from 2011 to 2016
- In 2016, Owner A moves out and rents the property out again
- The property continues to be rented until it is sold in 2026
- During this time, Owner A rents elsewhere and does not nominate another property as their PPOR
Would the main residence exemption apply from 2011 (when it first became the owner’s main residence) through to 2022 (5 years living in the property + the 6-year absence rule)?
Or does the fact that the property was initially rented before becoming a PPOR affect the owner’s ability to use the 6-year rule for the later rental period?