I inherited a flat from my mother in 2009. I live in the USA and am only in the UK for about three months total each year. I pay all bills, including council tax, etc. What would I need to do to establish permanent residence in the UK so this would be considered my home for capital gains tax (CGT) purposes if I sell? 

Arthur Weller replies: 

Firstly, you can only claim principal private residence (PPR) relief from CGT on the sale of a home if you have actually occupied it. It is not clear from your question whether you occupy the property during your annual three months in the UK. Assuming you do occupy this property, almost certainly you occupy, and maybe own, a home in the USA. This USA property is most probably your qualifying PPR. An individual cannot have two properties qualifying for PPR relief at the same time. I am assuming that you have not made any election in the past that the UK home should be your qualifying PPR. Furthermore, there is a rule that you cannot claim PPR relief from CGT on a property for a tax year unless you have been resident in the country where the property is located for 90 days in that tax year. See HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual at CG64575 and subsequent pages. However, assuming that you are not tax resident in the UK, you should realise that you are only subject to UK CGT on the increase in value of the property from April 2015 onwards, and not from 2009 onwards.