Can I claim mortgage interest relief for the period in which I was trying to sell the property but had not instructed the letting agent to market the property.
Arthur Weller Replies:
On page PIM2105 of the Revenue Property Income Manual the Revenue say:
"A property may be let for short periods in a tax year or only part of it may be let throughout a tax year (or both); the rest of the time the property is used for private or non-business purposes. Here the interest charged on a qualifying loan on that property has to be split between the rental business use and the private or non-business use. The split is done in whatever way produces a fair and reasonable business deduction, taking account of both the proportion of business use and the length of business use.
You don’t have to split the interest if the taxpayer is genuinely trying to let the property but it is empty because they have not been able to find a tenant. In this case the interest will meet the ‘wholly and exclusively’ test. It won’t meet this test if they have not been trying to let the property or they have been using it for private or non-business purposes.”
It would appear from this that if in a period you were not trying to let the property then for that period of time you cannot claim mortgage interest relief.
