You have agreed a sale, and the clock is shorter than you think: the gain must be reported and the tax paid within 60 days of completion. Here are the rates, the £3,000 annual exempt amount, what Private Residence Relief does and does not cover, and the reporting rule non-residents are caught by even when they made a loss.
For completions on or after 27 October 2021, a UK residential property disposal must be reported and the tax paid within 60 days of completion. That is a standalone return with a payment attached, separate from and earlier than your Self Assessment return — on which the gain also has to appear, with the 60-day payment set against the final liability.
It was 30 days for completions from 6 April 2020, so anyone working from older notes has the wrong deadline. Sixty days sounds generous. It is not, once you notice that the clock starts at completion rather than at the point somebody has found the 2009 completion statement, the stamp duty paid on purchase, and the invoices for a loft conversion.
Interest and penalties apply for late reporting. The best time to assemble a property's cost history is years before the sale, which is one of the arguments for per-property records.
The rates
Both are worth naming, because a lot of landlord content still carries the old figures:
| Period | Residential property | Other assets |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Apr 2024 – 29 Oct 2024 | 18% / 24% | 10% / 20% |
| 30 Oct 2024 onwards | 18% / 24% | 18% / 24% |
The consequence is easy to miss and worth holding on to: since 30 October 2024 there is no rate advantage or penalty to residential property. Selling a rental flat and selling a holding of shares are charged identically. Any argument that begins "property is taxed more heavily on sale" has been out of date since that day.
18% applies to gains falling within the basic rate band and 24% above it. Income comes first, so what is left of the basic rate band after your income decides how much of the gain gets 18%.
Business Asset Disposal Relief has moved on its own track: 10% up to 5 April 2025, 14% from 6 April 2025 and 18% from 6 April 2026. Furnished holiday lettings lost access to it for disposals on or after 6 April 2025, when the FHL regime was abolished by Schedule 5 of Finance Act 2025.
The arithmetic
Illustrative only, on 2026/27 rates, England, a property never lived in by the owner. A flat bought for £145,000 is sold for £330,000, giving a gain of £185,000 before reliefs. The landlord has employment income of £45,000.
If completion is on 15 September 2026, the return and the payment are both due by 14 November 2026. Not January. Not with the tax return. Sixty days.
Two things move that number a long way and both need deciding before exchange rather than after: whether any period of Private Residence Relief applies, and whether the gain could fall into a different tax year with its own annual exempt amount. Run your own figures in the capital gains tax calculator.
Private Residence Relief
Full relief applies where all of the following hold: you have one home and lived in it as your main home throughout ownership; no part was let out, other than to a lodger; no part was used exclusively for business; the grounds including buildings are under 5,000 square metres; and the property was not bought to make a gain.
Most landlord disposals do not meet all of that, and the relief is then partial. The element that has changed most is the final period exemption:
| Disposals | Final period exemption |
|---|---|
| 10 December 2003 – 5 April 2014 | 36 months |
| 6 April 2014 – 5 April 2020 | 18 months |
| On or after 6 April 2020 | 9 months |
The statutory basis is s.223(1), (2), (5), (6) TCGA 1992, and the exemption applies automatically where the dwelling was the owner's only or main residence at any point during ownership. The practical point is that guidance written before April 2020 overstates it by nine or twenty-seven months, and that is a large number on a substantial gain.
This matters most to what is sometimes called the accidental landlord: someone who moved in with a partner, or relocated for work, and let the old home rather than selling it. The relief for the period of actual occupation is real, and the tail it now leaves is short.
Non-residents
Non-residents are under a wider obligation than UK residents. A non-resident must report all disposals of UK property or land — HMRC's guidance says this applies even if you have no tax to pay on the disposal and even if you have made a loss on the disposal.
Non-resident capital gains tax was extended to all UK property and land, not only residential, from 6 April 2019. The 60-day deadline applies in the same way, and interest and penalties follow late reporting.
That combination produces the most avoidable penalty in this whole area: a landlord living abroad sells at a loss, concludes reasonably that there is nothing to tell HMRC, and files nothing. More on the wider position on non-resident landlords, including the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme that runs alongside it.
Companies do not get an annual exempt amount, and a company's gains on property are charged to corporation tax rather than to capital gains tax. That is one of the four underweighted costs on the incorporation page, and it is a permanent small drag on a portfolio that sells a property every few years.
Proceeds, base cost, acquisition and disposal costs and capital improvements assembled into one computation you can stand behind.
The standalone UK property disposal return prepared and submitted with the payment, from the completion date rather than from when the paperwork surfaced.
Periods of occupation established from evidence, the nine-month final period applied on the current rules, and the relief claimed to the extent it genuinely applies.
Each owner's share computed and reported separately, each with their own annual exempt amount and their own basic rate band position.
Whether a completion date falls in the tax year you want it to, and what that is worth across two annual exempt amounts and two band positions.
CGT calculatorThe gain carried through to Self Assessment with the 60-day payment set against the final liability, so nothing is paid twice or missed.
Landlord tax returnsA sale is the point at which every earlier record-keeping decision either helps or costs money. Base cost, improvement spend and the dates of any private occupation all come from the years before the sale, which is the argument for per-property bookkeeping. If you are considering selling in order to restructure, read incorporating a property portfolio first, because a transfer to your own company is a disposal at market value and carries the same gain. And the deeper version of this page is the guide to CGT when you sell.
18% on the part of the gain that falls within your basic rate band and 24% on everything above it. Your income for the year comes first: whatever is left of the basic rate band after income is what attracts the 18% rate, and the rest of the gain is charged at 24%. The annual exempt amount of £3,000 comes off the gain before the rates are applied. There is no separate residential rate any more. Since 30 October 2024 the main rates have been 18% and 24% for all assets, which is the same as the residential rates, so there is no rate advantage or penalty to selling property rather than shares.
60 days from completion, for completions on or after 27 October 2021. That is both a return and a payment: a standalone UK property disposal return, with the tax paid at the same time. It was 30 days for completions from 6 April 2020, so anyone working from older notes will be a month out. The gain still goes on your Self Assessment return afterwards as well, with the 60-day payment set against the final liability. Interest and penalties apply for late reporting. Sixty days sounds generous until you notice it starts at completion, not at the point the figures are ready, and the base cost may be twenty years old.
Private Residence Relief may reduce or remove it. Full relief applies where the property was your only home and you lived in it as your main home throughout ownership, no part was let out other than to a lodger, no part was used exclusively for business, the grounds including buildings are under 5,000 square metres, and you did not buy it to make a gain. Where you lived there for only part of the ownership, the final period exemption is 9 months for disposals on or after 6 April 2020, under section 223 of TCGA 1992. It was 18 months for disposals from 6 April 2014 and 36 months before that, so older advice overstates it considerably.
Yes, and the rule is stricter than for UK residents. A non-resident must report every disposal of UK property or land, including where there is no tax to pay and including where the disposal made a loss. Non-resident capital gains tax was extended to all UK property and land, not just residential, from 6 April 2019. The 60-day reporting and payment deadline applies in the same way, and interest and penalties follow late reporting. The trap is the no-tax-to-pay case: a landlord sells at a loss, reasonably assumes there is nothing to tell HMRC, and picks up penalties for a return nobody knew was due.
£3,000 for individuals and personal representatives, and £1,500 for trustees. It is unchanged across 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27. It cannot be carried forward, so an unused amount is simply gone at the end of the tax year. On a single disposal it takes £3,000 off the gain, which is worth £720 at 24%. It matters more in the timing of two disposals than in one, because a sale completing in a different tax year gets its own annual exempt amount. And it matters a great deal to a landlord holding property inside a company, because a company has no annual exempt amount at all.
Twice in the same year, in opposite directions. On 6 April 2024 the higher rate on residential property fell from 28% to 24%. Then on 30 October 2024 the main rates on other assets rose from 10% and 20% to 18% and 24%, aligning everything with the residential rates. The effect is that since 30 October 2024 there is no rate difference between selling a rental property and selling shares. Business Asset Disposal Relief moved separately: 10% up to 5 April 2025, 14% from 6 April 2025 and 18% from 6 April 2026. Furnished holiday lettings lost access to it for disposals on or after 6 April 2025.
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