Meow - I think you're right. I dont think you have to pay CGT on a property that is your primary residence, even if you rented it out for a couple of years. MD is probably right about the 10 year thing. But I'm not 100% sure.
We have our house rented out while we are residing overseas and we do have to pay Land Tax on it while we aren't residing in it, but don't think we'd have to pay CGT on our primary residence - we don't have any other property and it is our intention to move back into it after a couple of years. You probably would only have to pay it if it was a long term Investment Property.
We recently moved out of our main residence and into an investment property we bought for a few years and then moved back "home" again. I was worried about this too but my accountant explained that it is alot to do with why you are doing things as well as the length of time you have been in your primary residence. Definitely worth going to an accountant as I don't think there is any black and white rules for this.
You have 6yrs CGT free exemption, provided you don't own another PPOR in that same period. So you have six years after moving out and renting your house out to sell without inncurring CGT, but you are not allowed to have ownership of more then one house which you are claiming as your Principal Place of Residence for CGT purposes at any one time (although there is an exception if you sell your house within 6months of purchasing the new residence)
Just thought I would add, you can move back into your house before the end of the 6yr period and then the six years resets from when you move out again - provided you don't have any other PPOR for CGT purposes during any of that time period.
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