Quote Originally Posted by lapsedhibee View Post
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What never seems to be mentioned by the meeja in relation to flipping is that the principle/dodge is enshrined in capital gains tax legislation and is available to everyone who owns more than one property. It's properly called electing - you can choose, purely for the purposes of avoiding capital gains tax, which of the properties you own is counted as your main home.

There is obviously a serious point about public servants making windfall gains out of the public purse, but the frenzy about the actual act of flipping is unwarranted.
The difference is that the MPs get one house refurbished and paid for, then 'flip' and sell it as their PPR at a large profit because it has been improved. A few have done this several times whereas back on Planet Earth you tend to only get away with it once, and you have to pay the mortgage interest and cost of improvement yourself.

This is actually a good example of where the HMRC rules would apply perfectly well to MPs, but they have written up their own, much more beneficial rules. In short one law for them, another far harsher law for the rest of us.

I personally find the attitude and principle much more sickening than the daft claims for duck towers and bell houses etc.