Don’t include:
- the first 12 months you owned your home if it was being built, renovated or you couldn’t sell your previous home
- the last 9 months before selling your home (36 months if you’re disabled, in long-term residential care or you sold the property before 6 April 2014)
Also don’t include time you lived away from home for:
- any reason for periods adding up to 3 years
- work in the UK for up to 4 years
- work outside the UK for any period
You normally need to live in your home again afterwards, unless your job means you can’t go back.
If you’re not UK resident for tax
From 6 April 2015, if you spend fewer than 90 days in your home in a tax year, you count as having lived away for that year.