I don't think that is correct. I could be wrong but I think you don't need to live in it as long as you don't have another PPOR claim somewhere else.
Kincella,
The GST is one I was unaware of. So if a new property was vacant for a year or so whilst you lived elsewhere then GST may apply upon its sale?
In a scenario like this, I am building a house for my family and just as it is completed I get an offer to live/work in London which we decide to take up. We don't want tenants in our new house so we leave it vacant. We come back after 5 years and decide that it no longer suits us and we sell the place.
Does that mean we need to charge 10% GST on the sale? It would mean we would need to pocket 10% less as I don't believe the buyer would be prepared to carry that cost.
