Readers’ forum: Relief available on former home converted into offices

My client is a partner in an architects’ practice. When his children grew up and left the family home he and his wife purchased a new smaller home. Rather than sell the old home however they converted it into offices and rented it to the practice under commercial terms.

The practice is still growing and needs larger premises and so my client is intending to sell the original building.

My question is about the availability of only or main residence (OMR) relief. There is no doubt that while the family lived in it the property met all of the conditions for OMR relief so my initial thought was that the gain on the property should be computed in the normal way and OMR relief given for the periods during which the property was the family home and for the final six-month period.

However I have started to...