Postby bd6759 » Mon Nov 23, 2020 9:54 pm
HMRC do not need to establish which is your main residence. That is your job.
That is impossible to determine from the information given, but at a push your acquisition of a rented house for your main house furniture, the parking of your cars there, and the sale of the flat in a short space of time (I’m guessing because you haven’t given timeframes), would sway me to say that the flat was never your residence.
Residence is a concept of physical occupation for an indefinite period. A house is not a residence because you register your cars there. Council tax is irrelevant because you would be liable anyway. What might be telling is your tenancy agreement at the house and the CT you paid there: was it as a second home, and what did your tenancy agreement say about occupation? Most agreements require you to occupy it as your main residence.