Dreaming spires

Avoiding tax problems on the purchase of a property for family use.

My wife and I are in our 70s and are moving to a new home in Cornwall. We are also thinking of buying a small apartment in or near Oxford – worth say £200,000 to £300,000 – for occasional use, such as visiting libraries or London.

Part of the attraction is that we have four grown-up children with families – three widely scattered in England and one abroad – who would also use this flat from time to time because it would be a central location. When we are too old to travel, they would use it solely, and when we died they would inherit it. We would encourage them to use it as much as possible for themselves and friends. It might be empty for some of the time but, taking all our uses together and its possible future value, it could still be a worthwhile investment.

However, we wondered how the gift with reservation of benefit (GWR) rules would operate if, instead of owning the flat in our own names, we gave it to the children. This might be …