Your property queries answered

Downsizing and CGT

My family home is now too large and I intend downsizing to a smaller house. I have an apartment which we bought some years ago for investment and I am considering moving into it while I sell my home and look for a smaller house. I will not be liable for Capital Gains Tax when I sell the family home but, as the apartment then becomes my "family home", will it be exempt from CGT when I sell it?

You will not have to pay CGT on the sale of your family home or, as the Revenue calls it, your principal private residence. Your apartment is viewed by the Revenue as an investment property but once you sell your other house and move in, the apartment becomes your principal private residence. But it's only viewed as such while you are living there - not for your entire ownership of the property. When you sell your apartment you will be liable for CGT. In calculating your tax liability, deduct the time you lived in the apartment - but you will be liable for CGT for the time when the apartment was a rental.

Noise from the car wash

I live in an apartment (which I own) beside a petrol station and the noise from the car wash often wakes us during the night. It's popular with taxi drivers who wash their cars during a quiet spell in their shift. I would like the car wash not to operate during the night, from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. Do I have any rights in this regard (the petrol station was there before the apartments)? Failing that, my alternative is to install heavy duty insulation on my windows (they are double glazed already but are poor at keeping outside noise out). Any suggestions? My lack of sleep is an escalating concern.

This letter is printed as a cautionary tale for any apartment hunters. At the same time as your e-mail arrived, two other readers wrote in with similar problems. For one, it was the glare of a shop sign under her window causing irritation and, for another ground floor apartment owner, it was people parking their cars in front of his livingroom window. The noise of the car wash is annoying. You could try contacting the planning department of your local authority and find out whether the planning permission granted to the garage owners excludes night time use. It is not unusual for the planners to specify in their granting of permission that business must be conducted between specific hours. If the garage is in breach of their planning permission then you are in luck. If not, then your next step will be to request that the environmental health section of you local authority assesses the level of noise involved. Environmental health officers issue noise notices and prosecute offenders where the conditions of the noise notice are not complied with. A member of the public acting on his/her own behalf may also take an action in the District Court against a person who is creating excessive noise. However, this is another long shot, as the noise level of the car wash and the cars is probably not at nuisance level. Meanwhile curtains made from heavy fabric and lined with padded material should keep some noise out or you could have padded shutters made for the window. Can you move the bed - if the headboard is close to the window then re-orient it so your head is as far away from the window as possible.

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.