Is a house still a main residence if I stop occupying it?

If a house is occupied as a main residence you'll be able to claim principal private residence relief to reduce any capital gains tax on disposal. However what if you move out of the house? Will it still be a main residence? Well you can still claim a property as a main residence in certain circumstances, even if you don't live there. This will include:

Any periods of absence for whatever reason which do not exceed 3 years in total,

Any periods of absence of any length throughout which you are working in an office or employment all the duties of which are performed outside the UK

Any periods of absence up to a maximum of four years during which you could not live in the house - because of the situation of your place of work,
or - because of any condition reasonably imposed by your employer requiring you to live elsewhere for the purpose of the employment In each of these cases in order to qualify you would need to satisfy both of the following conditions:

you have no other residence eligible for relief during that period

before and after the period of absence there must be a time during which the house is your only or main residence. As well as this, the last 36 months of ownership is always deemed occupation as a main residence. Therefore provided any absence is covered by one of these rules you'll still be able to claim full principal private residence ('PPR') relief on a disposal.