If I buy a second property with a view to renovating it and then moving into it in the future, if I then sell my first property, is there a time limit or would I have to pay capital gains tax on my first property? 

Arthur Weller replies:  

There is no time limit. You are always subject to capital gains tax on the sale of your first property. However, if you have lived in your first property as your main residence for the entire period of your ownership, all the capital gain will be exempt due to principal private residence relief. Even if you have not lived in it as your main residence all the period of your ownership, the period that you have lived there will be exempt.