Owner occupier mortgage interest relief can only be claimed against loans used to purchase or improve the property. If you do an equity release in order to spend the money eslewhere (e.g. car, holiday, investment property, education fees etc.) then you cannot claim this relief. Maybe this makes the other queries redundant?
Just wondering about the equity release for investment property...
We claimed TRS for PPR, then using equity in home bought investment property abroad and moved into it (making it our PPR), but never amended the TRS (which was on our Dublin house which is now rented, and was based on about 1/2 our mortgage amount). I suppose we'll have to pay it back (and have already written to the revenue people about it, waiting for reply). I'm wondering if I would be eligible to claim TRS for the other half of the mortgage now i.e on our existing PPR which is in France?
As I said - you can only claim owner occupier mortgage interest relief on interest paid on a loan used (in part or full) to purchase or renovate your PPR. If you move from one PPR to another then obviously the loan on which you can claim this relief may change. If you mistakenly claimed mortgage interest tax relief on a loan which did not qualify then you do owe it back. If you mistakenly did not claim relief on a loan which did qualify then you can backdate the claim up to four (I think) years but no further. Hope this helps. If you are in any doubt get independent, professional advice.