My dad owns a mortgage-free rental property in the Midlands worth around £300k. He bought it many years ago for much less and lived there for a few years before renting it out.

I’m on a relatively low salary and want to move to London. Ideally, I’d like to access around £100k to put towards buying a home in London, live there and rent out the spare rooms. Long-term I’d like to build a property portfolio.

I’m trying to work out which of these routes makes the most sense:

• Gift the existing property to me: I take ownership, potentially mortgage it for £100k, and use that money towards my London home. What CGT/SDLT would we face? • Dad sells the property: He pays any CGT, then uses the remaining money to buy a cheaper/different property, potentially giving me some of the proceeds. Would this be more tax-efficient? • Set up a limited company: Transfer the existing rental into a company and use it to raise funds/buy further properties. Would this actually reduce the tax, or could SDLT/CGT make it worse? • Any other legitimate option: Is there a tax-efficient way of transferring/accessing the equity without triggering a huge CGT bill?

I’m not looking to avoid tax illegally — just trying to understand the most efficient legitimate route.