8 Exemption for first-time buyers.

(1) Subject to subsection (3), a residential property shall not, for the purposes of this Act, be regarded ^[2]>as a relevant residential property in respect of the liability dates ^[1]>in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015^<[1][1]>in the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018^<[1]<[2][2]>as a relevant residential property in relation to the liability dates in the years 2013 to 2020^<[2] where—

(a) the property is purchased in the period beginning on 1 January 2013 and ending on 31 December 2013,

(b) subject to subsection (2), the property is purchased by a person who would have been entitled to relief under section 244 of the Act of 1997 had a qualifying loan (within the meaning of that section) been taken out in the period beginning on 1 January 2004 and ending on 31 December 2012, and

(c) after the property is purchased, it is occupied as the sole or main residence of the person referred to in paragraph (b) (or, in the case of the persons referred to in subsection (2)(a), (b) or (c), the married couple, civil partners or cohabitants, as the case may be).

(2) If the property referred to in subsection (1)(a) is purchased in the period specified in that provision by—

(a) a married couple,

(b) civil partners, or

(c) cohabitants,

this section shall apply notwithstanding that one of the spouses, civil partners or cohabitants, as the case may be, would not have been entitled to the relief referred to in subsection (1)(b).

(3) Subsection (1) shall cease to apply where the property referred to in that subsection—

(a) is sold (within the meaning of section 125) by, or

(b) ceases to be used as the sole or main residence of,

the person or persons referred to in subsection (1)(c) at any time after the purchase of the property.