To sell or to rent

Talk to a local estate agent, but I think the house would be difficult to sell advantageously unless clear, viable, documented and legally solid arrangements are put in place regarding rights to use, and obligations to maintain, the shared driveway and the shared sewage system.

You also need to consider the position of your in-laws who occupy the other three dwellings on the site. Getting proper arrangements in place is as much in their interests as it is in yours. Even if you can sell the house without putting these arrangements in place, maybe you shouldn't; you wouldn't be doing your in-laws any favours.

There'll be a cost to putting the arrangements in place, and you'll need to instruct a solicitor. Your in-laws might agree to share this as it affects them as much as you. On the other hand, they might not.

You renting doesn't present the same issues for the rest of the family, since they still deal with you in relation to sewage and access issues.

If you are going to sell, we have already identified the need for proper sewage/access arrangements to be put in place. This can only be done with the agreement of all the other family members on the site, and it may take some time for them (a) to accept that they need to deal with this ("We've all got on fine up to now. Why the need to change what works?") and (b) to reach a common position on what the arrangements should be (some may be primarily concerned to ensure that they don't become legally obliged to pay any more than they pay at present; others may be primarily concerned to ensure that the sewage system and driveway are properly maintained and that everyone is obliged to pay their share of whatever that costs). And, of course, sewage and access issues aside, the prospect of breaking up ownership of the family compound may be confronting for some of them.

In short, this could take a while to sort, and could involve some sensitive conversations. You know the family dynamics better than we do, obviously, but these issues might affect your preference for renting or selling at the moment.

Shared driveway a total nightmare in my opinion with the initial owners of the land, nobody will buy this house. Sewerage also.

I seen couple of houses in great location that are not touched mainly on the driveway issue. Who wants to spend hard money on a house then deal with access. Plus in most cases if the original owners are still living next door they feel entitled so no one will be bothered with that.

Renting it out would be best.

On the CGT point — if the house is you principal private residence, and then you move out and let it, and then you sell it, the capital gain is not fully taxable - it's apportioned between the period when the house was your PPR and the period when it wasn't. So if you use it as your PPR for 18 years and then let it out for 2 years, and then sell it, one-tenth of the gain accruing on sale is chargeable to CGT and the remaining nine-tenths is exempt.

(The gain accruing on sale is apportioned over time on a straight-line basis — you can't argue that the gain all occurred while you were living there and the property didn't change in value at all during the last two years when you weren't. But equally the Revenue can't make the opposite argument.)

Note that, even if you decide now to rent out the house indefinitely, at some point it is going to be disposed of and CGT will arise. So you can defer any CGT liability, but the only way to avoid it altogether is to dispose of it when it ceases to be your PPR.

So the services run through privately three/four folios of privately owned land? Who is responsible for fixing a leak (I don't know the answer to this, however I know it depends on where the leak is - but it is a question any buyer would need answered), approving further services (such as a connection to the sewer?

The shared septic tank, as mentioned above is a major issue - so a connection to the sewer is required.

Outside of that you do need to speak with your wifes siblings and parents to see what they think of the idea of selling in any instance. It is likely it could be met with a straight no (as unrealistic as this sounds) and without their support you will not be able to get your ducks in a row to tidy up all the access/legals prior to putting on the market.