I am a landlord in Swords with several rental properties. I don’t consider myself a professional landlord as I have a full-time job.
Some of my rental properties are occupied by professionals, some are on the HAP scheme and others are on the homeless HAP scheme.
The number of rental properties available in Swords has dropped from a few hundred 2 or 3 years ago down to less than 10 as I write this today. I received almost 4,000 views and hundreds of emails regarding this latest daft advert in the few days it was up and I decided to give preference to someone on homeless HAP.
My latest experience with Homeless HAP has been very positive. In summary….
I contacted a housing officer within homeless HAP who organised viewings, approximately 6 groups of families came per day untill I selected the most suitable family.
Homeless HAP pay is dependent on the family size (1 adult/couple and 1 child = 1875, 1+2 = 1912 1+3 1950) any amount over these rates the tenant will have to pay separately . (I think standard HAP only pay a max of €1350 and in arrears). I am actually not sure if those figures quoted are only for Fingal county council??
I believe their is currently talk of a discretionary 35% increase on these payments. Of course your asking rent must fall within the limit of the rent pressure zone calculation.
Many of those on Homeless HAP are working and are easily able to contribute a little extra.
Homeless HAP pay the deposit and first two months rent in advance and are also offering a €500 bonus to any landlord who takes on a tenant through their home finder service.
For homeless HAP you must fill in the paper application. I already had this completed in advance. The family I finally selected also had their section completed.
A landlord must also email in a scanned copy of their tax clearance (easily found on ROS), proof of property ownership (I used a screenshot from LPT website) and a screenshot of a bank statement.
From the time I selected the family at 7 pm in the evening, contacted the references and with the assistance of the homeless HAP housing officer the next morning all the documentation was completed. Payment was made at 2pm that day. So less than 24 hours from selecting a family to payment being made. Of course I then takes a couple of working days for these funds to reach your account.
For me with the possibility of a recession on the horizon there is something to be said regarding the peace of mind of getting a huge chunk of your rental income from a guaranteed source.
There are so many families in single bedroom emergency accommodation in Ireland it also feels quite satisfying to be able to help out.
My only gripe about HAP and homeless HAP is the following…..
Let’s say your asking rent is €2000 p/month
and HAP pay the family €1912
So the tenant pays you a top up of €88p/month, which is completely separate to the HAP payments.
Within that €1912 payment from HAP to the landlord the tenant will also have to contribute something small from their social welfare payments…possibly a larger amount if they are working. If the tenant is unable or unwilling to make this additional small payment to HAP THEN ALL PAYMENTS FROM HAP TO THE LANDLORD CEASE!!
This to me is absolutely outrageous. Why in the world should a landlord be made to suffer who has done nothing wrong just because a tenant is unable or unwilling to make a small payment to HAP. Another classic example of why landlords are selling up.
However the homeless HAP housing officer did tell me this situation is extremely rare. Still, overall a very positive experience.
Some of my rental properties are occupied by professionals, some are on the HAP scheme and others are on the homeless HAP scheme.
The number of rental properties available in Swords has dropped from a few hundred 2 or 3 years ago down to less than 10 as I write this today. I received almost 4,000 views and hundreds of emails regarding this latest daft advert in the few days it was up and I decided to give preference to someone on homeless HAP.
My latest experience with Homeless HAP has been very positive. In summary….
I contacted a housing officer within homeless HAP who organised viewings, approximately 6 groups of families came per day untill I selected the most suitable family.
Homeless HAP pay is dependent on the family size (1 adult/couple and 1 child = 1875, 1+2 = 1912 1+3 1950) any amount over these rates the tenant will have to pay separately . (I think standard HAP only pay a max of €1350 and in arrears). I am actually not sure if those figures quoted are only for Fingal county council??
I believe their is currently talk of a discretionary 35% increase on these payments. Of course your asking rent must fall within the limit of the rent pressure zone calculation.
Many of those on Homeless HAP are working and are easily able to contribute a little extra.
Homeless HAP pay the deposit and first two months rent in advance and are also offering a €500 bonus to any landlord who takes on a tenant through their home finder service.
For homeless HAP you must fill in the paper application. I already had this completed in advance. The family I finally selected also had their section completed.
A landlord must also email in a scanned copy of their tax clearance (easily found on ROS), proof of property ownership (I used a screenshot from LPT website) and a screenshot of a bank statement.
From the time I selected the family at 7 pm in the evening, contacted the references and with the assistance of the homeless HAP housing officer the next morning all the documentation was completed. Payment was made at 2pm that day. So less than 24 hours from selecting a family to payment being made. Of course I then takes a couple of working days for these funds to reach your account.
For me with the possibility of a recession on the horizon there is something to be said regarding the peace of mind of getting a huge chunk of your rental income from a guaranteed source.
There are so many families in single bedroom emergency accommodation in Ireland it also feels quite satisfying to be able to help out.
My only gripe about HAP and homeless HAP is the following…..
Let’s say your asking rent is €2000 p/month
and HAP pay the family €1912
So the tenant pays you a top up of €88p/month, which is completely separate to the HAP payments.
Within that €1912 payment from HAP to the landlord the tenant will also have to contribute something small from their social welfare payments…possibly a larger amount if they are working. If the tenant is unable or unwilling to make this additional small payment to HAP THEN ALL PAYMENTS FROM HAP TO THE LANDLORD CEASE!!
This to me is absolutely outrageous. Why in the world should a landlord be made to suffer who has done nothing wrong just because a tenant is unable or unwilling to make a small payment to HAP. Another classic example of why landlords are selling up.
However the homeless HAP housing officer did tell me this situation is extremely rare. Still, overall a very positive experience.