Am I misguided in this assumption about rent allowance tennants?

S

ShaneyMac

Guest
I have a property up for rent at the moment and about 70% of the calls I'm getting to view it are from people asking do I take rent allowance. I'm not sure what to tell them as I don't fully understand how much these tennants are entitled to from the state and where does the rest of the money come from.

My present point of view is that these tennants would be less desireable due to the fact that -

- If they are on rent allowance, they don't work, and therefore, where do they get the balance of the money, over and above what the state pays them.
- Whilst I'll certainly get the state portion of the rent, I could end up chasing the balance every month from the tennant.

Am I misguided in this assumption about rent allowance tennants?

Any experience/advice greatly appreciated.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Are you sure it's rent allowance that they are all (70%) asking about? As a professional you can apply for tax relief if your landlord agrees to give his PPS number.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

A friend of mine who rents out some property told me that a single mother with 2 kids can get 1187 per month in rent allowance. He charges 1200 so the woman only needs to make up €13 of a shortfall.

Id say a lot of the cases the woman isnt a single mother anyhow so there'll be another income there to help her out.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

redbhoy said:
A friend of mine who rents out some property told me that a single mother with 2 kids can get 1187 per month in rent allowance. He charges 1200 so the woman only needs to make up €13 of a shortfall.
Do those figures correlate to the rules as outlined here?

Id say a lot of the cases the woman isnt a single mother anyhow so there'll be another income there to help her out.
Why would you say that?
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Further discussion of the "single mother" rent allowance issue split into a new thread here.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I have a rent allowance tenant, he makes up €15 per week. I have had difficulty in getting this. On the whole, I would not discriminate against rent allowance. It is basically down to the individual. I have had non rent allowance tenants that did not pay up.

Make sure either soc welfare cheques are issued in your name to rented property or to your personal address. Welfare will do this if the tenant agrees. I had a tenant who cashed the rent cheques and spent the money leaving two weeks unpaid for 6 mths.Endless calls,lies,promises and stress before it was made up.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Ariidae - Yes - it is rent allowance as opposed to Tax relief on rent.

Clubman - Thanks for the link - from it I see that my potential tennant is entitled to Eur740 per month in Allowance (in Mid-West region). Rent is Eur850 - balance of Eur110 to pay.

Dad - I agree - down to the individual tennant I suppose. Meeting them tonight - we'll see how it goes.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Bear in mind that social welfare rent allowance is paid in arrears and not advance as most private rents are.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Why not have the rental allowence paid by direct debit,its a shame that so many landlords dont take social welfare ,as there are loads of genuine people looking to live in a nice home ,like all situations there will always be the exceptions but in general they are fine,Its amazing how a landlord can state no social welfare,how long can that stay legal Iwonder,for example if the wording was changed to say no Irish there would be blue murder!! I have phillipino tennants and must say they are the nicest people I have ever met.I also have a friend who rented to professionals and had major problems,so go for it.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

ariidae said:
Are you sure it's rent allowance that they are all (70%) asking about? As a professional you can apply for tax relief if your landlord agrees to give his PPS number.

what kind of professional do you have to be to to apply for tax relief ?
is it not open to anyone who rents?
you dont need Landlords PPS no to apply for this even though it states on Oasis that
each reciept for rent must show
.. landlords name ,address and PPS number ,
..amount of rent you have paid ,
.. preiod of time covered


let Revenue look for the landlord in question and take it from there , the tenant is entitled to the tax relief .
 
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Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Anybody in private rented accommodation can apply for [broken link removed] and doesn't necessarily need the landlord's PPSN if they happen to be reticent about providing such details.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I've had private tenants and Rent allowance tenants. The private tenant caused no problem, but would not pay rent by standing order - he insisted on paying by cheque in advance. it was a bit of a pain having to collect cheque and then queue up to lodge.

I had r/a tenant, who phoned one night to complain that dish wawher would not work. I had to show her where the 'on'switch was. nest r/a tenant was a dream, never a problem and she paid rent on time, every week. One week she was unable to get to bank and phoned in a panic to apoligise. next r/a was a total disaster. rent is €13 pw on top of the sw payment. very difficult to collect the €13.

Unfortunately, given my current experience, I will be more wary of r/a in hte future
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Ravima said:
Unfortunately, given my current experience, I will be more wary of r/a in hte future
Why? Because one rent allowance tenant was a problem and another couldn't operate the washing machine? Why do you pin these "problems" on these two tenants being on rent allowance as opposed to something else?
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I wonder are r/a tenants more likely to be long term than non-r/a ones? Any anecdotal evidence here?
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Murphaph in my experience most definitely yes. For this reason at this stage nearly prefer r/a tenants.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Great thread. My first rental of a new house was a RA tenant. I was approached by a neighbour (a nosey one), the builder and the builders Estate Agent. They said things like, "I would not feel safe living next to them", "The price of your house will go down", "The locals in "small village" are against this".

To say the least I was shocked and disappointed. Very stressful times for the first few weeks, thinking I was hated for what I saw as simply renting to the best applicant.

Its been 3 months now. Not a peep out of the so called "Residence Committee". My renter has been perfect, not a bother. And she has put up with a lot of little hiccups that come with a newbie landlord/unfinished new house. She is a long term renter and I am delighted I stuck to my guns.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Clubman:


yes, personal experience is invaluable. Perhaps it si wrong, but there is nothing I can do about my personal feelings, or gut reaction. I agree that it is unfortunate and perhaps I am misjudgig r/a clients, but I am being honest and true to myself. I honestly feel that I can be no other. you and others are free to disagree and perhaps you have more positive views, which you are just as free to express.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I'm just making the point that you seem to be jumping to negative conclusions about all RA tenants on the basis of one bad experience and one minor inconvenience. Obviously you are free to have your own views and rent to who you like but I'm just saying that your conclusion are at best based on patchy evidence and at worst simply based on prejudice.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I think it is fair to say that there is a wide variation of r/a tenants. Some are pretty undesirable but I have had a number of single mothers and the have been far in a way the best tenants I have had. I have to say that my properties are rural and in scenic locations so I get the feeling that tenants are happy to be out of flats in towns and are not going to act the mick. I call regularly to do "maintenance work" (in contract) so I can keep an eye on things. Tenants I think actually appreciate this as I genuinely want to keep them happy. My experience is that private tenants are more demanding.
 
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