Am I misguided in this assumption about rent allowance tennants?

Re: Rent allowance Tennants

i have rented to both private tenants and r/a tenants and must admit I have been very lucky with both but my preference is for r/a especially single mums, they look after the palce and tend to stay long term, I have one that is with me for 6 years with not a problem
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I am in the process of evicting my r/a tennant for non payment of rent.
I had to go overseas to work (6 months)and she decide to spend 1 months rent instead of paying it into my account, on my return she promised me she would fix up the arrears as she had to spend it because she was going to a wedding daaaaahhhhhhhh.
I am giving her two months to pay the arrears before I report her to social welfare and bring her to court.I dont care if it cost me the months rent in court fees I'll persue her for it. She turned out to be a very nasty person and told me complete lies after lies after lies. Im not stating this is because she is on r/a but has she conned me and if possibe the next tennant will not be r/a.

However if a r/a tennent could provide me with 3 very good reference etc. I may consider.

Also a word of warning: dont accept any additional payments from r/a tennants for their partners to live in the property with your knowledge on condition that you dont info Social welfare, happend a collegue of mine and they used it against him !!!!!! be warned.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

ShaneyMac said:
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.

From a financial perspective the amount paid by the tenant is very tiny (maybe 12 euro a week) so in most cases about 85-90% can be paid directly to you. You can insist with the local helth board that you are paid directly.
If I am not wrong there used to be a tax incentive for renting more than 50% of a place to RA tenants.
So in all honesty they are no different from working tenants.

HOWEVER!

They are going to be there 24x7 so wear and tear on the property will be double the normal amount.
If they do go on to take up a job you can no longer depend on direct payment from the health board.
If they are on the dole there is always a possibility they will be struck off as a lot of wasters sign on the dole with no intention of working to get RA and have a good time etc. (You have to remember that a single person getting both the dole and RA will end up with an income of about 75-80% of what somebody on the minimum wage gets paid for a 40 hour week, which isn't bad for sitting on their arses).
And finally, in my experience, there is a VERY high risk of anti-social bahaviour from RA tenants. In previous rentals my life was made a misery by the noise and anti-social lifestyles of RA tenants living around me. You have to remember that most people who don't work these days aside for reasons of health probably has quite severe problems. In my last place I was the only working tenant in the flat complex (out of 5 flats) and my landlord had to evict 2 guys in 2 years. One guy smashed in all the doors to his flat, tried to kick in another guys door and also tried to break into my place, while the other guy was so filthy and smelly his flat was a health hazard. RA tenants aren't paying with their own money so might be more liable to wreck the place!
The other thing you might want to consider is that you are more likely to be inspected if the tenants are on RA.

If you do go for RA tenants, consider a lone parent - they have responsibilities and so are more likely to be good tenants. I've never seen a lone parent be a bad tenant - its the single adults you need to avoid.
I'm giving this andecdotal evidence as a private tenant who has lived in about 6 different places over 10 years. Have to say that in future I would prefer not to live around RA tenants as I have found in the past that a very high percentage of the non-single mum RA tenants were people with big behavioural issues.

Cannot fault the single mums though - they are usually delighted to get somewhere nice and as I said above, they are people with responsibilities. I have had a few as neighbours over the years and they were grand. About 50% of the single adults however were complete psychos (we had the guards in a few times over several of them, in 2 occasions I've had the police at my door looking for the last tenant - both were single males on the dole, and these were in different places!)

I'd say use your instincts and if you get a bad feeling about somebody then trust your instincts. If they can provide references then fair enough. About 1/3 of all private tenants are on RA so you will get a lot of calls.

Generally landlords who don't take RA do so because they don't pay tax and don't want to risk detection! Its not that they don't want the tenants because they are on welfare.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I must say I have a Rent Allowance Tenant for 6 months and she has been the model tenant. House is kept very clean and never any problems with rent or complaints. She is a single mother by the way.

The most important thing with any tenant is that you get references, research your tenant and that you are happy with their character. Don't ever accept someone your not fully happy with as this can come back to haunt you.

Your better off doing without rent for a month than chasing tenants later on for rent and repairs.

Peadar
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I am considering renting out my apartment, however I have not been an owner occupier for 5 years and there will be a claw back of stamp duty if I do so, therefore if I rent it out I intend to be non tax compliance for the first year in order to avoid the claw back. Is there a requirement if you receive rental allowance from a tenant you must be tax compliant - also do you run an increased risk of being caought by the tax authorities?
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

nedser said:
Is there a requirement if you receive rental allowance from a tenant you must be tax compliant - also do you run an increased risk of being caought by the tax authorities?

Well there certainly should be.

I would say you would almost certainly get caught. Even if you're renting to regular tenants once they apply for their rent relief you'll be nabbed.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

nedser said:
I am considering renting out my apartment, however I have not been an owner occupier for 5 years and there will be a claw back of stamp duty if I do so, therefore if I rent it out I intend to be non tax compliance for the first year in order to avoid the claw back. Is there a requirement if you receive rental allowance from a tenant you must be tax compliant - also do you run an increased risk of being caought by the tax authorities?
Don't you have to be registered with the PRTB to rent your property? In which case presumably there will be a greater chance of being caught out for the SD clawback. Just pay your tax liabilities.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I know - that is what I would prefer to do - if i could afford too. I am moving to UK for 2-3 years. I can not avail of the rent a room relief or mortgage interest relief because I will not be owner occupier. I can not not rent out it out because of Stamp duty claw back. I am reluctant to rent out for fear of being caught (everyone I talk too tells me I'm cazy and won't get caught!) however am facing prospect of paying rent in UK and my mortgage in Ireland and the risk I'm being told is worth taking. I dont want to sell the apartment.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

nedser said:
I dont want to sell the apartment.

Why not? Bag your profit, tax free, and invest in something with low transaction costs until you're in a position to buy again.

Being non tax compliant is a completely false economy. How would you feel if the value of your property fell by 20%, your tenants trashed the place, and revenue hit you with a bill for 30K (tax + fines + interest) in 2/3 years time?

I bet all those people who got advise from NIB in the 80's to stick their cash in off shore accounts don't feel to good about the "good" advise they received back then.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Rent allowance is paid to people on disability allowance and not just on single mothers and the work shy,most on disability would be very quiet/good tenants.A friend of mine has mental health problems(not violent or anything just quiet,highly educated/intelligent guy) and he has terrible trouble getting a place with rent allowance in dublin,he only gets 160euro a week which barely gets a bedsit/flat.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

Hi

I have had the same social welfare assisted tennants now for 3 nearly 4 years and found the whole experience to be a good one.
The agreement is between you and the tennant not the Social Welfare so they don't just send anyone to your property YOU choose the tennant and You can vet them.
Ask for all the usual reference etc and insist that your payments go through on direct debit. I recieve payment on the last Tuesday of each month and its like clockwork. This covers the mortgage and the tennant pays the differnce into a bank account.
And as the previous poster mentioned the tennant will frequently have a partner living in or contributing to the house on the QT so the balance paid by them sholudn't be a priblem and if it ever is be very firm that you will have to review the contract.

The only problem i had was when the tennant didn't renew the required forms on time and 2 payments were missed. I got a contact in the Welfare form the tennant to follow it up and they couldn't be more helpful and all arrears were paid promptly.
All the Best
 
Re: Rent allowance Tenants

do you mean the pink forms? they have to be filled in twice a year usually march and Sept, I always remind the tenants in time to get the forms to me so have no problems with late payments then
 
Re: Rent allowance Tenants

Reference my last post on my rent allowance tenants,

Guess what she did a bunk with the last months health board cheque, thier is nothing the health board or the social welfare can do. can you believe it.

Currenty renting the property and looking for 3 references, deposit and rent in advance and finding it difficult, as 95% are on rent allowance.

She owes a fortune on utilty bills, thank goodness they were in her name and not mine.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tenants

collie said:
Guess what she did a bunk with the last months health board cheque,
The cheque would have been made out to you and crossed, right?
 
Re: Rent allowance Tenants

The cheque would have been made out to you and crossed, right?

Same thing happened to a friend of mine. These cheques are generally made out to the tenant.

The Social Welfare wasn't interested in the fact that this tenant had defrauded them. Indeed, the tenant moved into a council house. It was a bonus to buy their white goods with I suppose.

Friend put it down to bad experience.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tenants

umop3p!sdn said:
Same thing happened to a friend of mine. These cheques are generally made out to the tenant.

The Social Welfare wasn't interested in the fact that this tenant had defrauded them. Indeed, the tenant moved into a council house. It was a bonus to buy their white goods with I suppose.

Friend put it down to bad experience.


My god, am I that friend, exact same case as mine.

Health centre refused to make cheque out to me and said thier deal was with the tenant and what she did with the cheque after they gave it to her was not really thier concern although the were sorry for my loss.I wrote to the minister for social welfare reference this matter and it is under investigation but I cant print much more than that..... Be warned all the rights are with these peolpe and not you as a landlord.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

I am in receipt of rent allowance and i have been finding it hard to find accommodation as i am a single parent. I have one week left where i am currently living and i have applied to at least 12 different landlords. They seemed keen until i told them i had a child but they said that the reason was they didn't accept rent allowance, but on one of the houses that i had viewed i found out that a single lad from my area had been given a 2 year lease. It enrages me as i am a responsible person and i have a very respectful daughter and it is frustrating when you are refused a home because of this. I also found out that this lad had been asked to leave by his previous landlord because of the trouble he was bringing to the area.
 
Re: Rent allowance Tennants

...but they said that the reason was they didn't accept rent allowance...


I dont understand this point. From my read of the thread the tenant is given a cheque from the health board for rent allowance (and some landlords complained that the tenant left with unpaid bills and pocketed the cheque for themselves).
Therefore how does the landlord know whether you are receiving rent alowance or not when you have the option of cashing it in and paying in cash?
 
Re: Rent allowance Tenants

Sign, because the landlord has to sign a form for the healthboard.
 
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