Does renting your home for 4 months a year affect PPR status?

[Noodler]

I have a question that I'm struggling to find the answer to. I can see variants of it and some conflicting information, but never an exact match!

Essentially, I live in my home in Dublin but for family and work reasons, wish to spend approximately 4 months abroad next year. It is my primary residence and I will continue to spend most of the year living there.

I would like to rent out my home while I am away, but would rather avoid the hassle of short-term lets - lucrative as they may be. I understand they are permitted under 90 days without affecting PPR status.

To make my life easier, I would like to rent the property out medium-term (if I'm not mistaken, this means 14 days or more, or under 6 months).

Would this affect my PPR status? Or do I basically have to stick to Airbnb lets under 14 days in order to avoid any issues in this regard?

 

[T McGibney]

You're struggling to find answers to it because it's a complex question with no easy answers.

If you let out the property while you're away, I can't see how you could possibly claim it was your PPR while you were absent. This applies regardless of whether you let it out via or a tenancy or on successive short term Airbnb-style lets.

If your absence is purely for work reasons, I think there may be a concession or exemption that allows your temporary absence to be ignored for future CGT computation reasons.

I'm puzzled by your understanding that short term lets under 90 days don't affect PPR status.

(If you've owned it or plan to own it for a long time, the question should be more or less moot. If it's not and the sums involved are large, you may consider getting specialist legal or tax advice but on balance I suspect you don't need that.)

 

[Noodler]

You're struggling to find answers to it because it's a complex question with no easy answers.

If you let out the property while you're away, I can't see how you could possibly claim it was your PPR while you were absent. This applies regardless of whether you let it out via or a tenancy or on successive short term Airbnb-style lets.

If your absence is purely for work reasons, I think there may be a concession or exemption that allows your temporary absence to be ignored for future CGT computation reasons.

I'm puzzled by your understanding that short term lets under 90 days don't affect PPR status.

(If you've owned it or plan to own it for a long time, the question should be more or less moot. If it's not and the sums involved are large, you may consider getting specialist legal or tax advice but on balance I suspect you don't need that.)

Thank you, you're probably right. It's probably not worth worrying about, as I don't really plan on selling the property any time soon, or at all really. But life can be unpredictable...

The source of my confusion is this page on Citizens Information where it says things like:

"You do not have to apply for planning permission if you rent out your entire principal private residence for short-term visitors for less than 90 days a year while you are temporarily away. The 90 days do not have to be consecutive."

This appears to acknowledge that there is no conflict between a PPR and short-term lets under 90 days, while the owner is away. But I don't know what this means for stays of 14 days or more.

 

[ClubMan]

You might want to read this and the more detailed documents linked in the Further Guidance section.

Letting Irish property while you are abroad

What to do if you are leaving Ireland and will be renting Irish property while you are abroad.

www.revenue.ie

 

[T McGibney]

The source of my confusion is this page on Citizens Information where it says things like:

"You do not have to apply for planning permission if you rent out your entire principal private residence for short-term visitors for less than 90 days a year while you are temporarily away. The 90 days do not have to be consecutive."

This appears to acknowledge that there is no conflict between a PPR and short-term lets under 90 days, while the owner is away. But I don't know what this means for stays of 14 days or more.

I don't understand how you drew a parallel between longstanding Revenue rules on the PPR CGT exemption and recent legislation to control short term lets.

 

[Dr Strangelove]

I don't understand how you drew a parallel between longstanding Revenue rules on the PPR CGT exemption and recent legislation to control short term lets.

Agreed.

Tax law and planning law are separate and rarely overlap.

 

[Noodler]

I don't understand how you drew a parallel between longstanding Revenue rules on the PPR CGT exemption and recent legislation to control short term lets.

I am an expert in neither! It's pretty hard to connect the dots if you don't know where to look.

 

[Noodler]

You might want to read this and the more detailed documents linked in the Further Guidance section.

Letting Irish property while you are abroad

What to do if you are leaving Ireland and will be renting Irish property while you are abroad.

www.revenue.ie

When I first looked at this page, I wondered why you were pointing out that I had tax obligations (of course!). But reading the linked resource actually provides helpful guidance. People booking short-term lets are considered "guests", not tenants. I think I have all the information I need here to make a decision on how to proceed. Thank you.

 

[bipped]

Probably a stupid question but just curious about how ppr is decided? Is it possible to have a ppr in more than one country - say a person owned property in spain and the uk and lived plus worked in spain for six months every year and in the uk for the other six months.
Or if a person rented while living and working for tourist seasons in several countries every year, or worked on a cruise ship for some months and then lived in various countries for the rest of the year.
How does it work irl?

 

[ClubMan]

Is it possible to have a ppr in more than one country - say a person owned property in spain and the uk and lived plus worked in spain for six months every year and in the uk for the other six months.

As far as Revenue are concerned you can only have one PPR at any point in time.

 

[RedOnion]

How does it work irl?

Your examples are a bit too vague to explain 'IRL'.

Is it possible to have a ppr in more than one country - say a person owned property in spain and the uk and lived plus worked in spain for six months every year and in the uk for the other six months.

In this scenario, the person would not be resident or ordinarily resident in Ireland, so the Irish Revenue rules are of little relevance so long as the properties are disposed of before becoming Irish tax resident. I'd hope the person would be seeking tax advice in UK and Spain on the matter.

Or if a person rented while living and working for tourist seasons in several countries every year, or worked on a cruise ship for some months and then lived in various countries for the rest of the year.

Im wondering is your question here about PPR, or is it actually about tax residence?