First Time Buyers

[mcrean]

Hi, I have a question
Myself and my girlfriend have just bought a brand new house in Mayo as a first time buyer for 225K. We bought this last September but there is still a few bits to be signed.
Now here is the issue, we were due to move to Mayo at the time but circumstances have since changed and it dosent look like we will get to move there for another few years. My question is can I now declare that house as an investment property and pay the relevant stamp duty. I now want to buy our first residence in Dublin but i want to hold on to the house in Mayo and rent it out. We have never lived in the house in mayo.
Can we now use our first time buyers to buy a house in Dublin instead?
Regards
M

 

[Dreamerb]

Unfortunately no - not for Stamp Duty purposes anyway, although you may have the higher relief threshold for the purposes of Tax Relief at Source. Can you at this stage withdraw from the Mayo property? I know it seems drastic, especially if you really like the house - but it could end up costing you an awful lot, in tax terms, and you'll have additional costs in renting it out and maintaining.