This is not rocket science - it does not take a genius to figure out whether they ever had a house before and I am , as always, fascinated by the "nobody told me / it was somebody else who said it" approach of so many people.
This is the text of Revenue requirements for First Time Buyers Relief
A First Time Buyer as defined by Section 92B, Stamp Duties Consolidation Act, 1999, is a person, (or, where there is more than one buyer, each of such persons):
* who has not on any previous occasion, either individually or jointly, purchased or built on his/her own behalf a house (in Ireland or abroad) and
* where the property purchased is occupied by the purchaser, or a person on his behalf, as his/her only or principal place of residence and
* where no rent, other than rent under the rent-a-room-scheme, is derived from the property for five years after the date of the current purchase.
Special situations for FTB relief -
a) The trustees of a trust (to which section 189A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 applies), whose trust funds are raised by public subscriptions for the benefit of permanently incapacitated persons, in respect of the first house(s) bought after the establishment of the trust, for occupation by the beneficiary or if more than one, each of the beneficiaries.
b) A spouse to a marriage the subject of a decree of judicial separation, a deed of separation, a decree of divorce or a decree of nullity in the case of the first acquisition of a house by the spouse following the separation or divorce provided that the spouse had, in relation to the former marital home,
* left that home;
* not retained an interest in that home;
* Immediately prior to the date of the decree of deed of separation is not beneficially entitled to an interest in a house other than the marital home. At the date of the decree or deed of separation, the separated/former spouse must also be in occupation of the home which was occupied by both spouses prior to the separation or dissolution of marriage
c) Revenue is prepared to accept that a child, who is a first time buyer, will not be precluded from claiming first time buyer relief where a parent acts as a co-mortgagor in the following circumstances-
* The transfer of the property is taken in the name of the first time buyer
* It is the intention of both the first time buyer and any other person that the other person is not to take a beneficial interest in the property
* The other person has been joined into the mortgage solely at the request of the lending institution for the purpose of providing additional security for the monies being advanced for the purchase
* It is not intended that the other person will be contributing to the repayment of the mortgage in the normal course
Where the four conditions set out above are satisfied, Revenue will treat the parent as effectively acting in the role of guarantor for the loan.
Consistent with the above approach, Revenue will also be prepared to treat persons other than parents of the first time buyer, who satisfy similar conditions to those set out above, as effectively acting in the role of guarantor for the loan. Their involvement in that capacity will not be treated by Revenue as precluding a claim to first time buyer relief.