Is written contract required for renting-a-room in PPR?

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Julius

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I have decided to rent the spare room in my Dublin two-bed townhouse. Money is not main motive, so I have verbally agreed rent about 50% of market rate. Person due to move in soon but has messaged me asking to discuss Contract. I don't want to complicate things by getting solicitor involved. Should I simply write out what we verbally agreed and both of us sign it? What I said was the € monthly rent paid in advance, no deposit, contribute 1/3 of Electric bill and zero contribution for tv, WiFi and bins, tenant can terminate whenever they want with months rent returned pro-rata but also that if it's not working out for me then would they be able to leave at short notice. Prospective tenant agreed to this but their request for a contract is a formality that makes me nervous. If it gets complicated I'll just forget about it altogether. Over the last few years I've done the house up to a very high standard so it's a great deal for the person.
Advice on the above plus any general advice about the Rent-a-Room would be appreciated. I'm a recent OAP and the prospective tenant is a mature student.
 
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Rent-a-Room Relief

This page overviews rent a room relief.
www.revenue.ie www.revenue.ie

Rent a room tax relief scheme

Rent-a-room relief makes it possible to earn tax-free rental income when you rent out a room in your home to private tenants.
www.citizensinformation.ie www.citizensinformation.ie

Is Your Property Exempt from Registration? | Residential Tenancies Board

RTB operates Ireland's National Tenancy Register and resolving disputes between Landlords, tenants and third parties. Governed by residential Tenancies Act 2004. View more information on landlords and tenancies.
www.rtb.ie www.rtb.ie
 
Sounds to me like the tenant has gotten a good deal but is coming back looking for more ground, seen this years ago. Give an inch and you'll never stop giving....if I were you I'd cut my losses with this character and get someone else.
 
Julius said:
Money is not main motive
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Just curious, what is your main motive?
Something else like company?
Or simply providing accommodation for somebody who needs it?
Do you need the extra income?
Having to have a lodger would be a nightmare for me personally, but I know people who might like it.
Even if money isn't the main motive surely it makes sense to make the most of it (up to €14k tax free)?
 
This person will be a guest in your house & so can be asked to leave at any time.

Make sure they *fully* understand that first.

A set of House Rules is no harm (don't call it a contract). I'd put a trial limiter in as well - verbal is fine "let's try this for six months & see how it goes"

And I would *definitely* ask for a deposit.
 
That is ridiculous for someone to start dictatng terms ,tell them straight up that is not the way you work and follow advice of post above
 
As a landlord of many years experience here is my advice.

Do not give any prospective lodger a 50% discount, that is a recipe for disaster.

And that is not about the money either. If they are paying significantly below market price with you, they will not be able to afford to move out !

To a less extent, if you offer 50% below market, you may be seen as a soft touch, and they, even unconsciously, will treat you as such. Has this begun already ?

Legally they will be a licensee in your home and as such you can impose any conditions you wish and change them as you wish. In practice it is no harm to put these conditions in writing just so every one knows what to expect. Also in practice I expect it would be very hard to evict some if they had no where else to go.

I absolutely agree with the suggestion above that you make the initial arrangement for 6 months only.
 
Thanks to all for the good advice.
@ClubMan thanks for the links. The Citizens Information recommendation for written ground rules is one that I'll definitely put into a written agreement. My main motive is to help with the housing situation in Dublin. The catalyst was the Ukrainian refugees but I realize that I'll not hear back from the IRC or DSP as a friend of mine, before the government decided to subsidise it, offered a very nice vacant apartment and never heard back from the IRC despite him following up his offer with a couple of phone calls. No, I don't need the income.
@DannyBoyD Yes I will take your advice and include a 6 month trial period in the licence agreement.
@Knuttell What you say is sensible but I I know the guys employer (he works part-time to fund his studies) and also I trust my judgement having met him.
@wheeler dealer I don't think the guy is dictating terms. What we agreed when we met was that he could leave without notice at any time but that I also could ask him to leave at short notice and he agreed that he could "couch surf" at short notice. This scenario would only arise if there was some serious issue with the guy which is highly unlikely. Otherwise I'd be happy to give good notice.
@cremeegg I take your point about possibly being seen as a "soft touch" but I'm not doing this to make a big profit. I think his use of the word "contract" in a text message was unfortunate but on reflection is not a sign of taking advantage of a "soft touch" but a very reasonable request from his point of view. I understand the difference between tenant and licencee and I will stress this to him just in case someone was advising him over the Christmas to get a legal contract signed. He's probably nervous that I could turn around after a couple of months and ask him to leave and so leaving his current tenancy and moving to a scenario where he has no security of tenure is a concern for him. As I said before, that scenario is highly unlikely but if I didn't have that power then I wouldn't share the house at all, regardless of the amount of rent. I'll end the arrangement as soon as Sinn Féin are on the brink of government because I believe they will amend the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2019 which brought Licence Agreements under the main 2004 Act with the exception where the "licensor also resides in the dwelling". From one of @ClubMan links above I read that Threshhold are campaigning for such an amendment to the RTA to remove the exception and I believe that Sinn Féin in government will bring that change about.
 
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Julius said:
Thanks to all for the good advice.
@ClubMan
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Julius said:
As I said before, that scenario is highly unlikely but if I didn't have that power then I wouldn't share the house at all, regardless of the amount of rent. I'll end the arrangement as soon as Sinn Féin are on the brink of government because I believe they will amend the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2019 which brought Licence Agreements under the main 2004 Act with the exception where the "licensor also resides in the dwelling". From one of @ClubMan links above I read that Threshhold are campaigning for such an amendment to the RTA to remove the exception and I believe that Sinn Féin in government will bring that change about.
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If this ever comes to pass, overnight the streets will be filled with homeless people. If you dont have control over who lives in your own home, you totally banjaxed.
 
Julius said:
From one of @ClubMan links above I read that Threshhold are campaigning for such an amendment to the RTA to remove the exception and I believe that Sinn Féin in government will bring that change about.
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I don't think that any of the links that I posted has anything about that?
 
Look at the Threshold publication "Renting and Risk" section 5.4.1 last sentence in last paragraph.
 
Julius said:
I have decided to rent the spare room in my Dublin two-bed townhouse. Money is not main motive, so I have verbally agreed rent about 50% of market rate. Person due to move in soon but has messaged me asking to discuss Contract. I don't want to complicate things by getting solicitor involved. Should I simply write out what we verbally agreed and both of us sign it? What I said was the € monthly rent paid in advance, no deposit, contribute 1/3 of Electric bill and zero contribution for tv, WiFi and bins, tenant can terminate whenever they want with months rent returned pro-rata but also that if it's not working out for me then would they be able to leave at short notice. Prospective tenant agreed to this but their request for a contract is a formality that makes me nervous. If it gets complicated I'll just forget about it altogether. Over the last few years I've done the house up to a very high standard so it's a great deal for the person.
Advice on the above plus any general advice about the Rent-a-Room would be appreciated. I'm a recent OAP and the prospective tenant is a mature student.
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I have a room rented out.

I have a little agreement typed up with all the house rules (times for tele to be turned down, no cooking a full dinner at 3am in the morning when they come in drunk that sort of thing) what's included in his rent, when it's due etc.

It also states that if you continually break any of the house rules you will be asked to leave, we both signed and dated it, might not be worth anything but look at least we all know what the ground rules are.

A bit of give and take is nice, the person we have likes to cook so he cooks dinners for me and my partner and I do his washing for him, works well for us.
 
wheeler dealer said:
That is ridiculous for someone to start dictatng terms ,tell them straight up that is not the way you work and follow advice of post above
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It's perfectly reasonable that there should be an agreement in place setting out the expectations and responsibilities of both parties. A simple agreement on terms of the rent and what's included (utilities, media, comms, etc.) and around the use of common facilities ensures everyone knows the score and there's less chance of disagreements down the line.
 
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