Rent a room scheme details

I am looking at buying a house, the house has the potential to easily be split with me living in one part and renting the other part out. Looking at rents in the area it would be to my advantage to do this under the rent a room scheme.
I had a look at the revenue website and they require the following to qualify:
It is not possible to let an entire residence because the room or rooms that are let must form part of the residence and the residence must be occupied by the individual receiving the rent as his/her sole or main residence. The room or rooms can comprise a self-contained unit within the residence such as a basement flat or a converted garage attached to the residence
The property I was looking has an extension built on to the side, it's a full extension , not a garage. There are 2 entrances but the property is currently connected internally.
I was looking for the specific legislation that defined what exactly is required to claim this scheme but can't find it.
In the absence of something specific written down how could I ensure that I met or could meet the requirements? Could I email Revenue?

You could, but this sounds quite clearcut. Rent-a-Room relief would apply. The legislation is silent, but the Revenue guidance is clear.

At the moment it should be ok I think, even though there are different addresses ,electricity supplies etc but I guess then I am trying to work out how separate I could make the house without breaching the rules .
Revenue says they must be attached but can be self contained. So you can have separate entrances bathrooms kitchens and still claim the relief. Do you still need to be able to access both properties internally? How would for example 2 houses attached beside each other but completely separate be treated?
Ideally I would like to live in the extension by myself but rent a couple of rooms in the other part for the tax free sum and keep it as much to itself as possible.

Part of the reason is besides obviously being able to earn the money tax free I also would like to rent to a licensee rather than set up a lease and deal with the PRTB. It might change in a few years but for the moment I would prefer to rent a room possibly for the academic year only

Look this is essentially 'civil service' relief. If you have separate locations you are goosed. If you keep on asking them questions, the Revenue will find a way of saying no. Essentially if you live in the place and the other place is 'self contained' then it may or may have internal accesses.

"...4.2 Self-contained unit It is not possible to let an entire residence because the room or rooms that are let must form part of the residence and the residence must be occupied by the individual receiving the rent as his/her sole or main residence. The room or rooms can comprise a self-contained unit within the residence such as a basement flat or a converted garage attached to the residence. However, a self-contained unit that is adjacent to the residence but not actually attached to it cannot qualify for the relief..."

So that rules out the bunker at the end of the garden.
That also rules out the 2nd house.

But is silent on access to the rest of the house. Therefore it does not have to have access but it must be attached.

bleary said:

At the moment it should be ok I think, even though there are different addresses ,electricity supplies etc but I guess then I am trying to work out how separate I could make the house without breaching the rules .

Click to expand...

How can the same residence have two addresses: quick test: have you two post codes?

As it was at some stage built on it has 2 addresses (1 is the same number annex ) but only 1 eircode. Probably not going to go for it at this stage, price has run on above what i think it would be worth
Thanks