Rental accommodation scheme (RAS): How does it work from Landlord & tenant POV?

Re: Rental accommodation scheme (RAS)

From renting in the Private Rented sector and with no problems from Landlords or tennants. Unfortunately I had to write about my experience with being a tennant with RAS in an earlier post and never knew who my landlord was and never met him before I moved in, could have been a saving point for me, but never given the chance with DCCouncil.

The most Tennants who do a runner are one's who are working, lst they have the money to Rent again without having to source a Landlord who accepts Rent Allowance. They give no notice and I know from Landlords asking me questions as to some that disappeared leaving substantial amounts of rent unpaid that the working people PROFESSIONALS as term used in ads, are the very one's you would never even catch again to lst get your rent that's due off them, 2 to sue them if they wrecked your place as they have their reference letters, names and even sometimes their real names not used....

A rent allowance tennant is the same, as a working person as they pay rent too, and not all of us are sub humans who are out to destroy property, some of us are in this situation due to situations in our life which sadly led us down this path, and are sometimes more educated, cultured and more honest than some of the Landlords collecting the rent.

Not saying this re; every landlord, ever RA Tennant, or Professional.

There is the good and the questionable and downright rough and ignorant in every walk of life so with the tennant getting a nice landlord it's a game of chance and if happens respect on both sides ensues thus a pleasant situation all round.

Hope I have been of some help and put it from both perspectives.

Thank you

AHEN
 
Re: Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS)

Thank you all for the very infomative discussion on RAS. I have a tenant and his family who have rented from me for the last two years. He is an excellent tenant and I would like to keep him forever. He is a non-national and initially was here to study and was therefore receiving a health board allowance towrds the rent arounf Euro 1150 for Dublin.

Now that he is about to start work he wont qualify for the whole of this Health Board allowance and wants to move to the RAS scheme where he will get more of a subsidy towards his rent. I am happy to go along with this but on one condition that I can enter what is described by DCC as:

'a tenancy-by-tenancy arrangement to meet short-term accommodation requirements (we guarantee rent payment only for term that a specified tenancy is in existence)'

I only want to sign up for this tenant. Is that possible or do you have to sign up for a minimum of four years and take other RAS tenants if the original one leaves.

I would be grateful for any advice which you could give me on this matter.

Ed
 
Re: Rental accommodation scheme (RAS)

I've just been asked by my tennant to go on this RAS scheme, so I've just started looking into it. He has been a fantastic tennant for the last 2 years, so of course if there's something I can do for him, I will.
My question is what is the difference to the tennant between the old RA scheme and the new RAS scheme? He is a non national, with average English so I couldn't really understand why when I asked him.
 
Re: Rental accommodation scheme (RAS)

He will have more security of tenure in theory under the RAS scheme as it is designed for long term housing needs, hence the council contract your house for up to 5 years at a time. For practical purposes there is no difference to your tenant but I believe the powers that be want a migration to RAS and away from RS. He may well have been asked by them to migrate to RAS.
 
Re: Rental accommodation scheme (RAS)

OK thanks Murphaph. Had been wondering if I was missing something!
 
Re: Rental accommodation scheme (RAS)

Hi new to this posting thread stuff so bear with me!! :) I'm a landlord & considering the RAS but council only offering 1k can tenant put towards this to make up difference? Anyone know how long process can take & if council allows you to meet tenants before accepting them. Thanks
 
Re: Rental accommodation scheme (RAS)

Hi, the answer to your first question is no, the agreement is between you and the council, therefore if the council are offering 1k, that is it. RAS rents are generally 100 euro lower per month (maybe more) than the going rent for the local area. However, if your property is vacant for any period of time between tenancies, RAS still pay you this rent. I have a property with RAS for 2 yrs now, it was vacant for 3 months before they ever sent me my first tenants and I was paid rent every month until it was finally occupied!. The security of payments is well worth it in my book!
The process can take anywhere between 3-8 weeks depending on how busy your local county council is. Call them to find out. Your property will need to be approved and deemed habitable with all necessary smoke alarms, vents etc, this is done by Dept of the Environment prior to you being accepted as a RAS landlord.
Lastly, all council tenants are vetted by the council and have garda clearance before being accepted by the council onto the scheme. Therefore you don't vett them hence you have to accept them, you don't have a choice.
Hope this helps.
 
Re: Rental accommodation scheme (RAS)

Lastly, all council tenants are vetted by the council and have garda clearance before being accepted by the council onto the scheme. Therefore you don't vett them hence you have to accept them, you don't have a choice.
Hope this helps.

This is the problem with CERTAIN RAS contracts. The council can put whoever they like into your property and you have to foot the bill if there is any damage. The council may make a contribution (1 months rent) but that is not going cover any significant damage. In saying that, its not in the council's interest to have a string of landlords complaining that the council are placing unruely tenants into RAS accomodation.
 
Has anyone renewed their RAS contract with their local council recently ? My four year contract is coming to an end and I'm wondering what the process is ?

i.e. will the rent be reviewd (possibly downward)
are CC walking away from properties with the amount of vacant choice out there ?
 
Rental Accommodation Scheme

I have a house rented through this scheme and now two years into the agreement the council have decreased the rent by E 200. Has anyone else had this experience. The grounds quoted for the decrease was based on a rent review in the area. I had no choice other than accept the new rent or pull out of the scheme. The council made the decision without and consultation.
 
Rental accomodation scheme

Does anybody know how it works?, advantages, disadvantages?
 
Guys I am looking into this too. I have an aprtment which for 4 out of the last 6 years had been rented and manged no problem without costing me any money. However last time the tenant movbed out it was empty for 6 months before I found anyone new. My current tenant never pays his rent on time and its a nightmare chasing him almost every week. I'm afraid to throw him out in case I'm another 6 months without anyone in there, paying the mortgage myself. I'd be happy to take a decrease in rent if I knew it was always coming as I would not have the hassle.

The thing is they ask for a tax clearance cert. What is this exactly and what does it mean? I have paid all my PRTB things etc for the last year - but I've never declared tax on it since I've never made any profit out of it really. Can anyone advise?
 
i have a few properties with RAS, generally it works ok, in my experience they are reasonably fair but with the 2 year rent reviews they are unilateral, take it or leave it they say. You need your paper work in order, tax clearance cert, ber cert, and in my case I needed a fire cert, once all those things are in place the rent rolls in, fingers crossed with tenants, so far i havent had problems and i've been with them 5 years
 
Hi Colly,

I'd recommend that you look into your tax situation as soon as possible. You're obliged to file a return on your rental income even if you don't make a profit. In my case, I'm a PAYE worker but I also file an annual return where I state the amount of rent received, the amount of mortgage interest and other expenses paid etc. The revenue then work out what (if anything) I owe. Sometimes they owe me money and sometimes I owe them but regardless, they will fine me if I file late.

Regarding making a loss, you need to be very sure that this is the case. Suppose your monthly rent is €800 and your monthly mortgage payment is €1,200. You might think that since you are taking in less than you are paying out, that you are making a loss. However, the €1,200 is made up of capital and interest payments (lets suppose 700 capital and 500 interest) and only the interest bit is deductable. Furthermore, not all of the interest is deductable, currently only 75% of it is. So lets imagine the following:

Monthly rent: 800
Annual rent: 9,600 (800 x 12)

Monthly interest: 500
Annual interest: 6,000 (500 x 12)
Deductable annual interest: 4,500 (75% of 6,000)

Your annual gross profit: 5,100 (9,600 - 4,500)

I apologise if this is stuff that you already know, I thought it was worthwhile laying it all out for the benefit of other readers of the site.

As regards your historical position, if it turns out that you don't owe anything, I'm sure revenue won't be too worried about not filing returns. If you do owe them, then the fact that you have voluntarily disclosed this will mean that they should be prepared to waive fines and possibly reach a compromise on what you have to repay.

Good luck,
Phil
 
Can anyone give me some real information from the Landlord's side on how the RAS 10 year lock in housing scheme is working and is it working well, what are the drawbacks.
 
ras

im lookin for advice on how to find a landlord who wants to do ras my daughter is 21 with a 19mt old son and she has been approved for ras she is a very good tennent causes no problems wer lookin for a two bed apt or house on the northside if anyone can help i would very grateful tanx all
 
RAS Scheme

Just wondering can anyone advise experience of this scheme with Waterford City Council. I am considering this scheme.
However, if it is the same as rent allowance in Kildare I will not take it up.
This is my experience and reasons why:
I agreed a tenancy with a very good tenant. We both requested that the rent be paid directly into my bank account.The rent was not paid for approx 2.5 months and this was posted (cheque)direct to tenant. Next month was paid (3 weeks late) direct to tenant less €100 and a week later this balance arrived by post again. This month is late again.
Each time the tenant rang the Rent allowance section in Dublin to request rent paid direct to my bank a/c.(always left holding for 40 mins plus).
The Tenant has now given notice and is moving home until money raised to pay rent some where without rent allowance. The tenant has said they are frustrated and embarassed by the constant problems incurred with the RA Section.I did not query the tenant at any stage as I know genuine efforts were being made to get rent paid.
It is a pity to lose a fine tenant as a result of actions (inactions) of a government agency and have to readvertise pay PRTB BER etc within such a short period.
This was the tenants and my first time to use this system and it looks like we both will not be using it again. Great little country.Sorry if I have taken off on another tangent.
 
Does anyone know how many offers the cc have to offer a ras tenant before they are deemed to have declined all offers & are then off the ras & housing list? Does it vary from county to county or does it go by original contract?
 
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