2 or 3 bedroom?

sham69

Hi All,
My house has recently been put up for sale. The estate agent informed us that my room which is at the back of the house but is not part of any extension cannot be classed as a bedroom as it has no window? It has a velux skylight? Does anybody have any views or experience on this. Also on a related note, my parents have been told that they will have to pay 6% as some sort of tax. My mother inherited the house from my grandmother and seemingly they won't be classed as a first time buyer. My father is thinking that if he purchases the new house he won't be taxed as he has no house in his name of has not inherited any property. I hope it is ok posting both of these queries in this thread. Apologies to the mods if I am out of line.
Any advice appreciated.
Sham

jhegarty

First-time buyers

A first-time buyer is defined as a person (or where there is more than one buyer, each person):

* 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;
* Where the property purchased is occupied by the purchaser or a person on his/her behalf as his/her only or principal place of residence and
* Where no rent is derived from the property for five years after completion of the current purchase.

The_Conductor

I heard the bit about a lack of a window previously from a surveyor (I was having a house surveyed in Kildare- it had a Velux similar to what you are describing). I'm not sure what planning law or regulation its in, but apparently its in there somewhere.

We might be able to offer a better opinion on your situation if you could clarify what the tax that your parents are being charged is- i.e. is it Capital Gains, Inheritance Tax or whatever.

Regarding what your father was thinking- and given that I am not familiar with the situation- your parents would normally be jointly assessed by the Revenue Commissioners for tax purposes, so his proposal would probably be a non-runner (get professional advice on this though).

You mention about your Mum inheriting the house from your grandmother- I take it this is the house that you are in the process of selling- its not clear..... Why would your father purchase the house that your mother inherited?

It sounds very much as though you are trying desperately to figure some manner of getting out of paying stamp duty or capital gains tax (or possibly even inheritance tax)- and its not clear what is going on- with you selling a house that belongs to your mother, and mooting the possibly of your father buying it from you?

Would you like to elaborate on what is actually happening?

sham69

There is nothing illegal about what I am asking. Basically my parents are selling the family home and buying a house in Ashbourne. The family solicitor told them that they may have to pay some sort of tax, I am not 100% sure what it is as he is still looking into it. 6% was mentioned so I am not sure if they will be hit with Stamp duty or if this is some sort of gains tax as they are selling the house. It was also mentioned that they are not classed as full time buyers as they actually have their own home. Apologies for the vaugueness but I genuinely don't know much about this sort of thing.

Cooee

A room is not legally classed as a "habitable" room unless it has a normal window. Velux roof windows do not count - this is a planning requirement.

My in-laws have a house that is classed as 2 bed, despite having a large loft room, but it only has a velux window. These rooms will be classed on estate agent brochures as "store" rooms as it cannot be marketed as a bedroom.

However these rtooms do add a premium to house prrices as people do use them as bedroomsd.

The_Conductor

sham69 wrote:

There is nothing illegal about what I am asking. Basically my parents are selling the family home and buying a house in Ashbourne. The family solicitor told them that they may have to pay some sort of tax, I am not 100% sure what it is as he is still looking into it. 6% was mentioned so I am not sure if they will be hit with Stamp duty or if this is some sort of gains tax as they are selling the house. It was also mentioned that they are not classed as full time buyers as they actually have their own home. Apologies for the vaugueness but I genuinely don't know much about this sort of thing.

Providing your parents have been "habitually resident in the family home as their place of principle residence" for the previous 5 years, they have 2 years with which to apply the proceeds of the sale of the family home towards a new property which is to be designated their principle residence.

A tax clawback may ensue if the house was not their principle residence, or if the entirety of the proceeds is not applied to the new residence. The length of time they have owned the house would also have an impact on this.