Rent Relief

oceansapart

Well after finally getting of my ass to claim this for the past years , I get a letter back from the revenue. i am living with my parents and am claiming for the 70quid a week I've been paying for the past two years.

I get a letter back from the revenue reminding me that they have received a high number of claims which appear to be ungenuine and they are auditing all claims for rent relief .. it also quotes section blah blah does not cover "the provision of goods and services under the rent relief act" ... seemed a bit random to quote that portion of the act but anyways it goes on to say that I must supply copies of electricity / phone bills etc... no problem there but the request for proof of payment could be difficult seen as it's always just been the few bob thrown in cash at the end of the month. I was thinking of saying that I pay the phone and electricty as my portion of the rent .. but I'm wondering if the portion of the act they quoted above would negate me from claiming for this.

Other than that I suppose I could retrospectively write up rent books for two years !! Any suggestions or should i just tell them it's been cash handed over.

Victor

Be honest.

texas star

Hi just to let you know I was applying for rent allowance also. All my friends got their few bob. I applied in Sept and I only got that letter last week. I rang the tax office and I was told if I dont have a leese agreement in writing and bills in my name I can not apply. How can I have that as I live at home and they told me sorry thats the rules. Im really annoyed but I cant think of anything I can do beside write up a pretend agreement. I hope you have better look then me.:mad:

podge018

I think we've missed the boat on this one lads, I got that same letter. It's bascially saying "look we know you're living with your parents, you're not getting anything off us".

chump

and damn straight too

mikemac

I sent in claims from 2002-2005 to the Revenue in October but when I enquired about the status last week they told me they'd lost the forms.

To be honest they were unhelpful and I was left on hold for 40 minutes on one call.

So my advice to anyone putting in a claim is to use registered post and if you phone up, ask to speak to an Executive Officer. Most of the Clerical Officers I've been in contact don't seem to give a damn about the public

Mr. Presentable

Maybe I misunderstand, but are you living with your parents and looking for rent relief!!!

You will need rent books, they will need to be registered for VAT (not so you'll get your relief, but because you'll be putting them on the record as landlords). Seriosly, either move out or stop trying to milk the State.

Bluetonic

nipplenuts wrote:

You will need rent books, they will need to be registered for VAT (not so you'll get your relief, but because you'll be putting them on the record as landlords). Seriosly, either move out or stop trying to milk the State.

There is no requirement for a someone renting a room under the rent a room scheme to register for VAT, provide a rent book or have any minimum standard of accommodation.

The claimant here is describing the rent a room scheme.

The_Conductor

Bluetonic wrote:

There is no requirement for a someone renting a room under the rent a room scheme to register for VAT, provide a rent book or have any minimum standard of accommodation.

The claimant here is describing the rent a room scheme.

There is an obligation on the owner of the house to declare any income received under the rent-a-room scheme to the Revenue Commissioners on an annual tax return. Providing the income received does not exceed the threshold, there is no tax liability- but it does still need to be declared.

OP- if claiming relief under the rent-a-room scheme, this would have to be properly documented and if it was not declared by the owner (your parents in this case) they could end up with a nasty liability.

Ps- the rent-a-room scheme was never designed as a manner for children to donate small sums of money to their parents in-lieu of living at home, in tax beneficial manner. I drew attention to the fact that this loophole was being closed a year ago in this forum.

Shane

Victor

smccarrick wrote:

Ps- the rent-a-room scheme was never designed as a manner for children to donate small sums of money to their parents in-lieu of living at home, in tax beneficial manner. I drew attention to the fact that this loophole was being closed a year ago in this forum.

At the same time, it is useful that adult children still occupy the parental home for a longer period as it reduces overall demand for housing by using the existing housing stock more efficiently.

gurramok

There is plenty of vacant housing stock out there owned by speculators to allow adult children to live in them, just too pricy at the moment, they shouldnt have to wait till their 40 to move out of the home!

The_Conductor

There is nothing to stop adult children living in vacant housing owned by their parents- there is however an issue with unintended abuse of the tax system. The reason the Rent-a-room scheme threshold has not been updated and that there are discussions to drop it altogether are principally because of this perceived abuse. While the sums of money are not particularly large, they do in some cases confer an unfair and an unintended advantage on some people. In other cases the rent-a-room scheme is the only thing between people and the breadline. Obviously it is the latter who this was intended to benefit. I predict this little scheme will be gone within two years.

Calina

smccarrick wrote:

....In other cases the rent-a-room scheme is the only thing between people and the breadline. Obviously it is the latter who this was intended to benefit. I predict this little scheme will be gone within two years.

rent-a-room, as far as I recall was introduced to provided greater accommodation supply at a time where the private rental market was constrained by supply limitations in the late 1990s. I don't believe it had the remit of helping people on the breadline, only to bring supply onto the rental market.

Since then, it has also been exploited to enable banks to lend ever higher amounts of money to mortgage applicants as in "if you can rent a room, we'll include whatever the TFA sum is in your income for mortgage calc purposes".

I don't recall that it was introduced to help poverty stricken home owners at any stage but am open to correction.

The_Conductor

Calina wrote:

I don't recall that it was introduced to help poverty stricken home owners at any stage but am open to correction.

Entirely correct- however despite the original intentions of the scheme, that is what it now boils down to for a lot of people. When mortgage repayments have gone up 300 Euro a month and monthly incomes have not risen by a comensurate amount- and when rent-a-room income has already been factored into lending by mortgage institutions- it has for a lot of people rapidly become the only thing keeping them afloat.

I have been talking to a group of people in this situation already- and from anecodatal evidence forsee it being an increasing problem particularly with FTB's in the Dublin area.

tipsy

On the subject of rent allowance, myself and my girlfriend are going to move out together. I'm just trying to determine what we can afford. Can someone tell me if were entitled to the 330 P/A each or is that just per appartment?

http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/revguide/charts.htm
It's not entirely clear and I think the revenues on Holidays already. Cheers.

The_Conductor

Revenue are there up to about 11.30AM tomorrow morning(depending on which section you call ) and are in on Thursday and Friday (the 28th and 29th) of next week.

Shane

Victor

tipsy wrote:

Can someone tell me if were entitled to the 330 P/A each or is that just per appartment?

Each. They may get iffy if there are 23 people in the one 2-bed apartment though.