Rent allowance not accepted?

Shelli

General question:

If you've been renting privately from a landlord and are made redundant from work and need to claim rent allowance, can the landlord evict you on the basis that he doesn't accept rent allowance.

Assuming that the rent allowance would cover the rent being charged and he would not be losing any money?

malpas

No..not his business where you get rent from..particularly if you have signed a fixed term lease. If you've been a good tenant up to now why should he be concerned?

Shelli

Does the rent allowance not go directly to the landlord? Also does he not have to register or something?

I know the original ad for the property said "rent allowance not accepted", so is he within his rights to evict me if I find myself in the position of needing rent allowance for a period of time?

The_Conductor

Shelli wrote: »

Does the rent allowance not go directly to the landlord? Also does he not have to register or something?

I know the original ad for the property said "rent allowance not accepted", so is he within his rights to evict me if I find myself in the position of needing rent allowance for a period of time?

No- the rent allowance is paid to the tenant who in turn is supposed to forward it to the landlord. A lot of landlords have gotten burnt by tenants relying on rent allowance who haven't paid their rent (ontime or at all) incl. cases of where the tenant had their rent allowance withdrawn and did not inform the landlord, or make alternate arrangements to pay their rent. It really is a case of a few people giving all tenants a bad name. Unfortunately there have been a number of very high profile cases in the media and adjudicated at the PRTB on precisely this, in the past forthnight (incl. the woman who was awarded 12k for being improperly evicted from her home, despite not paying any rent whatsoever to her landlord in over 8 months).

If he wants to evict you- he has to give you proper notice as per the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act, and evict you according to the provisions in the Act- but at the end of the day, if you're not welcome to stay there, there is a glut of rental property available at the moment (and more coming on the market the whole time)- so its entirely possible that you may pick up something nicer for less.

Its unfortunate.

The original tenancy is supposed to be registered with the PRTB by the way.

jaybee747

Might be he doesn't want the tax man to know he rents the house out,if he takes the rent allowance he'll have to register, not too sure but if your renting out your home, is it classed as an income? , Where as cash in hand is probably best for him.

The_Conductor

jaybee747 wrote: »

Might be he doesn't want the tax man to know he rents the house out,if he takes the rent allowance he'll have to register, not too sure but if your renting out your home, is it classed as an income? , Where as cash in hand is probably best for him.

Highly unlikely.
The tenancy legally has to be registered, irrespective of how the rent is being paid. Yes- it is rental income- and he has to declare it annually on a tax return- but the source of the rent is irrelevant.
Cash-in-hand is a thing of the past- tenants claim rent-relief from the revenue commissioners anyhow- so he'd get caught out one way or the other......

I really don't think thats the case (unless the landlord is incredibly stupid, which is entirely possible too........)

Darragh29

Get onto Threshold OP, they will be able to give you better advice...

The_Conductor

Darragh29 wrote: »

Get onto Threshold OP, they will be able to give you better advice...

And your local Citizens Advice Bureau- they're normally very good......

Shelli

Well it's not really an issue at the moment.

I'm living with my parents for the last two months as I was in between places, I'm currently flat hunting for a place for me and my son, I work full time at the moment, but there is a possibility of redundancies within my company in a few months, nothing definate, I might not even be one of the unlucky few.

I'm just wondering where I would stand if I took a place now that was advertised as not taking rent allowance, and then needed the allowance for a while. I don't really want to have to drag my son from place to place.

shoegirl

In my own experience the vast majority of landlords who advertise "no rent allowance" do so because they don't pay tax, but in all honesty, after 10 years renting, the vast majority, if not all, evictions I have seen with neighbours were RA tenants, but in most cases due to antisocial behaviour or criminal damage. A few were evicted for non payment of rent, in most cases after their welfare got cut off because they hadn't turned up for interviews with the dole office repeatedly, but mostly for wrecking the place or having it in particularly filthy conditions.

Having said that, most landlords don't really care who rents from them as long as they get paid. I think some landlords may see RA tenants as a bigger risk, but really most tenants are low income anyway and at risk of running into money problems. Very few people on high incomes outside of Dublin rent unless they are planning on moving around a bit. I've heard figures of 30-50% as to the actual level of dependency on rent subsidy in the private rented sector, but from my experience a lot of this is concentrated in certain parts of the sector.

I don't think landlords are bound to accept rent subsidy but they certainly would have to obey the law and give you adequate notice. Secondly, if your rent is above a certain ceiling, you will be refused. Look it up on the citizens information site, I think they specify the limits there. Its quite small for single people, but a bit more realistic for families. Generally if the landlord likes you and you have been a good tenant, they are unlikely to ask you to leave unless they are tax dodging (which sadly is hugely common).

SimpleSam06

smccarrick wrote: »

Cash-in-hand is a thing of the past

If only that were true...