Want to rent out my apartment - advice?

Porkpie

Hi everyone,

I own a 1 bed apartment and am planning to rent it out and move in with my parents for a while just to save some money. The apartment was only built 3 years ago and it's in great condition in a prime location. All I want to do is to just cover, or part-cover my mortgage payments with the rental income.

I'm totally confused and overwhelmed with all the different issues relating to tax, PRTB, leases, tenants etc. I want to do things above board tax-wise. I have my property over 2 years so I shouldn't have to pay stamp duty.

I was just wondering what steps do I need to take to rent my place out? I'm just afraid I'm going to overlook something or make some silly mistakes in the process. If anyone has any advice/warnings, especially anyone with experience in renting out property, or if anyone could point me to some useful web reference it would be greatly appreciated (I couldn't find much on the net).

niamh4626

Hi there,

Make sure you get references from potential tenants, I get a job, landlord and bank references along with a copy of their PPS number and passport from each of the people looking to move into the property.

You will get your lease at http://www.topfloor.ie/lease.php your PRTB form at www.prtb.ie and your accountant will do your tax returns. Make sure you keep all invoices relating to repairs etc on the property as these are tax deductable.

Best of Luck:)

Emerald Lass

I find Irishlandlord.com a really useful website.

Climate Expert

I get a job, landlord and bank references along with a copy of their PPS number and passport from each of the people looking to move into the property.

Do you fingerprint them and take a blood sample as well?

Any landlord that asks for all of the above in the current climate will see their place stuck on Daft for quite a number of months.

antoinolachtnai

I am sorry and I know it's not what you want to hear, but I don't know if this is going to work out for you.

It depends where it is located really. By the time you rent it out and and have paid the tax, I don't know if you'll really save that much money. It's not easy to rent at the moment. Living at home won't be for free either. And there is a fair bit to being a landlord. If you have some sort of accountant or tax advisor, talk to them. Otherwise, find someone you know who lets property and talk to them about it a good bit.

Best of luck with it.

Antoin.

athtrasna

Set up a different account for the rental income. Deal in direct debit only from tenants. Do not spend the deposit! Compile a list of contractors (plumber, electrician etc) you can call out at short notice. Find an accountant.

These all sound simple but they are important. As a previous poster said, there's a lot more to being a landlord than you might think.

Porkpie

Guys,

Thanks a million for all the useful advice. I'll make use of all this info. I suppose I'm stuck with the apartment now - no point trying to sell in the current climate, so I guess the only thing I can do is rent it out. Won't be plain sailing I know, hopefully I'll save some money though.

Thanks again