First-time landlords looking for advice please!

artyeva

ok, so we hope to find a tenant, and rent out our house as we need to temporarily move to a different county for work/college and we plan on renting there. neither myself nor my husband have any experience in this area so please, if someone could give us some advice we'd greatly appreciate it!

- do we need to register with the PRTB? even though it's the only house we own?
- do we need to notify the mortgage company for any reason?
- what are the tax implications? do we need to inform revenue beforehand? we foresee the rent we will be getting and our mortgage and the cost of rent in the new place to be identical, so even though we might be getting an income for our own house on paper, we will be spending the exact same amount on rent, iykwim.
- we built this house ourselves and have been living in since. what do we need to leave for the tenant, ie do we need to provide things like pots/pans plates, cutlery, a kettle/toaster etc? i'm looking at places on daft and other rental sites that are obviously 'family home rentals' and it's hard to tell what we should/shouldn't provide. obviously cost is a factor for us here!!
- can i download a template of a lease agreement that we can add to, eg length of the agreement, need for house inspections, etc? will that suffice?

sorry of these are really noob questions, we just really want to do things properly and above board! we're both so sad and sorry we have to leave our dream home before we've gotten the chance to live in it properly but needs must in these tough times.

Ciara22

Hi,

Yes, you need to register the tenancy with the PRTB. You can do it online and it costs €90.
Im not sure about the mortgage company but I guess it couldnt hurt?
As the rent is an income, you will need to pay tax at the end of each year on your rental income. It doesnt matter if its similar to your outgoings, you can claim that tax back separately.
What you leave in the house for your tenants is really up to the tenants. Some people like to have their own utensils, pots/pans etc and some would be delighted to have it provided for them. The Housing Regulations state that you must at least have a microwave and a freezer, i.e a freezebox at the top of a fridge is not sufficient. A working oven, fridge, heating and washing facilities are all necessities.

Also make sure that you provide either a fire blanket or an extinguisher and have 2 working smoke detectors. Ensure that you have adequate insurance for the building and any contents that you are leaving behind. Contents would normally include furniture and carpets etc. Inform your new tenants that they must have their own separate contents insurance for their belongings too.

I would advise that you check out the Housing Regulations and make sure the property is fully compliant. You will need a BER cert before you can let the property, this could cost roughly €200 dependent on the size of the house.

Finally, bear in mind that any tenants renting your property will not have the same respect for it as you would as f course, they dont own it. Good tenants will look after it well but be prepared for wear and tear and minor repairs every now and then. I would walk through the property with any new tenants and show them exactly how things work to minimise any confusion or damages to appliances.

I can send you a standard lease agreement template if you wish, PM me.

I hope the above doesnt scare you off all the new responsibilities of being a landlord!!

Johnny Bitte

Hi artyeva,
Just about to start renting myself and everything Ciara22 has said is on the ball.

Dont forget €200 NPPR tax that needs to be paid and if you are receiving TRS that will be cancelled when you start renting.

Fingers crossed it works out for you.

Johnny Bitte

Oh, and call around for quotes on the BER!!
NEA €220, next guy €140!!

artyeva

ciara, thanks so much. if you could PM me the agreement template that'd be great thanks.

i hadn't thought of the fire blanket/extinguisher. will get onto that. we got a BER done when we were building, for the engineer or the bank or something. I'll have to dig it out.

regards the NPPR, goose. i'm not sure we'll have everything in place by the 31st of march. will we still need to pay it? and pardon my ignorance of such things, but what is TRS?

so much to do, and the thought of someone else in our house makes us feel sick whenever we stop and realise what we're about to do.

Johnny Bitte

artyeva wrote: »

regards the NPPR, goose. i'm not sure we'll have everything in place by the 31st of march. will we still need to pay it? and pardon my ignorance of such things, but what is TRS?

so much to do, and the thought of someone else in our house makes us feel sick whenever we stop and realise what we're about to do.

First off, TRS is Tax Relief at Source. You usually apply for it immediatly after starting your mortgage. You can claim back up to 4 years if you haven't already applied.

On The NPPR I am not sure myself. I have the form in front of me now and I am assuming that if your property is not rented out before the 31st of March this year your will have to wait until next year to pay it but PLEASE contact them to confirm this because if I m wrong the fines for not paying is €20 per month missed!!:(

maryomeara

Hey,

The citizens infor centre is v good and it has a few templates for tenancy agreements and also termination of tenancy.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/


I have a query to add to this thread (appologies no where else really deals with it)

A tenant who is 7 weeks behind in rent(says to take his deposit) is complaining of items not being fixed in the house, landlord began work but the tenant did not pay up to date rent so Landlord stopped. (If there is no deposit as protection there will be nothing to stop tenant damaging repairs). Do you think the Landlord / tenant are right?
The tenant says he has 28days to stay in the house without paying rent.

All help greatly appreciated

Jay D

maryomeara wrote: »

Hey,

The citizens infor centre is v good and it has a few templates for tenancy agreements and also termination of tenancy.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/


I have a query to add to this thread (appologies no where else really deals with it)

A tenant who is 7 weeks behind in rent(says to take his deposit) is complaining of items not being fixed in the house, landlord began work but the tenant did not pay up to date rent so Landlord stopped. (If there is no deposit as protection there will be nothing to stop tenant damaging repairs). Do you think the Landlord / tenant are right?
The tenant says he has 28days to stay in the house without paying rent.

All help greatly appreciated

I had an issue like that before from a friend of a friend who suggested I keep a months deposit for their final month as they were getting their own place - big mistake. He turned out to have left unbelievable amounts of crap there and not to mention helping himself to some of the house contents.

Get them moving.

Johnny Bitte

Hey,
Just to let you know I contacted them about the NPPR and it cant be paid until after the 31st of March each year. (Which is a bit odd)

I registered on line so no need for the forms. https://www.nppr.ie/Default.aspx

Now to get LL insurance, register them with PTRB and figure out how to cancel TRS!

Here's hoping the bank dont go crazy on the interest rates.

EDIT: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/forms/index.html Form TRS4

CMACSAFF

Does anyone know if you are still entitled to mortgage interest relief at source if your renting out property?

The_Conductor

CMACSAFF wrote: »

Does anyone know if you are still entitled to mortgage interest relief at source if your renting out property?

No, you're not (its known as TRS)
You are however entitled to use 75% of the interest as a tax deductable expense against the rental income, before reckoning of taxable income- which is worth a hell of a lot more to you than TRS

D3PO

CMACSAFF wrote: »

Does anyone know if you are still entitled to mortgage interest relief at source if your renting out property?

you are not entitled to TRS if your renting out your property