Forced to rent out my house, dole question

Bench Press

lost my job recently, and my partner as our relationship ended. I have been struggling away on the dole trying to make ends meet but it is now impossible. I have had to rent the house out to pay the mortgage as there in no way I can go on. After paying the bills, I have around a tenner for myself. I am now living in my brothers house temporarily. I want to do everything by the book. Surely this bit of rental income will not affect my dole payments. This is the only money I have every week, am hoping to find a flat or something of my own as soon as possible.

astrofool

Why shouldn't it affect your dole payments? If you were in a job that paid the same amount, would you expect that not to affect your payments?

Bench Press

I know it is a form of means, but the money I receive is going straight to the bank t pay the mortgage, I have about 30 years left on the mortgage, I was just wondering will it have a major affect on my jobseekers allowance payment

martingriff

Bench Press wrote: »

I know it is a form of means, but the money I receive is going straight to the bank t pay the mortgage, I have about 30 years left on the mortgage, I was just wondering will it have a major affect on my jobseekers allowance payment

Not sure if rental income affect dole. However it does not matter where your rent is going it is money you are getting. You are deciding where to put it. I could say will all my pay goes into my morgage I should get something. Does not work like that

Bench Press

I was on to citizens advice, its fairly complicated, they have some way of working it out, by taking the capital value and what terms is left on the mortgage, she was saying as I had a fair bit to pay yet, there wouldn't be a huge reduction..

StillWaters

Did you apply for mortgage interest supplement?

Stheno

StillWaters wrote: »

Did you apply for mortgage interest supplement?

Don't think he can if the house is rented and he's not living in it.

StillWaters

Stheno wrote: »

Don't think he can if the house is rented and he's not living in it.

I know, I meant before, it seems like a drastic step to rent out without applying for MIS and MARP for some breathing space.

Bench Press

StillWaters wrote: »

Did you apply for mortgage interest supplement?

yes, didn't make much of a difference to be honest, trying to pay the mortgage, heat the place and all the usual bills was too much for me to handle on my own, I'm under so much pressure at the moment I'm actually on anti anxiety tablets, I'm only doing this out of necessity

abrr1000

It will most definitely affect your dole payments. Why not rent out rooms and stay in the house? That way you don't need to pay PRTB reg fee

StillWaters

Bench Press wrote: »

yes, didn't make much of a difference to be honest, trying to pay the mortgage, heat the place and all the usual bills was too much for me to handle on my own, I'm under so much pressure at the moment I'm actually on anti anxiety tablets, I'm only doing this out of necessity

I'm really sort to hear that. You need to take control and explore your options here. By renting your house out under the table you are storing up a lot of problems with SW and with Revenue.

Have you heard of the Cluid mortgage to rent scheme? There are options open to you, both now and under the proposed personal insolvency bill. Have a look at Keepingyourhome.ie

Idbatterim

By renting your house out under the table you are storing up a lot of problems with SW and with Revenue.

Cant you earn up to 10k tax free, or does this only apply if you are a paye worker?

cee_jay

The rental income for a house in which you don't reside doesn't affect your weekly payment. It is the capital value of the house that is assessed as means.
So they get the current market value of your house, and subtract the outstanding mortgage balance. This is then assessed on a formula which you can find here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/means_test_for_jobseekers_allowance.html
Basically the first €20,000 doesn't affect your payment, anything over 20k will. If you are in negative equity it won't affect your weekly payment at all.

Bench Press

cee_jay wrote: »

The rental income for a house in which you don't reside doesn't affect your weekly payment. It is the capital value of the house that is assessed as means.
So they get the current market value of your house, and subtract the outstanding mortgage balance. This is then assessed on a formula which you can find here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/means_test_for_jobseekers_allowance.html
Basically the first €20,000 doesn't affect your payment, anything over 20k will. If you are in negative equity it won't affect your weekly payment at all.

thank you very much, I think that was the thing the woman today was trying to explain to me, if you still owe a lot and the value of the house is down, I think you are fairly ok. I owe nearly 145k, and reckon the house is worth around 180-190 based on prices from my area

The_Conductor

Idbatterim wrote: »

Cant you earn up to 10k tax free, or does this only apply if you are a paye worker?

It doesn't matter whether you're a PAYE employee, self employed, a farmer or an astronaut- if you rent out your property, you generate taxable income, and your individual circumstances (and tax position) will determine how much (if indeed any) tax is due.

If you only rent out rooms in your house, but continue to live there- you can earn up to 10k gross (inclusive of any bill shares etc), without incurring a tax liability. You still have to declare it in an annual tax return though- you don't get out of doing the basic paperwork for Revenue.........