PRTB letter

Rosier

recently been sorting out paperwork for a distraught neighbour.. He rents out a house; being a farmer with very little education he had no idea re the legal requirements etc. which applies to many small landlords who do not use an agent, and while accepting that ignorance of the law is never an excuse it begs the question of how many landlords in rural areas are in similar case

someone dobbed him in apparently and the first he knew of PRTB was when the letter arrived. I was shocked by it. a page of threats and penalties before the small para saying he had 14 days to register ..a graph missing their triumphs in getting landlords convicted.... Not even forms enclosed to help him speed the process.

the poor man was in bits as his reading ability is limited. he had got no further than the threats of prosecution and heavy fines

I had a set of forms here as this happened with a previous landlord and they had sent spares so i spent half an hour with him on the forms so all is well.

but I find it very hard to accept the brutality of PRTB on this when a simple letter would have sufficed

does this always happen

SpaceTime

They have a job to do to clean up the sector.
Like any business, renting property isn't exempt from bureaucracy.

Revenue aren't a barrel of laughs either if you forget to pay them (and it genuinely happens).

Best you could do is help him regularise the situation.

the world wonders

Rosier wrote: »

but I find it very hard to accept the brutality of PRTB on this when a simple letter would have sufficed

He already got his "simple letter" which he ignored:

Residential Tenancies Act wrote:

144.—(1) If it appears to the Board that a particular tenancy that ought to be registered in the register has not been the subject of an application for registration under section 134 , it shall serve the notice referred to in subsection (2) on the person whom it considers to be the landlord under that tenancy.

(2) That notice is a notice—

(a) stating the Board's opinion that the tenancy mentioned in the notice is required to be registered in the register and, accordingly, that an application for registration of the tenancy under section 134 must be made by the addressee of the notice, and

(b) requesting the addressee of the notice to furnish to the Board, within a period specified in the notice, the reasons why the addressee considers (if such be the case) that the opinion is not well founded.

(3) If the addressee of the notice referred to in subsection (2)—

(a) does not furnish to the Board, in accordance with the notice, the reasons requested, or

(b) furnishes, in accordance with the notice, reasons to the Board which do not result in its altering the opinion stated in that notice,


the Board shall (unless an application has by then been made under section 134 to register the tenancy) serve a further notice on the addressee stating that he or she is required to apply to the Board under section 134 to register the tenancy in the register and that, if he or she fails to do so within 14 days from the receipt by him or her of the notice, he or she is guilty of an offence.

(4) A person who fails to comply with a notice under subsection (3) within the period of 14 days from the receipt by him or her of the notice is guilty of an offence.

If you ignore the polite notice in subsection (2) above then it's not surprising that in the nex step (3) the PRTB will inform you of the risk of criminal prosecution. No sympathy for cowboy landlords.

djimi

The landlord is operating a business, and as such correspondance to business tends not to be sugar coated.

Given the nature of the PRTB and the fact that non-compliance is a relatively large problem (especially among amateur landlords like your neighbour), I suspect that they feel strongly worded letters and strong arm tactics probably work better in terms of getting people to comply and register.

Pawwed Rig

I would suggest if he was not aware of the PRTB issue he may well not be aware of many of the other obligations of being a landlord. It would be advisable for him or you to either do alot of research on the matter or contact a professional who will advise him. I am thinking of tax returns in particular. If you think a PRTB letter is strongly worded wait until he gets a Revenue letter.
Once he registers with the PRTB this issue will go away. It is a straight forward process.

Alan Shore

Surely if he is not aware of all the obligations he should ask for help. He can resolve the PRTB issue by submitting the form and paying the fine of €70. The next issue he has is that he probably has not paid the NPPR.

Does he file a tax return?

Rosier

the world wonders wrote: »

He already got his "simple letter" which he ignored:If you ignore the polite notice in subsection (2) above then it's not surprising that in the nex step (3) the PRTB will inform you of the risk of criminal prosecution. No sympathy for cowboy landlords.

no he didn't . that vicious letter was the first he had. I know this man well and he is no cowboy . really !

prtb lose any respect I had for them by treating everyone like criminals.

djimi

Rosier wrote: »

no he didn't . that vicious letter was the first he had. I know this man well and he is no cowboy . really !

prtb lose any respect I had for them by treating everyone like criminals.

Unfortunately, as far as the PRTB are concerned, he is criminal for operating a rental business and not registering it.

To put it another way, what he is currently doing is no different to someone going into the local town on a Saturday night and operating a taxi service without a license, plate, insurance etc. The regulatory bodies for these industries are going to take a very dim view of people who operate outside of the law, especially in the rental sector at the moment as there seems to be so many "landlords" who, through either ignorance or just pure badness, seem to think that the law does not apply to them.

Rosier

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I would suggest if he was not aware of the PRTB issue he may well not be aware of many of the other obligations of being a landlord. It would be advisable for him or you to either do alot of research on the matter or contact a professional who will advise him. I am thinking of tax returns in particular. If you think a PRTB letter is strongly worded wait until he gets a Revenue letter.
Once he registers with the PRTB this issue will go away. It is a straight forward process.

thank you for the only reasonable reply. all sorted as I have dealt with this kind of thing for many people of low literacy, which happens still in very rural areas.

still I do object to them treating all as if they are criminals. small wonder the suicide rate is so high in rural areas.

over and out on this for me because of the nasty nature of other mails.. if you cannot have some humanity there is something very wrong with you.

have a nice day and watch out the gale does not get you

djimi

Rosier unfortunately you dont seem to be appreciating the sitaution here. You have someone operating a business and not complying with the law in doing so. There little point in throwing around sympathies; thats the reality of the situation. The PRTB could play nice, but lets face it too many people ignore them at the best of times. Threat of fines and penalties have had the desired effect in this case, so job done as far as they are concenred.

Im not trying to sound harsh in saying that; thats just the situation as it is.

This is not a body communicating with a private individual; if it was then Id have more sympathy. Its a business communication, and as such its likely to be worded in a colder manner than you or I would be used to.

Thomas D

Delighted they are putting pressure on people like himself. If he is so ignorant then he'd be better off not renting at all.

murphaph

The PRTB is not really anything to worry about vis-a-vis penalties but I fear he hasn't paid the NPPR which will be far more costly.

padd b1975

I would confidently say he was not as naieve when it came to collecting his rent each and every month.

murphaph

padd b1975 wrote: »

I would confidently say he was not as naieve when it came to collecting his rent each and every month.

Why would you confidently say that then? I'm pretty sure there was/is an element of naiveté at play here or the old guy wouldn't be letting others help him sort things out.

Mrs OBumble

Frankly, if he's so slow that he's not able to manage details like this for himself, then all his affairs should be handled by an agent.

Yes, I know that Ireland (had) a shocking education system, that 1 in 3 old people never went to secondary school etc. Very sad for them etc.

But the reality is that illiterates are putting other people at risk because of their ignorance. There have been plenty of oppotunities for these folks to further their education since (via VEC etc), but they have chosen not to.

dharma200

Illiterates are putting other people at risk.....????????? Heard it all now.

Hope he gets sorted. By the way of this thread you'd think he was a murderer... It is good he has so done like you to go to.

TheDriver

Like every business, you can't just start away handy and see how it goes but rather have your affairs in order from the start through professional advice. Your friend should have done this and now has a chance to put it right with little or no penalty. There is no other negotiation and he should ensure his affairs are in order re rent books, taxation etc. Literacy levels are not an issue when he can consult verbally with a solicitor or an agent to do this on his behalf......

relax carry on

As has been stated in most of the posts here OP, the landlord is running a business whether he believes it to be the case or not. He is obliged to follow the rules just like everyone else in regards to meeting his business obligations. You have started the ball rolling with sorting out his PRTB registration but have you considered the larger problem of his tax obligations? I'd be a bit more worried about that.

As a farmer he should have been filing income tax returns each year declaring all sources of income. I'm assuming that given the literacy level described, he was using an accountant. If so then hopefully the accountant has helped him declare the rental income. If not then there's a bigger problem than the PRTB to be wary of.
However he may have been declaring the rental income but claiming a deduction for mortgage interest which he would not have been entitled to without the PRTB registration. This again is an area of concern.
If I were you OP I would advise the farmer to review his income tax returns for the last few years.