Accepting rent allowance as a new landlord

foozzybear61

Simple question ..(I hope)
I am trying to rent out a bedroom and living area suitable for a single person at an affordable reasonable rent below 80e
Lots of interest from people who come to view
But keep being asked if I will take rent allowance

How EXACTLY does it work...is the person on allowance granted the money and then told to go look for a place OR ...do they supply my name to the department as their landlord in which case I am also registered with the department.
.I know I could officially ask these questions ..(and I will before someone jumps on me )...just would like a guidance from posters at 22.30 on a Sunday night as I have had about another dozen calls and texts this evening and have said I would get back on
HELP

bmwguy

By the sounds of it you are renting out a room in your own property rather than a whole property. In this case I was under the impression rent allowance does not apply. There are no real rights and obligations between licencee (person moving in) and homeowner (you). It is more of a casual arrangement that a legal agreement.

fussyonion

foozzybear61 wrote: »

Simple question ..(I hope)
I am trying to rent out a bedroom and living area suitable for a single person at an affordable reasonable rent below 80e
Lots of interest from people who come to view
But keep being asked if I will take rent allowance

How EXACTLY does it work...is the person on allowance granted the money and then told to go look for a place OR ...do they supply my name to the department as their landlord in which case I am also registered with the department.
.I know I could officially ask these questions ..(and I will before someone jumps on me )...just would like a guidance from posters at 22.30 on a Sunday night as I have had about another dozen calls and texts this evening and have said I would get back on
HELP

People on Rent Allowance have been deemed eligible already so they're viewing your property ALREADY eligible for Rent Allowance.
They then ask if YOU accept it.

Rent Allowance recipients are told their rent must be a maximum of a certain amount.

For example: In Wicklow, the Rent Allowance limit for a couple with no children is €450.
They'll get around €330 (someone can tell me if my calculations are wrong here) in actual Allowance.

So anyway,say your property is €450 and you say "Yes, I'll accept Rent Allowance", then the Tenant will receive a form from the HSE where they put their details, and yours and your property information, plus your PRTB details etc.

They will receive a cheque every month which they then have to pay to you.

My advice is NOT to take Rent Allowance tenants, purely because it's messy.

Every year the rent is reviewed and in most cases, the limits are reduced and that means the Tenant goes to seek a rent reduction from the Landlord.

You'll either have to agree to a reduction, meaning you're out of pocket, OR you have to give them notice to move out and find someone else (if you don't agree to the reduction.)

I've been a Rent Allowance tenant but I've always maintained it's a messy system and it's best avoided if you're a Landlord with a vacant property.
If any of my information is not correct, rest assured someone will be along to advise you also.

Hope this helps!!

EDIT: Only noticed now you mentioned renting out a room. My info isn't relevant I don't think.

foozzybear61

Thanks ...yes it is in my house so does that rule it out ? I was under the impression that that would be ok.

My original question posted would have been slightly different as in do the department question where the tennent is proposing to live or is it up to them to find wherever they can for the money granted to them.

fussyonion

foozzybear61 wrote: »

Thanks ...yes it is in my house so does that rule it out ? I was under the impression that that would be ok.

My original question posted would have been slightly different as in do the department question where the tennent is proposing to live or is it up to them to find wherever they can for the money granted to them.

No, they are questioned where they intend to live.
On the form I mentioned, there's a section for the Landlord to fill in; how many bedrooms, bathrooms etc.

the_syco

Either way, ask for one months rent as deposit, and one months rent up front.

They'll say that Rent Allowance is paid in arrears, but this is not your problem. Some people will also tell you a sob story to bypass the deposit, and maybe give you some of the rent up front, but remember this; if it's their money, there's a better chance that they'll leave on good terms, and not want it to lose any of it. If it's the States money, bleh, they'll get more when they move into the next house.

There are good and bad RA tenants, just as there are good and bad non-RA tenants, but realise that if someone is working, they'll be in your house when they finish work, and on the weekends. The RA tenant may be there all the time, so if your house isn't that warm during the day, expect your heating bills to jump by a third, as someone may be there for those extra 45 hours a week.

Finally, don't give anyone a lease. They're a licensee, and giving them a lease can backfire.

Graces7

fussyonion wrote: »

People on Rent Allowance have been deemed eligible already so they're viewing your property ALREADY eligible for Rent Allowance.
They then ask if YOU accept it.

Rent Allowance recipients are told their rent must be a maximum of a certain amount.

For example: In Wicklow, the Rent Allowance limit for a couple with no children is €450.
They'll get around €330 (someone can tell me if my calculations are wrong here) in actual Allowance.

So anyway,say your property is €450 and you say "Yes, I'll accept Rent Allowance", then the Tenant will receive a form from the HSE where they put their details, and yours and your property information, plus your PRTB details etc.

They will receive a cheque every month which they then have to pay to you.

My advice is NOT to take Rent Allowance tenants, purely because it's messy.

Every year the rent is reviewed and in most cases, the limits are reduced and that means the Tenant goes to seek a rent reduction from the Landlord.

You'll either have to agree to a reduction, meaning you're out of pocket, OR you have to give them notice to move out and find someone else (if you don't agree to the reduction.)

I've been a Rent Allowance tenant but I've always maintained it's a messy system and it's best avoided if you're a Landlord with a vacant property.
If any of my information is not correct, rest assured someone will be along to advise you also.

Hope this helps!!

EDIT: Only noticed now you mentioned renting out a room. My info isn't relevant I don't think.

This is totally misleading and unfair and prejudicial to RA recipients.

OP please seek accurate advice and the Citizens info web is accurate. And try in State Benefits

It is far from "messy". There are conditions of course but so many of us out here are good tenants on RA and need it to have a roof over our heads. IN ten years i have never defaulted with rent etc

Please get accurate advice! NB eg heating is paid for by US not the landlord
Call Citizens Info!

dynamited

My advice OP from what i have learned from friends who are Landlords is avoid accept RA if possible !

Ken.

You can get RA in rent a room situations.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html

Sharing with your landlord: You may be entitled to get Rent Supplement if you are living in your landlord’s home. It must be a genuine landlord/tenant arrangement. Your landlord has to fill in part of the form and provide his or her PPS number (see 'How to apply' below).

D3PO

Graces7 wrote: »

This is totally misleading and unfair and prejudicial to RA recipients.

OP please seek accurate advice and the Citizens info web is accurate. And try in State Benefits

It is far from "messy". There are conditions of course but so many of us out here are good tenants on RA and need it to have a roof over our heads. IN ten years i have never defaulted with rent etc

Please get accurate advice! NB eg heating is paid for by US not the landlord
Call Citizens Info!

you seem to have taken that post personally.

There was nothing misleading written by the poster, just because your experience as a RA recipient is a differing one that doesn't make it misleading nor does it make your opinion correct.

regardless of your protestations RA is messy.

Its messy because its paid in arrears,

its messy because its not paid directly to the landlord

its massy because often many people get their RA cut off and have to go through a form filling exercise to get it sorted again,

Its messy because the RA limits can be changed and as a LL having to deal with a reducing RA limit can be an absolute pain.

Just because you pay your rent on time and always have and have either not encountered or efficiently dealt with the above things doesn't change the fact that there are many RA tenants that do not.

re the heating point perhaps you should read the posts. They reference a rent a room scheme where the tenant would be living with the Landlord. It is perfectly reasonable to thing that their heating bills would go up more by having somebody whos on RA and most probably not working than having somebody in whos at work 9-5 Monday to Friday.

And whilst an RA tenant may split the bills they would be most likely higher as a result of the situation.

There was nothing predjudicial in the post and it was perfectly accurate, don't take things so personally.

the_syco

Graces7 wrote: »

IN ten years i have never defaulted with rent etc

How many times during those 10 years have the government borked up? I know of at least once (think it was last year; system went whammy one day), and I don't think they paid a double month the following month. Some people on RA don't have money to cover these incidents.

Graces7 wrote: »

NB eg heating is paid for by US not the landlord

Actually, if you read the OP, the tenant will be a licensee, thus the bills WILL be paid by the landlord. And 50-50 bills may not be fair on the landlord if the RA tenant is there nearly a third longer than the OP.

Also worth noting is that if the OP doesn't leave the heat on overnight, and just the eight hours that they're in the house, the heating bill may be double rather than an extra third.

fussyonion

Grace, nobody is saying you're a bad/messy tenant. It's the Rent Allowance system that's messy.

In the years I rented with RA, my rent was reviewed and reduced four times.
Three of those times, my Landlord reduced the rent to fall within the new limits, but on the fourth and final occasion, he said he couldn't reduce it further.

I told him I completely understood and it was mortifying for me to even ask him.
He had a mortgage to pay and bills to look after, as well as a family; why should he be out of pocket just to keep me?

Even though he agreed I was a model tenant and he would be sorry to see me go..

Rent Allowance is reviewed yearly and in most cases, reduced, so it IS a messy situation for everyone involved.

It's not worth it for most Landlords and that's not a personal attack on you.

Field east

Most LL have a few simple guidelines when showing vacancies to potential tenants. One of those guidelines is the persons ability to pay without any hassle. So the questions , re one of these guidelines is for example, ' where do you work', how long have u been employed there, is it full or part time. Another set of questions are around trying to set a sence of which tenants will potentially cause the least hassle, re full rent paying when due, unreasonable demands, reason for leaving current accomodation, etc. get home/permanent address also- just in case. all of this has a bearing on who you take in. Don't forget the personality element as she/he will b 'living' with you