Cork City Council Rent Review <SNIP>

rob316

So there is a lot of talk about this in Cork City at the moment.

Council are looking for the PPS number of everyone in the household. They are also asking tenants to sign a far-reaching Declaration allowing them to seek information from employers, the Department of Social Protection or “ANY OTHER SOURCE”.

Anybody that doesn't has a €25 per week penalty added to there rent.

Full Details of it are here
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/cork-city-council-tenants-risk-euro100-rent-hike-336927.html

Obviously I have no problem declaring income and providing proof but am I legally obliged to sign the declaration on the form? Isn't this similar to Irish Water, handing out PPS numbers and giving them carte blanch to dig through our personal information? I don't like the ANY OTHER SOURCE part, I have nothing to hide but should we be giving up our privacy so easily?

I was going to just send back the form minus the declaration with my payslips, but I don't want to incur a penalty on my weekly rent.

<MOD SNIP>

Gatling

"Tenants have also been warned that giving false information could lead to tenancies being terminated"

I'm sure there is a good reason for the measures mentioned.
As they said some people will get a rent reduction.
Others will likey face a hike due to various reasons

Stheno

Given that rent is based on your income, how else can they calculate the correct level of rent?

athtrasna

OP please read the charter before posting again. Words like scam are potentially defamatory and cannot be thrown around on this forum without due consideration.

Mod

Graham

The whole thing sounds fairly reasonable to me. Rent levels appear to be loosely tied to household incomes. I don't think it's unreasonable for those income levels to be checked every few years.

Anyone that's unhappy to cooperate with the checking process should be subject to full market rent IMHO.

TheDriver

All seems fair to me, if you have nothing to hide the no worries? Assume people constantly staying over but not declared will be sussed out....

rob316

athtrasna wrote: »

OP please read the charter before posting again. Words like scam are potentially defamatory and cannot be thrown around on this forum without due consideration.

Mod

Ya very sorry about that, kind of typed out what was in my head without looking, there is posters up about this all over the place.

Graham

rob316 wrote: »

Ya very sorry about that, kind of typed out what was in my head without looking, there is posters up about this all over the place.

I would suggest the posters have more to do with a particular individuals attempts to get elected than anything else.

freelancerTax

rob316 wrote: »

I have nothing to hide but should we be giving up our privacy so easily?

you are getting free money (in the form of reduced cost rent) - all they are asking for in return is proof that you are entitled to this money
seems resonable to me

ft

Gatling

freelancerTax wrote: »

you are getting free money (in the form of reduced cost rent)

ft

That makes zero sense

freelancerTax

Gatling wrote: »

That makes zero sense

its free as in:
they recieve something with no effort on their own part
they dont have to work for it or spend time attaining it


council rent is based on a percentage of income - if you have low income you pay low rent, hence freeing up part of your income to spend elsewhere (the free money i guess im referring to) . if they went on the open market their rent would probably be much more expensive - it seems to me to be a good deal to me (cheaper rent for proof you qualify for it).


i dont have a problem with this - but surely you'll agree there should be checks in place so it goes to the correct people and not anyone who just wants to claim it. what other way can you check except ask for proof of means?

rob316

I rang the council today myself and the officer I spoke to indicated signing the declaration was not mandatory. They said its up to myself but I won't receive any penalty if I don't.

Clearly they are back tracking and what they asked for went against the data protection act.

I also asked what the "any other source" was as I mentioned that was my only issue and the person I was speaking to said they really didn't know. Apparently someone is going to ring me to explain better.

kippy

rob316 wrote: »

I rang the council today myself and the officer I spoke to indicated signing the declaration was not mandatory. They said its up to myself but I won't receive any penalty if I don't.

Clearly they are back tracking and what they asked for went against the data protection act.

I also asked what the "any other source" was as I mentioned that was my only issue and the person I was speaking to said they really didn't know. Apparently someone is going to ring me to explain better.

I'd doubt very much it would go against data protection.
What data is not protected?
Ultimately if you want to get some money from an arm of the state from whatever reason you've got to expect that the state will check that what you have declared on your interactions with the state is true.
It's only right and ensures that the system isn't open to abuse, free ing up money for the hardest up in society.

Eric Cartman

if your on the states take, its only fair they get to ask all the questions they want.

This is probably a measure to stop the rampant abuse of single parents allowance where the other partner is living in the house on the sly

Im glad the dept of welfare have finally started to crack down.

hdowney

Wicklow Council run annual rent reviews in which they ask for the pps numbers, employment status and incomes of all people living in the house in order to apply their deferential rents. This sounds no different except perhaps in the amount of proofs required.