Bills, bills, bills

sashafierce

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GingerLily

How are you paying property tax on a rental property?

pookie82

GingerLily wrote: »

How are you paying property tax on a rental property?

Even if a LL pays property tax themselves they'll happily hike rent to cover it. So renters are paying one way or another.

ibarelycare

If you've only been renting a year, your rent cannot go up for at least another year.

Regarding your car insurance, have you spoken to a broker? If you're in a relationship, adding your partner to your policy may reduce it. Try its4women.ie, I got my cheapest quote by far off them this year.

You're managing to save each month, so it's not as if you're on the breadline. You're certainly better off than many others in this country. I'm not sure what advice it actually is you're looking for, seems more like a vent?

Melendez

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KikiDee

sashafierce wrote: »

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Hey OP, not so much advice but more of a different outlook on your post. Look at the positive, despite all the bills, taxes etc, you can still save money every month. There's so many people who don't have the opportunity to save and they still have to pay all the same expenses as you. So it's not all doom and gloom

Big Bag of Chips

Melendez wrote: »

If nothing else, ring up you current insurance company, tell them you have a quote of around 20% less, and ask them to match it.

Be careful of this! I did get a quote significantly cheaper than my renewal, when I rang back my own company to tell them, they said they couldn't match it. So I switched.

ted1

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

Be careful of this! I did get a quote significantly cheaper than my renewal, when I rang back my own company to tell them, they said they couldn't match it. So I switched.

What's there to be careful of?

s4uv3

Welcome to the real world OP.

Life is expensive. You have a job, a roof over your head, a car, and can still save a little every month.
You're not doing half bad, trust me

Esel

ted1 wrote: »

What's there to be careful of?

If the 20% less quote was fictitious...

woodchuck

Esel wrote: »

If the 20% less quote was fictitious...

You still have the right to stay with your current insurer though even if you get a reduced quote elsewhere. Such hassle switching!!

ted1

Esel wrote: »

If the 20% less quote was fictitious...

Still, what's there to be careful of?
Sorry sir, we can't beat that quote.
OK , then I'll renew for the time been, but may cancel within a he cooling off period.

Quotes don't get cancelled if you say you get a better offer

Big Bag of Chips

I meant to "be careful" of expecting your insurer to drop their quote by 20%. I didn't mean "be careful of some imminent danger"!!

GingerLily

pookie82 wrote: »

GingerLily wrote: »

How are you paying property tax on a rental property?

Even if a LL pays property tax themselves they'll happily hike rent to cover it. So renters are paying one way or another.

It's a very odd thing to mention as a bill for a tenant, I would be worried a landlord had been directly charging the tenant as they are only back in the country and may not understand their legal rights.
Plus when you rent a place you rent tends to be dictated by market rates rather than property tax, so I'd disagree with your point.

LegacyUser

sashafierce wrote: »

As the title goes I'm just so fed up of extortionate bills. I moved home to Ireland a year ago after been abroad. Got a job easy enough. Pay wasn't great so changed jobs and I'm in an decent paid job now. But I'm just so down constantly about the endless bills and charges. Just got my car insurance renewal and it has doubled (I've shopped around and all are similar) I'm expecting my rent to go up soon enough, property tax, water charges, bin charges, car tax, petrol, phone charges, etc etc its just never ending. I'm getting to save a bit monthly but it angers me so much all these expenses on top of paying massive amounts of tax.
I know were all in the same boat but I just feel so fed up and wish I never came home...

I moved back from England a few months ago with my partner. We paid £900 for rent, £120 council tax, £45 water charges, £25 broadband, £40 electricity, £40 gas monthly. Add car tax, insurance, incidentals...where were you living that you didn't get hit with these charges?

To practical matters: we are not currently paying for water. I also doubt that you are paying property tax. Why did your car insurance double, was it penalty points, an accident, etc? A 50% jump doesn't just happen. Identify the issue and go to a broker. See if you can get a compost bin and lower the waste volumes. Next time, buy a sim free phone and shop around for a sim only deal. Works out much cheaper.

LegacyUser

I think (reading between the lines) the OP is probably trying to make the point that despite the tax they pay, they get no services in return and have to fork out more money again on top of tax for basic services.

It's a fair point. We all have bills, life is expensive, but handing over tax that contributes to funding the health system and monthly payments for health insurance, and 50eur per GP visit is infuriating ad incomprehensible. Handing over property tax plus regular tax, then having to pay for bins and water on top of it is also infuriating. As for the car insurance debacle....let's not go there. But you know....car insurance +motor tax (+hidden costs of VRT and tax on petrol).....it's enough to make a person want to scream.

I try not to think about it too much myself because, regardless of what people say about the proportion of our tax bill relative to our wages, I'd rather pay more tax and have it fully cover my medical needs, property tax that covers bins and water etc. rather than tax plus countless more "taxes" that never end.

SarahMollie

Seriously OP wrote: »

I moved back from England a few months ago with my partner. We paid £900 for rent, £120 council tax, £45 water charges, £25 broadband, £40 electricity, £40 gas monthly. Add car tax, insurance, incidentals...where were you living that you didn't get hit with these charges?

To practical matters: we are not currently paying for water. I also doubt that you are paying property tax. Why did your car insurance double, was it penalty points, an accident, etc? A 50% jump doesn't just happen. Identify the issue and go to a broker. See if you can get a compost bin and lower the waste volumes. Next time, buy a sim free phone and shop around for a sim only deal. Works out much cheaper.

Being an adult involves a lot of bills, regardless of where you're living.

I know I'd no concept of these things when I was younger, (embarrassing myself totally here) but my Dad paid my phonebill until I was about 25, I think he'd forgotten he was even doing it, and I was living in house shares so my bills were less. If you were away traveling or whatever, thats a different type of lifestyle, perhaps more transient and less focused on bills.

Ursus Horribilis

Why did you move back to Ireland and are you happy with those reasons?

I'm guessing you lived either at home or in a house share before you moved? I used to house share and never truly appreciated how cheap a way of living it was. I now live on my own in a house I bought. I've no regrets and love having my own place. But yes, there are some months when it looks like every bill known to mankind is coming through the letter box. I'm sure there are other places I could live in abroad which might be cheaper but I don't want to ever leave Ireland. It's not a perfect country by any means but I'm rather fond of the place. My family and friends are here and that's important to me as well.

sashafierce

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Ursus Horribilis

So why don't you move to Dubai then?

Faith

I'd rather pay tax than adhere to sharia law, tbh.

sashafierce

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Big Bag of Chips

Are you looking for advice or just a rant?

Shelga

Hi OP, sorry you're feeling so frustrated. From what I've read from you before, you moved back to Ireland for the right reasons and seemed to have no real regrets in general- maybe you're just having a particularly bad week?

I'm in the UK and a similar age to yourself I think, and considering moving back. I think the really noticeable ones for me if I do return home will be no more free NHS, and car insurance being a lot more. However, council tax here is a massive cost that Ireland doesn't really have, and from when I was last home, fuel actually seems noticeably cheaper there now too? But really, everything else you mentioned is payable everywhere, not just Ireland. I think it's easy to idealise other countries and feel we always get the worst value in Ireland, but I still pay an absolute fortune in rent and bills every month too.

I tot up the cost of everything from car insurance to rent to Netflix, add it all up, and every month I just mentally block that money out until all the direct debits have cleared. It's just money gone, there's nothing you can do about it. Well, maybe Netflix isn't essential, but hey :P I can't really think of any country I'd actually want to live in where bills aren't a massive outgoing every month, eg I'd hate to live in Dubai.

Try to focus on what you love about Ireland. You'll drive yourself mad otherwise. It's easy to get overwhelmed with negativity sometimes, but there are lots of coping techniques. It's an ongoing thing for me too, but Ireland is a great place in many ways and you have to focus on the future, not thinking about decisions that have already been made. Chin up!

sashafierce

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Ms Doubtfire1

Only thing thats sure in Life are bills and death. It's no different in other countries I'm afraid...

pookie82

GingerLily wrote: »

It's a very odd thing to mention as a bill for a tenant, I would be worried a landlord had been directly charging the tenant as they are only back in the country and may not understand their legal rights.
Plus when you rent a place you rent tends to be dictated by market rates rather than property tax, so I'd disagree with your point.

Our current landlord put up our rent quite significantly 2 months after property tax was due on his house. This was before any regulations existed to prevent him doing so within a defined timeframe.

He owns 4-5 properties, and certainly isn't going to cough up property tax for all of them without charging for it through us. He told us outright why he was doing it - property tax was top of his list. So while he didn't send us his tax bills and ask us to to pay them directly, we did, in essence, pay a good chunk of it for him, through increased rent charges.

I highly doubt we were the only tenants in the country who had this happen, but if so, then I take it back.

GingerLily

Your landlord cannot increase your rent to over market rates, your rent must have been below rate it to begin with

Wompa1

Grass is always greener....

I was in talks for a job in the UAE before...the guidelines for living there without issues was really off-putting. For some, it seams like the only feasible way for them to get the kind of money they want. Personally, I'm out in the US but it also involves sacrifice.

It's not the safest place to live, I'm one medical emergency away from losing it all. Rent is much more expensive. Work life balance is horrible and some of the ideology here is depressing.

There's a reason why you decided to move home. I'd suggest you focus on that...nowhere is perfect and it could certainly be worse!

Merkin

Sasha this is the fourth thread you've started in Personal Issues within a two month timeframe. While we welcome and encourage posters to offload and ask for advice on problems, using the forum as a place to rant or vent or simply to post on every issue that arises is abuse of the forum. Consequently please do not start any more threads here for the foreseeable future and please go and remind yourself of the charter. Thread closed.