Empty Nest, Options?

martinn123

First post hereabouts, and looking for advice.

Finally got rid of the offspring, so looking for options regarding a House Share, to take advantage of the Rent a Room allowance

We have a 4 bed Dormer in a rural area of Fingal. Although it's in a quiet area, it's less than a mile from the nearest town, and a 5 minute drive to a train station, on the Balbriggan- Dublin line.
So a car owner would be more suitable as a tenant, having said that the Balbriggan Bus Eireann, stops 100yds from the house.

So as to options, upstairs we have a bedroom, to rent, with a separate sitting room upstairs, with TV etc, separate WC & Bathroom.

Option 1, might be a Mon-Friday letting for a single person, a Mature Student ( wrong time of the year, I know ) Professional, etc.
We would have no issue providing breakfast, and an evening meal.

Option 2, is a one year rental, again to a single person, happy to share the kitchen,

Option 3, and not the favorite, is to rent out a second bedroom, as well, possible to a couple with say one child, there is a National School 200yds from the house, again, sharing the kitchen etc.

As I am completely new to this, I am looking for advice, on the best options, at this time of year, where to advertise, and how much I could reasonably expect to charge.

uck51js9zml2yt

If you rent to a family, it becomes their home and not yours in reality.

Try renting to language students on a breakfast only basis.

My neighbour has 2 lads and they eat in college.
They can use the kitchen if they need to but generally don't cook except for weekends.

Claw Hammer

There is no need for 1 year letting. Just operate on a week to week basis and you have full control. families and couples tend to be a lot of trouble when things go wrong. There are people whose own home is somewhere outside Dublin and they require accommodation in Dublin when they are at work. Such people are quiet and you can negotiate with them regarding meals etc.

El Kabong!

Contact or advertise for professionals working in multinationals in north/west Dublin. There are usually quite a few people who do 3-4 days in Dublin and need somewhere to stay. Most of the ones I know work late and are gone Thu evening - Sunday (ish). They just need somewhere quiet/safe and broadband and no hassle!

TeaBagMania

Or a fourth option, sell the big house, buy a small house and pocket the difference.

Big houses are expensive to maintain and heat. Also, no worries about the offspring moving back home if there is nowhere for them to sleep

stargazer 68

Contact the local hospital. There are always student nurses looking for accommodation

I would see no point in going down the route of offering meals. Let people cook their own meals, its only hassle for yourself.

One option is find a single professional and rent them the room, let them cook their own meals and share the bills evenly with them. Don't go giving them a written contract, just week to week or month to month (which ever way you would prefer to get the rent).

Other option is find a professional who, for example has family down the country and only wants a mon - fri letting (of sun evening - fri morning). You would have to charge a little less but would have the house free at weekends (you can charge them 5/7 of their share of the bills or something like that).

I'd avoid all undergrad and exchange students. PhD or masters students could be an option also if you wanted.

El Kabong!

On the hospital idea.... you might want to avoid offering accommodation to, for example, any local nursing home staff as they can work shifts, and also I think they tend to rent out local semi's and share with quite a few to keep costs down. But there might be other businesses locally you could review.
Not saying anything bad about the people (they are all very nice as far as I can tell!) but the work hours etc might not suit you. It's something to take into account no matter who you take in.

athtrasna

El Kabong! wrote: »

On the hospital idea.... you might want to avoid offering accommodation to, for example, any local nursing home staff as they can work shifts, and also I think they tend to rent out local semi's and share with quite a few to keep costs down. But there might be other businesses locally you could review.
Not saying anything bad about the people (they are all very nice as far as I can tell!) but the work hours etc might not suit you. It's something to take into account no matter who you take in.

Definitely this. I rent a room in my home and shift workers are a no no. If they're on nights, they're asleep when you want to do things during the day like washing or vacuuming and if you're out at work they're running up bills with light and heat that you wouldn't be running up when the place is empty. My housemate is mostly a 5 day guy though I haven't let it as a 5 day let. It's amazing how irritated I get when he's around at the weekend because I'm used to having that space. Be very clear about what you want

seagull

Right now you could do people a huge favour by doing short term lets for people having pyrite remediation done.

I think the biggest issue with your suggestions is that anyone renting for an extended period will expect to have full access to the kitchen, rather than you providing breakfast and dinner.

seagull

seagull wrote: »

Right now you could do people a huge favour by doing short term lets for people having pyrite remediation done.
.

You need to be careful with short term room renting if claiming rent a room relief as short term lets are not counted in the scheme. There is no definition of what a short term let is but anything less than a few months would be on dodgy ground I would think.

martinn123

Many thanks for the replies, and suggestions

Having considered the options over Xmas, we are ready to offer a room

Preference will be for a Sunday - Thurs/Friday let

Big question now is where to advertise

Had a look at Daft, the only House Share option seems to be Under Student Accommodation??

On MyHome, there is a share option, but very few properties listed, so I can't get a handle on what to charge, and no option to list as 5 day.

Any Suggestions, where to advertise, based on the suggestions above for Professionals, looking for a 5 day let

Thanks

Denny_Crane

I use Daft, there is definately a non-student sharing option, or there was!

I've struggled to get 5 day lets, just as a heads up.

bmwguy

martinn123 wrote: »

Many thanks for the replies, and suggestions

Having considered the options over Xmas, we are ready to offer a room

Preference will be for a Sunday - Thurs/Friday let

Big question now is where to advertise

Had a look at Daft, the only House Share option seems to be Under Student Accommodation??

On MyHome, there is a share option, but very few properties listed, so I can't get a handle on what to charge, and no option to list as 5 day.

Any Suggestions, where to advertise, based on the suggestions above for Professionals, looking for a 5 day let

Thanks

There is a share option on daft and it's pretty busy. It's free to advertise in the share section, it was a few years ago anyway when I did it. You are looking at about 100 a week for a 5 day let I would imagine, no less than 80 and no more than 120.

You can earn 14000 a year tax free. So you can earn just under 1200 a month before you pay tax. Don't go over this as you will then pay tax on the entire 14000.

cnocbui

TeaBagMania wrote: »

Or a fourth option, sell the big house, buy a small house and pocket the difference.

Big houses are expensive to maintain and heat. Also, no worries about the offspring moving back home if there is nowhere for them to sleep

What you pay to the lawyers, the stamp duty on the new one and to the Auctioneer, would pay for your heating and maintenance for the rest of your life.

riclad

You get 14k tax free ,includes bills .
i see no point in offering meals .Theres no extra profit there .
My friend rents to mainly female tenants in tech companys ,ibm, etc in dn 15.
You can go to ibm building reception and they,ll put an ad on the notice board
room for rent ,x euros., email xx, phone xx. estate xx
or go to local hospital put ad on notice board .
room for rent.
Take no one under 21.must be working full time ,ask to see payslip and id.
take no interns or part time workers ,ie only someone working 5days ,
40 hours plus.
IF Someone causes problems ,give them 2 weeks notice to leave.
You can advertise a room to rent ,monday to thursday .if it suits you .
someone who has rural relatives family will take it.

Pat Mustard

martinn123 wrote: »

Preference will be for a Sunday - Thurs/Friday let

I'd agree with Denny C. The five day let will put people off.

I think that you would be better off deciding on what you want in a tenant/lodger.

What might suit you could be somebody who is quiet and reliable, a person from outside Dublin, who likes to travel home to see family, friends, etc. at the weekends.

No harm trying for a sun-thurs at first and see if there are any bites. I would think there are plenty of people who go home to family every weekend so I think it should be possible to find someone. It would very much depend on location though I suppose.

Mrs OBumble

Pat Mustard wrote: »

I'd agree with Denny C. The five day let will put people off.

In the current market, that may just mean a small manageable nnumbrr of applicants rather than a horde.

Give it a go, there are a lot who work in Dublin but go home at weekends who would be keen.

Denny_Crane

Sorry to chime in again. The 5 day thing had me go from about 20 applicants (the first time around) to practically zero. The practically zero hadn't read the ad or chose to ignore the 5 day bit. Now I'm not saying it's not possible as there are definitely 5 day lets out there but just sharing my experience. I'm North Dublin 'burbs within cider can throwing distance of a DART station. Whether rural NoCoDublin would be more popular with the 5 day a weekers or not I've no idea I'm afraid.

riclad

Put ad on noticeboard in local hospitals, theres always nurses looking for
accomodation.
Give it a week or 2 to see what replys you get.put add on rent.ie and daft.ie /for rent

Water John

It will be rare to get a medic of any kind not on shift work, so if 5 day week is crucial, it will rule them out.

pmurphy00

i think a 5 day let is fine but perhaps with a once a month option of staying the weekend for say €20. Seems more human to me, like if the person had a gig/date/birthday party to go to.

you'd probably end up with a happier tenant.

martinn123

riclad wrote: »

You get 14k tax free ,includes bills .
i see no point in offering meals .Theres no extra profit there .
My friend rents to mainly female tenants in tech companys ,ibm, etc in dn 15.
You can go to ibm building reception and they,ll put an ad on the notice board
room for rent ,x euros., email xx, phone xx. estate xx
or go to local hospital put ad on notice board .
room for rent.
Take no one under 21.must be working full time ,ask to see payslip and id.
take no interns or part time workers ,ie only someone working 5days ,
40 hours plus.
IF Someone causes problems ,give them 2 weeks notice to leave.
You can advertise a room to rent ,monday to thursday .if it suits you .
someone who has rural relatives family will take it.

Good advice, much appreciated

I will try the add on Daft, as a 5 day let, to see what the reaction is, can always be changed if no takers
Our attitude to the evening meal option is that we are cooking a meal anyway, so no harm in putting an extra name in the pot, and very little cost, just might suit someone, that there is a meal available at 7pm, if not they will have the full use of kitchen.