What does a new landlord need to do?

James Bond Junior

I will be letting my house in about 4 months time. I am getting married a few weeks prior to this as well as preparing to emigrate also. I want to have all my ducks in a row as early as possible simply because I have so many things to prepare for.

I know I need to do the following:
Registration with PRTB - What is involved?
Preparing a lease - any tips?
Tax implications especially as I will be a non resident landlord.
Anything else?

TIA

the_syco

Unless you're planning on having an EA manage your house, and no of a handyman to fix your issues, maybe consider a 10 year lease with the CC?

James Bond Junior

the_syco wrote: »

Unless you're planning on having an EA manage your house, and no of a handyman to fix your issues, maybe consider a 10 year lease with the CC?

I will be returning after a few years so not an option to go down that route. I have a 2 handymen lined up to take on any issues should they arise.

the_syco

James Bond Junior wrote: »

I will be returning after a few years so not an option to go down that route.

You'll be coming back after 6 years?

handlemaster

James Bond Junior wrote: »

I will be letting my house in about 4 months time. I am getting married a few weeks prior to this as well as preparing to emigrate also. I want to have all my ducks in a row as early as possible simply because I have so many things to prepare for.

I know I need to do the following:
Registration with PRTB - What is involved?
Preparing a lease - any tips?
Tax implications especially as I will be a non resident landlord.
Anything else?

TIA

Be prepared to be stressed to a level you never thought possible. Then again you might get lucky with a tenant who does what they sign up to on the contract.

realitykeeper

James Bond Junior wrote: »

I will be letting my house in about 4 months time. I am getting married a few weeks prior to this as well as preparing to emigrate also. I want to have all my ducks in a row as early as possible simply because I have so many things to prepare for.

I know I need to do the following:
Registration with PRTB - What is involved?
Preparing a lease - any tips?
Tax implications especially as I will be a non resident landlord.
Anything else?

TIA

If I were you, I would sell rather than buy - for two reasons.

1) There is the mistaken belief that house prices will rise because of the shortage/demand for more housing. House prices will fall. I know this because

a) the "demand" is more a social demand than a market demand.

b) house prices were artificially reinflated so that NAMA could get the bailout money back. Mortgage defaults of over 2 years are unheard of in other countries, but here they are close to 10 years in some cases. To comply with EU directives, Irish banks have to normalize their exposure to toxic debt by selling to vulture funds. Obviously this will add houses to the market, putting downward pressure on prices. In any case, the next crash will come before NAMA breaks even, and with the banks still holding a lot of toxic debt which is about to become a lot more toxic.

c) The most expensive housing units are now falling in price. Historically, this is a precursor to a general fall in property prices.

d) When asset prices fall, they tend to do so rapidly.

2) I think you would be better off buying precious metals and investing in taking your new home off grid with solar panels/battery bank and if possible by drilling for water and extracting cooking gas from your septic tank. Also, an alottment would be advisable in my opinion. If you want to rent a property, I think you would be better off with a property in an economy that is not exposed to the risks of QE.

James Bond Junior

the_syco wrote: »

You'll be coming back after 6 years?

Most likely well before that length of time.

ELM327

What should a new landlord do?

Sell up

James Bond Junior

realitykeeper wrote: »

If I were you, I would sell rather than buy - for two reasons.

1) There is the mistaken belief that house prices will rise because of the shortage/demand for more housing. House prices will fall. I know this because

a) the "demand" is more a social demand than a market demand.

b) house prices were artificially reinflated so that NAMA could get the bailout money back. Mortgage defaults of over 2 years are unheard of in other countries, but here they are close to 10 years in some cases. To comply with EU directives, Irish banks have to normalize their exposure to toxic debt by selling to vulture funds. Obviously this will add houses to the market, putting downward pressure on prices. In any case, the next crash will come before NAMA breaks even, and with the banks still holding a lot of toxic debt which is about to become a lot more toxic.

c) The most expensive housing units are now falling in price. Historically, this is a precursor to a general fall in property prices.

d) When asset prices fall, they tend to do so rapidly.

2) I think you would be better off buying precious metals and investing in taking your new home off grid with solar panels/battery bank and if possible by drilling for water and extracting cooking gas from your septic tank. Also, an alottment would be advisable in my opinion. If you want to rent a property, I think you would be better off with a property in an economy that is not exposed to the risks of QE.

Ah no thanks. I want somewhere to live again when I return.

James Bond Junior

ELM327 wrote: »

What should a new landlord do?

Sell up

Selling up is not happening. I want to know what I need to do in order to prepare to rent my house. If I wanted advice on selling up I'd ask for said advice, not investing in precious metals and preparing to live off grid. FFS.

cruizer101

realitykeeper wrote: »

1) There is the mistaken belief that house prices will rise because of the shortage/demand for more housing. House prices will fall. I know this because

OP is talking about going away for a few years, nobody knows what way house prices are going to be then.
I'd still agree with your advice mind, because they could go up or down it to uncertain and the hassle of renting from abroad I don't think its worth it.
Maybe if you could have done the 10 year let to council but otherwise you would be as well to sell.

Dizzyblonde

If I were you I'd get a good estate agent to find your tenants and manage the property while you're away. They'll look for references and check them out - it's what they do so they'll be a lot better at it than you will. They'll often have tenants who have rented through them before and who they know to be reliable. They'll also provide a lease. It will be money well spent. We've gone this route in the past and never had bad tenants.

James Bond Junior

cruizer101 wrote: »

OP is talking about going away for a few years, nobody knows what way house prices are going to be then.
I'd still agree with your advice mind, because they could go up or down it to uncertain and the hassle of renting from abroad I don't think its worth it.
Maybe if you could have done the 10 year let to council but otherwise you would be as well to sell.

OK can I clarify. The house is needed for when I return as it is and will continue to be my PPI. I will not be leaving for more than 2.5 years in total.

ELM327

James Bond Junior wrote: »

OK can I clarify. The house is needed for when I return as it is and will continue to be my PPI. I will not be leaving for more than 2.5 years in total.

If you're dead set on this it may be difficult to evict the tenants in 2.5 years.
If they decide to remain, the law is on their side and you may have 12+ months of no rent and no property. That's why I was suggesting selling. Less hassle.


You receive 30 months of rent payments (optimistic), then return, have to give statutory notice (probably about 6 weeks at that stage) to the tenants. If they leave, great.
If not you must begin the long, arduous and costly process of eviction.


Take it from someone who's been there, been burned, and exited.

JJJackal

James Bond Junior wrote: »

OK can I clarify. The house is needed for when I return as it is and will continue to be my PPI. I will not be leaving for more than 2.5 years in total.

Would you be better off getting a company/EA to manage it for the 2.5 years? Less stress - realistically if you are managing it yourself there is a good chance you or a family member will need to attend the property to address some issue (that a handyman wouldnt be able to address).

Less money per month - but no hassle - might be cheaper in the long term

JJJackal

ELM327 wrote: »

If you're dead set on this it may be difficult to evict the tenants in 2.5 years.
If they decide to remain, the law is on their side and you may have 12+ months of no rent and no property. That's why I was suggesting selling. Less hassle.


You receive 30 months of rent payments (optimistic), then return, have to give statutory notice (probably about 6 weeks at that stage) to the tenants. If they leave, great.
If not you must begin the long, arduous and costly process of eviction.


Take it from someone who's been there, been burned, and exited.

He can give the notice the day the tenants start renting i.e. 2.5 years notice

the_syco

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Most likely well before that length of time.

6 years is current part IV lease. If you move back before then, you'll have to give them whatever amount of days notice, and then hope they leave.

ELM327

JJJackal wrote: »

He can give the notice the day the tenants start renting i.e. 2.5 years notice

This is not possible, the notice cannot be given in advance in this manner.

JustMe,K

James Bond Junior wrote: »

I will be letting my house in about 4 months time. I am getting married a few weeks prior to this as well as preparing to emigrate also. I want to have all my ducks in a row as early as possible simply because I have so many things to prepare for.

I know I need to do the following:
Registration with PRTB - What is involved?
Preparing a lease - any tips?
Tax implications especially as I will be a non resident landlord.
Anything else?

TIA

Don't do this yourself, let an estate agent do it for you. It'll cost you about a months rent per year but will be the best money you spend. They will be responsible for vetting prospective tenants, doing viewings, doing background checks and more importantly they will get the phone calls in the middle of the night if there is something wrong. When it comes to ending the tenancy, they are best placed to do this also as they do it all the time - and you might stand a better chance of getting your property back if the EA can help find the tenants somewhere else to live.

Registering with the RTB is easy, but the EA will do that for you if you go through them. They will also supply you with a lease if you ask for it.
AFAIK the tenant is due to retain 20% of the rent and pay it to Revenue as you are non resident, again an EA can help with this as they would be taking the rent and making the relevant deductions.
Create a full inventory of everything being left in the property and take photos of the condition the property is in.

Dizzyblonde

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

If I were you I'd get a good estate agent to find your tenants and manage the property while you're away. They'll look for references and check them out - it's what they do so they'll be a lot better at it than you will. They'll often have tenants who have rented through them before and who they know to be reliable. They'll also provide a lease. It will be money well spent. We've gone this route in the past and never had bad tenants.

Just FYI, agents are not always as good as outlined above. Plus, the going rate is a month's rent for finding a tenant....which is scandalous in the current market. Not all of them will do checking of leases etc.


We had a managing agent and we were paying them a relative fortune for the peace of mind of not having to deal with the tenants and they were hopeless. Whenever anything went wrong they would just pass the info on to us. When I queried if they could do it they said yes, they had staff who could fix things but it would cost €x plus a fixed 20% handlers fee on top of that. We were essentially paying €60 a month for an email forwarding service, with a penalty clause for breaking the 12-month contract.


The final straw came when the rent was down one month by €100. I contacted the tenant directly who told me that something had broken and the agent had told them to just fix it themselves and leave the rent short that month. They never agreed any of this with us and never even told us to expect it. I emailed our regular contact person and CC'd the CEO of the company, saying we were quitting and not paying any penalty fee.


The CEO replied immediately and offered 4 months free 'management'. He then fired off an angry email to a senior manager who had the same surname as me and the same first initial, so he actually sent it to me instead, saying that this was the 5th or 6th contract they'd lost that month.


Absolute amateur hour. Never again. I'd name and shame them here if it was allowed.

James Bond Junior

I am on the fence RE management. A family member who has several properties, comm and residential, has advised on not going down that route as they can handle any issues but they don't live nearby. Then again, I live in Limerick city so there are a wealth of different agents to choose from.

kcdiom

kcdiom wrote: »

It'll cost you about a months rent per year but will be the best money you spend.

As mentioned previously, they charge one month's rent to find and 'vet' a tenant, plus a monthly charge on top of that.

kcdiom

kcdiom wrote: »

Don't do this yourself, let an estate agent do it for you. It'll cost you about a months rent per year but will be the best money you spend. They will be responsible for vetting prospective tenants, doing viewings, doing background checks and more importantly they will get the phone calls in the middle of the night if there is something wrong. When it comes to ending the tenancy, they are best placed to do this also as they do it all the time - and you might stand a better chance of getting your property back if the EA can help find the tenants somewhere else to live.

Registering with the RTB is easy, but the EA will do that for you if you go through them. They will also supply you with a lease if you ask for it.
AFAIK the tenant is due to retain 20% of the rent and pay it to Revenue as you are non resident, again an EA can help with this as they would be taking the rent and making the relevant deductions.
Create a full inventory of everything being left in the property and take photos of the condition the property is in.

Stay away from agents would be my advise, no way would I trust an estate agent with vetting, getting contracts right etc and then pay them a months rent, no thanks.

Also no agent answers their phone at night and as many LLs here have stated neither do they, a LL does not have to be on call 24/7 and an agent certainly wont.

iwilldare

I have recently let a property for the first time and its not that difficult to do.
I wouldnt be quick to give a management company/letting agency manage the property as I dont see how they would be as invested in managing the property as you would.

Registration with PRTB - What is involved? Not much, you just need tenants pps no. and can fill this out online, think its about 90 euro and you can offset against tax
Preparing a lease - any tips? A work colleague gave me a copy of one she had done and I just edited, there are templates online and I think daft do one also. Ultimately they are pretty useless after 6 months.
Tax implications especially as I will be a non resident landlord. I live here so its different for me, hire a decent tax accountant at the end of the year. I have used fenaro before and found them pretty decent so will probably use them again. Just keep all your receipts relating to the property, maybe have a separate bank a/c that rent is paid into and you can use for any outgoings relating to the house.
Anything else? Vetting the tenant is the key: work, previous tenancy's (and length) social media - check all these thoroughly. If you are planning on moving back in in 2.5 years maybe best to try and get someone saving for a house. I would have a think on the type of profile that you want your tenant to have.