Rent a Room Scheme Experiences

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121917343#Comment_121917343

And the rest of it ? Come on, you posted it. What could possibly be different about what you posted and what we are talking about. Concentrate now. Read your link properly and tell us.

Fiona

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121924772#Comment_121924772

Middle aged men often leave family homes through no fault of their own. Not a nice assumption.

They are not the cause of all marriage breakdowns, women do a fine job of instigating things themselves just perfectly sometimes.

But anyway your home, the buck does stop with you.

MrRigsby

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121925930#Comment_121925930

Being nice doesn’t come into it when you’re letting a stranger move into your home . You pick the person that suits you and is least likely to cause you a problem . Assumptions and gut feelings are all you have to go on . References can be faked and some people lie through their teeth

mrslancaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121923785#Comment_121923785

If a person rents a room in someone's home, it is likely to come with certain conditions required by the home owner. If the conditions don't suit, they look for an alternative, it's up to the person to choose whatever suits their needs best. Not all room rentals are tax free.

Imo the SF bill would reduce availability for people who want part-week, full board & lodgings (digs), room only, room & facilities etc. just some of the options people want. Home-owners are flexible but also need to suit their own family situation. If they were required to become landlords with restrictions placed on their ppr - that's very different to having a paying guest.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121933002#Comment_121933002

I agree that if the conditions are too onerous then that may discourage people from renting out rooms. Balance is key.

mrslancaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121923761#Comment_121923761

People who let rooms to lodgers/licensees are not landlords, otherwise why not call someone who lets rooms in a hotel, guest house or b&b a landlord? Language in the rental market can get very confusing and have serious consequences.

My understanding is that a landlord is the party who owns lands or buildings, and grants a lease to another party for exclusive possession, for an agreed duration, in return for rent. A tenant is the person who has a right to exclusive possession, granted by the landlord by way of a lease, to occupy the land or building on a temporary basis in return for payment of rent.

A licence doesn't grant exclusive possession, just permission from the owner that a person can enter, or occupy, subject to terms agreed, and for payment. Otherwise wouldn't a person be there without permission and therefore trespassing.

SF's bill wants to amend the rta to bring in licensees and give them similar rights to tenants and also force every owner who lets rooms to become a landlord because they would have to comply with all rules in the rta. It is not balanced and would erode owners rights, as clearly there's no way an owner could say - hold on a minute now, that part of the rta doesn't apply to me. They would be bound by the whole rta and other legislation in the rental sector. Its bonkers.

dory

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121933559#Comment_121933559

That's the first I've heard of SF's proposed bill. I've been using this scheme for 2 years now, and would definitely stop if I thought there was a chance someone would have rights to stay in my house indefinitely.

This thread has gone on so long that I'm not sure if I've offered my experience - it works very well for me. I rent a room to a student. He's from abroad so never goes home, I think next time I would rent to someone who can go home the odd weekend, or just do Mon-Fri. It mostly works as he has his own bathroom so I never have to clean that.

Emblematic

While there might be a case for toning down the bill in certain areas, I think most people would agree that some form of regulation is necessary. RTB, while not perfect, is probably the best organization to do this.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935550#Comment_121935550

I wouldn't agree.

The lack of rights is matched by the lack of responsibilities. And flexi terms suit many people.

Emblematic

I would predict that while a lot of licensors might moan a little about the bill in advance of its enactment and even in some cases threaten eviction, when push comes to shove the tax-free money will win out and landlords will get used to and accept the bit of extra regulation that the proposed bill entails.

timetogo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935550#Comment_121935550

Has anybody gotten anything good to say about the RTB and the rental market? Now they're good enough to expand to the rent a room?

I understand regulation is probably required as there are guys out there that really take the p***. Not worth it for me though. I'm guessing they'd come up with a pile of regulations that give the lodgers more rights than me in my home. I'll wait and see.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935682#Comment_121935682

In fairness, they resolved some cases where the landlord was found to be increasing rent beyond the allowed amount and also sorted some cases of illegal evictions. Some threads on boards about such cases.

kniggit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932192#Comment_121932192

When a marriage with children breaks down, the Family Law Court almost always decides that it's in the best interests of the children for the mother to stay in the family home and for the father to leave. There's no fault or blame implicit in the decision, it's just something the court does almost automatically.

Your assumption/gut feeling that there's something suspicious about a middle-aged man needing to rent a room because of marriage breakdown is wrong.

PeadarCo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935680#Comment_121935680

The bill is a bill to create homelessness. It's very well intentioned but all it will do is make the housing crisis worse. It's the bedsit fiasco all over again.

The fact a tax free incentive is required in the first place should tell a you how reluctant people to rent out spare rooms in the first place. Take away the tax incentive alone and a lot of homeowners would stop. Giving licencees (who are basically guests in a persons home) rights akin to tenants will kill this part of the housing market. That helps no one given the current housing crisis. As another poster said the idea is bonkers.

DFB-D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935680#Comment_121935680

I wouldn't bet on it.

Whatever landlords/tenants will put up with in a rental property, they will not put up with in their own home.

I would say the majority of licences operate without issue, but when a issue does arise, I can imagine it makes for a very uncomfortable home life.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121936493#Comment_121936493

Also, remember that there will be a public consultation stage where people can voice their concerns about particular sections of the bill before it is enacted.

C3PO

The Sinn Fein bill is typical of their ill thought out, populist nonsense! The only hope is that when they get into power they actually think all their promises through to their logical conclusions!

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935680#Comment_121935680

I’d say your prediction is wrong.
Homeowners that rent a room aren’t landlords either.

Roberto_gas

What is the bare minimum to rent a room?

Bed/Storage/desk ?

Access to kitchen

Access to own shower/toilet

How does food work? Just share refrigerator and cook on their own?

Thanks

MrRigsby

He might be the nicest person in the world. It’s a problem getting accommodation but it just isn’t my problem. Thankfully I’m out of the rental sector altogether. It seems like a good gig until you are actually doing it

timetogo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121957114#Comment_121957114

All of those are up to you. Price accordingly.

For us, we rent a couple of bedrooms, they can use the kitchen whenever they want. Also have access to the sitting room but they never use it. Bathroom is shared amongst them (and they clean it). For food we give them a shelf on the fridge and a space in a cupboard each.

We buy stuff like milk, breakfast cereals, butter, salt / pepper, fruit, laundry supplies, cleaning supplies etc. and tell them to use what they want. That's cheap stuff anyway. They buy everything else for their meals / lunches etc.

I wouldn't aim for the bare minimum. If you treat people well, usually it's reciprocated. We share the odd meal (us cooking or them cooking). The two with us have been with us for over a year and we have people in the house that we can trust and have no issues with. We could charge much more and provide less but it's a great help to our finances. We're doing well and they're doing well so I'm happy enough.

Now just need to wait for the government to regulate and f it all up.