Apartment renting on the Fair Deal Scheme

T0MMY

My mum has been in a nursing home since 2018. She has dementia and is no longer capable of making decisions for herself. Her apartment is currently empty. No one has enduring power of attorney, and she has not been made a ward of court. Will the RTB allow us register a tenancy on her behalf? Or would we be allowed to accept a Ukrainian refugee and the payment from the government? We need to money to help pay her nursing home bills and VHI so a caretaker agreement won't work for us. TIA.

Mrs OBumble

You need to see a solicitor ASAP.

Without an EPA you should not even be able to close her electricity bill.

In the current rental climate- it could be "interesting" to see what the court thinks of renting the apartment out vs selling it.

relevanc

Also be aware that with all the RTB related changes and eviction bans etc you might have difficulty with gaining vacant possession of the apartment once it’s rented. Which in turn would impact the achievable sale price down the road.

Best to talk to your solicitor as stated above

3DataModem

Fair Deal rules are different if you rent out the house, a significant proportion of the income (40% I think) needs to be paid to the HSE.

Thestart

Would love to know how revenue see the 40%. Is it before 52% tax or after?

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119872434#Comment_119872434

Most people in nursing homes won't have enough other income to get into the top tax bracket. Especially not if they are paying for their own care and so can claim the fees as deductions!

T0MMY

I think we're just going to have to leave the apartment empty. We can't even enter into a caretakers agreement. It is such a waste.

Thestart

Thank the genius housing minister for stopping property owners from renting their property.

it’s just incredible how wrong they have got this.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119873823#Comment_119873823

This particular case is not the fault of the housing minister: by not making an EPA the house owner has left relatives without any legal ability to do anything. And the regulations around paying for nursing home care are presumablg what's discouraging them from applying for ward of the court status.

just_a_gurl

Best to read up on The Fair Deal Scheme to see if it is even worth the hassle of going through all of this based on how they assess the applicants income, i.e. could it increase your mum's income to the point where any gains from renting it out would be negligible

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/health_services/health_services_for_older_people/nursing_homes_support_scheme_1.html#le74c7

zell12

If you own your home and are renting it out to a tenant, you can apply to pay only 40% of this rental income towards nursing home care. This means you can keep 60% of the rental income.

Is this not a good idea? Rules changed a few months ago. You need to work out all the calculations and see if it is worth it. And if she cannot make her own decisions, one of you must be appointed EPA, like now!

https://www.thejournal.ie/fair-deal-nursing-home-residents-60-rental-income-5738337-Apr2022/

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881242#Comment_119881242

If she cannot make her own decisions then it is too late to sign an EPA. In this instance the person who appoints the attorney would be the OPs mother. if she doesn't have the capacity to do this then the only other option is for them to become a ward of the court.

Mrs OBumble

I'd be fairly sure that the court would recommend selling the property, given the current rental challenges.

That would mean most of the peoceeds would be used to pay for the nursing home.

So you can see why the family are reluctant to apply for this.