Major hike in vacant home tax?

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058317489/major-hike-in-vacant-home-tax

Let's not tackle the utterly serious issue of vacant housing stock laying unused....

Due to OPs random example of perhaps 0.01 percent of the population .

This is an absolute bizarre edge case and a ridiculous proposal to block dealing with vacant housing in any meaningful way. This person sounds like an ideal renter frankly. High wage highly mobile and no real fixed abode by nature.

Also infinitely tiny percentage of the working population.

Carve outs for all scenarios wha...

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121221559#Comment_121221559

its no joke. You count them yourself. What is the issue. Its means the tax is not payable if you use the house for a minimum of thirty days per year.

Geuze

I think the VHT will be a failure, due to the very low 30-day threshold.

When it was announced, people initially thought it was the other way around, i.e. you needed 335 days occupancy to prove not vacant.

But when we realised just 30 days occupancy = not vacant, then I knew this tax will not be effective.

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121221569#Comment_121221569

Nail on the head. They can claim to be doing something. Headlines will be about a stiff vacancy tax at 5 x LPT, but reality is it does nothing to tackle the problem.

It's just window dressing.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121221722#Comment_121221722

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222094#Comment_121222094

Any government would be reluctant to bring in a VHT that affected people with only a second property, with a holiday home, a person who could not live in there PPR or a person in a nursing home etc.

It wound be beneficial to give these people the confidence to rent out the property. However many of these people have valid reasons not to rent out the property long-term and need assurances that they can get there property returned to them in a timely manner.

Last year during the winter eviction we had people who had rented there PPR while they were away for 6+ months unable to get these houses back in a timely fashion. In all probability the action was unconstitutional but it is exceptionally hard for an ordinary person to challenge such a law. As well you have individuals in nursing homes, older people staying with there children or siblings, individuals with holiday homes etc etc.

Even a more radical occupancy demand of 90 days would be manageable in many cases. The simple fact is if we want people to rent houses that may only be vacant for 6 months to a couple of years we need to give them the confidence that they can rent such houses and get them back in a timely manner.

Present rules and having to deal with the RTB do not give these house owners that confidence

the.red.baron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222436#Comment_121222436

but sure that would require some work to be done and they hate that most of all

Mr. teddywinkles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222436#Comment_121222436

Dont forget in the same way they left them. Not in total shite.

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222436#Comment_121222436

There is a pretty obvious and simple solution to most of these objections: just exempt all PPRs from vacancy tax.

If it is your PPR you can do what you like with it - go on holiday for a year, work abroad, nursing home etc.

If it is not your PPR then either rent it out or pay the tax.

AlanG

The amount of people in the countryside that have old cottages on their land is massive. Often they have ESB and water as they are used for adjacent farms.These houses were built in the 30s or 40s and are with the family farm but would never be acceptable as homes for renters. how will they be handled, are people going to be forced to knock down their parents old houses?

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222650#Comment_121222650

Disconnect the ESB

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121221722#Comment_121221722

It is the principle of things. You worked hard for your first and only property, an apartment, which you keep in mint condition take care of, and if your job situation changes, like an overseas posting for say one or two years, you're penalized with an extra tax.

The government sees you have no income in Ireland, and even say you're there less than 30 days, you claim that you're there 31 days, and the argument begins to unfold.

You show the flexibility of a new job in a different country, keep the property for your return, but are penalized with a tax. And even worse, a majority of people around you who support this tax, find it positive, apparently, it's solving their own housing probems, - but it doesn't.

During your absence you're not using water, you're not claiming unemployment benefits, you're less of a burden to society, but are penalized with another tax. And when you return you certainly don't want to find your apartment lived in by strangers, who ran it down, and you'd have to spend 40.000 Euros on fixing everything.

That thinking and expectation of the tax man is simply unacceptable to me. It would even be a deciding factor if I wanted to stay in Ireland, set down roots, buy property etc...

In reality the vacant home tax should target investors who own multiple properties, keep them empty and not introuce them into the rental market or are only house / home flipping to get a better price quickly....

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222790#Comment_121222790

The electricity supply for the farm often comes from the house.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222896#Comment_121222896

Easily solved. Not a reason to slow overall vacancy changes.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121221538#Comment_121221538

I heard airbnb is banned, but it might be allowed for a few weeks. If it is just airbnb it for a few weeks and make a few quid into the bargain :)

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121223337#Comment_121223337

AerBnB is not totally banneds. The EU shot down the government legislation if I remember right

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121223384#Comment_121223384

Everyone is sorted so. Sure you can get people to stay in a tent or a caravan on airbnb. Shouldnt be a problem getting any takers with their second home.

penguin1999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121222436#Comment_121222436

absolutely! You hit the nail on the head. Besides, it's a lot of hassle without any financial return as rental income is taxed very highly if you have already another income.