Becoming a Landlord?

rightmove

Was both a LL and tenant at the same time for a long time, and the policies of the last 10 years have rightly ****ed it up for both. As a result I am neither a LL nor a tenant now.

Being both LL and tenant I could see the gov policies were virtue driven and counterproductive, often done to satify the drum beating of the naive and clueless media and to offset SF.!!!!!!

As a LL I just wanted to be able to remove non paying tenants (without having to activate the spanish inquisition) for the largest asset I would ever own and I see that this has never been looked properly after all these years. What a spineless hower the gov are.

The rtb is paid for by LL to screw LL's.

Also the rent I was charged was fair (as a tenant) and the rent I charged (as a LL) was more than fair. (way below market) and the gov screwed us for being nice here also.

dont do it.!

Pawwed Rig

Tax was never a complaint I had tbh. Ot was the lack of control you have over your own asset. The eviction ban was the last straw which showed what a supposed right wing government would do where they dictated that I had to hold an asset and keep paying for it even if I didn't want to. If FG do that what are SF going to do as they are openly anti landlord. I would fear that people will lose complete control of their assets. Never again

Give the money to Davys and see what they can do with it for you.

themoone

In addition to all the above dealing with the RTB is a total nightmare, they are so lazy and lately have tried to pass their work on to you. when you try and register they will come up with any excuse not to process your application (can't find address for landlord however they can send to him on that address!!) and when it is pointed out they are unable to update their records. This is for an existing tenancy so they already have the information on system and processed the payment (40Euro). You are then advised by them to do it online and of course in addition to the 40euro you have already paid you will have to pay another 40euro along with the fine. Scam all round.

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356721#Comment_121356721

There are bad tenants, there are worse letting agencies!! Nope

whippet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121361348#Comment_121361348

Letting agents will take their commission and all will be rosy when things go well. As soon as things go tits up the letting agency will be hands off and leave you to deal with the fall out. When I had my rental trashed by a tenant (who was apparently highly recommended by the agency) they literally walked away from having any dealings with the place.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121361429#Comment_121361429

That would be my experience aswell

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121361541#Comment_121361541

And mine!! They lied about the number of tenants in the house as well and their occupations.

Dtoffee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121354724#Comment_121354724

I had good tennants for 8 years and never put the rent (€900pm) up. They got lucky and got a Council home, next thing I was told that I could not increase the rent (now assessed at €2k by estate agents) for two years unless I added 25% to the floor space. The more I delved into the RTB and the anti LL laws, the more I was put off renting, so I just decided to work on the house over the two years rather than rent.

I am now 18 months in and have quietly worked away on the house (making sure it is occupied for a month each year at least). Next May I will have a choice, chance renting again vs sell up and pay CGT or set up an Air B&B....... at this stage, the Air B&B option seems to be my best option at the moment. The last thing I need is to sign a rental agreement and then be told that the tenant has lost his/her job, cant afford to pay and I can't move them.

There are so many nightmare scenario's for landlords under the current system, that I really cannot see any benefit at all.

whippet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121361736#Comment_121361736

one of my tenants was a single mother who had rented though the agency for a number of years and was a 'salt of the earth' type. What the letting agent forgot to tell me that she was looking to move to a larger rental as her husband was due to be released from cloverhill after a couple of years of a stretch for violent assualts and drug dealing. Two weeks after signing the lease for a Single mother on HAP I get phone calls from my neighbours (who are guards) asking me if I had any idea who was now living in my house. First month rent was paid - then nothing - Letting agency offered nothing in support and it took 9 months to get them out. They only left as the house was raided by the guards and the husband was back in the clink. About €15k worth of damage to the house and as they moved in to a caravan and went on living a nomadic life there was no way to follow up for me.

GGTrek

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121353559#Comment_121353559

I can see that you have absolutely no idea about the communist (punitive) landlord legislation in Ireland. I sold 10 units in Dublin in 2019 and never looked back, especially now with high interest rates, you can purchase EU issued bonds at 4% for 20 years or even more for example Bank of Ireland issued a 10y 5% bond. Being an Irish resident after rental tax and expenses it would be hard to get a better net yield, even stock market on the long term rarely will provide more than 6% with a lot of volatility. A few of the people (old names) who answered you gave you the right answers on landlord legislation and clown agents.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121361862#Comment_121361862

You need planning permission for airbnb I think. I might be wrong though because the rules change every second day as far as i can tell.

RoboRat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121361862#Comment_121361862

Have you considered taking one room and renting the other rooms out? My mate has a house and he does this as he can drop up to the house whenever he wants to ensure it's being maintained, and you can earn up to €14,000 per year tax-free.

To be honest, if I still had the house that I rented out, that would be the route I would take.

meijin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363921#Comment_121363921

only works if you live there

otherwise

• RTB will declare that they're tenants, as the LL doesn't in fact live there (no, keeping an "empty room" doesn't qualify)
• Revenue will request full tax on it (plus penalties?), as it was not LL's PPR

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121353250#Comment_121353250

By small landlords or REITs?

there’s a huge difference between the 2.

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356693#Comment_121356693

What’s the alternative? Rent by the room to individuals/student?

Not a walk in the park either I suspect.

I always watch these threads with interest as I am considering buying a rental.

RobbieV

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058322066/becoming-a-landlord

I just became a landlord. Tenant is in the property 3 years. Minds it well. I just completed a few jobs for her about a month ago that the previous owner had left for nearly a year.

Looking to get it registered to keep all correct and so she can claim the rent credit.

My own salary is so shite that il be paying 20% tax rate on around 80% of the rental income .

Also I own the property mortgage free

snowcat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121364484#Comment_121364484

There is no walk in the park with rental property. There is a reason why a lot of landlords are fleeing the market. One thing for sure is the least return/most dangerous option is to enter an RTB governed arrangement. The least hassle return is probably commercial property if you want a low yield long term return.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121354724#Comment_121354724

I know a few with with properties abroad. Think they all struggled with renting them. One or two had serious issues with management companies and worse.

A handful made good use of it for their own holidays.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356721#Comment_121356721

Very hard to find a good one. If you do I think it's worth it.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121364496#Comment_121364496

Out of interest (professional) do you have any other loans/mortgages? If so you would be better financially to have debt on the rental property as you get a tax deduction at the higher tax rates.

Have you considered leveraging?

No need to answer but might be something you hadn't considered

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365784#Comment_121365784

This is a perfect example of a big problem with the current system in this country. Why, only a few posts after complaining about rules and regulations and risks involved in being a landlord are you implying advice to someone else that they could/should multiply their risk to make more money???? The person already gave us the information that they don't earn a lot. Yes there may be tax (and narrow diversification) benefits but will the person cope if one of those risks manifests itself?

Is it a recognition that the individual will get 100% of the upside, with the hope that that State will socialise any downside?

DubCount

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365815#Comment_121365815

I would consider that the individual gets about 50% of the upside and the other 50% goes to the state in taxes. If there is downside, this is 100% taken by the individual as losses in rentals cannot be offset against any other type of income. There is no way the state (after implementing policies for non-paying tenants to stay squatting in the individuals property for months and even years) is going to subsidise landlords for their losses when they arise. These are the "known risks" that landlords are expected to take when they enter the business - although that is not to say they wont be asked to endure further risks "in the public interest".

As it happens, I do agree that taking out a mortgage on a buy2let only increases risk, and I would not recommend it for OP.

Bobson Dugnutt

Have been a tenant, accidental landlord, and now a landlord out of choice. My advice - be very selective who you rent to. We made a decision not to rent to Irish people - this was based on hearing horror stories from other landlords and people working in the estate agent business. Overholding, RTB cases, leaving the place in a state.

We now rent to an Indian couple. They are getting a fine apartment for a reasonable rent in a great location, and the landlord/tenant interaction has been flawless.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365815#Comment_121365815

Just professional curiosity as I often see people in similar situations with their affairs structured poorly ie paying interest on a mortgage for their PPR and having a car loan but with a rental property (usually inherited) owned outright (ie no deduction against income tax for mortgage interest.

A chat with the bank can save people like this thousands in a year. Not sure what your last line means but it is good to get people thinking about their finances

MicktheMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366842#Comment_121366842

A chat with the bank can save people like this thousands in a year.

How so?

Dtoffee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121364102#Comment_121364102

Exactly, screwed at every turn ;-)

GGTrek

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365662#Comment_121365662

Commercial property excluding office property, which is in long term decline (massive losses on capital).

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366842#Comment_121366842

Well you said leveraging. Which is a different thing to having your debt on something that would be

A) likely at a lower rate

B) a deductible expense.

Leveraging would mean borrowing more money - not shifting existing borrowing. So I took your post to mean that, instead of paying cash for one house, to use that money as a deposit for multiple houses and borrow for the remainder

josip

Another landlord in our block had to get a non-paying tenant evicted. Before they left, they went the full Bobby Sands.

Absolutely everything in the apartment including fittings had to be chucked. All the plaster had to be stripped off the walls and ceilings.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365784#Comment_121365784

That's in essence what I did - released cash from an unincumbered property by turning it into a BTL and then put that towards my PPR, resulting in a far smaller mortgage on my house. (and sub 80% LTV so a better interest rate)

I can then write off mortgage interest against the BTL rental income. Really reduces the tax bill by a hell of a lot, particularly with the recent variable interest rate hikes.