What should I have for a viewing?

Last few rentals I've done have taken deposit by bank transfer. Since that usually takes a day or two to go through, they're usually happy enough if you can just send them a screenshot of your banking app showing the money was sent.

If you are thinking of HAP, you can always just get the place without it and then switch to using it afterwards. Landlords are not allowed to refuse it as far as I'm aware, or turn you down for using it, and I don't really see any reason they would be put off by it since it's very reliable payments for them, but if you're worried about it you could always push it off for a month or two, especially if you haven't got it all in place and ready to go yet (I applied for it previously and it took a good few weeks for it all to be set up with the council in the first place).

Sounds like everything is above board and shows the landlord is probably keeping up to date with the changing regulations if apartments are RTB registered. They'll be aware of HAP rules too.

It is a criminal offence for a landlord not to register with the RTB.

It is also a criminal offence for a landlord not to register a tenancy.

Punishable with a €4000 fine and / or 3 months in prison.

The RTB automatically sends all a registered LL’s information to the Revenue Commissions, so chances are

this illegal LL is avoiding paying tax.

It is illegal LL’s like this that give legitimate LL’s a bad name.

I recommend you report this individual to the RTB and any other relevant authority.

Best of Luck.

Do you have anything in writing that he has sent to you re. Renting the property, or responding to information you have sent him?

Anything that would prove his intent to rent the property and not register with the RTB?

Yes landlords need to have a tax clearance cert in order to be able to take State payments.

A person may “temporarily” not be able to get a tax clearance cert for various reasons why they may not be up to date with their tax affairs. Doesn’t necessarily mean they are not paying tax at all .)

The red flag here for me, is that he is not registered with the RTB.

And his earnings from renting are therefore not being declared.

That screams to me more than anything else he is likely not paying tax.

I’d recommend gathering up whatever you can in evidence, and reporting him.

If he is renting property and not registering himself and / or his tenancies, he is committing a criminal offence.

Best of luck.

Does he live at the same address in the same house as the three apartments? Are they bedsits or completely self contained units

Maybe the other apartments dont need to be registered, they could be let to the council or some other valid reason.

The OP didnt say if it was an entire apartment he was looking at or a share / licensee situation so maybe there's a reason that won't be registered either. Not helpful to demonise the LL and immediately call to criminalise or jail him without having all the facts. He could be dodgy but innocent until proven guilty etc...

As regards not paying his tax, well, it would be foolish to try and scam the Revenue, they know who owns properties through the LPT and they have every taxpayers address, including tenants - they're not stupid.

I'd say it's odd in the sense of most tenants probably wouldn't ask it (it certainly wouldn't have occurred to me any time I rented, because I would just assume it would be), but you're fully justified in asking it imo. He could have easily gotten away with it this long just because the people renting it don't really know to check.

1. On your point that maybe the other apartments don't need to be registered as they could be let to the council?

Not the way it works. When you let your property to the council, it's for years 10 -15 years and they take it over, lock stock and barrel.

They chose the tenants for it, not the owner of the property. The owner would not be advertising the property and conducting viewings at all.

Furthermore, if he were in receipt of State payment for ANY kind of service, be that taking over his property, or supplying any other kind of product or service, a tax clearance cert is required for any kind of State contract.

I know this because my company has had a State contract some years ago, and a tax clearance cert was required.

You don't get the contract unless you can provide a tax clearance cert.

2. The OP said that the landlord doesn't live in the building, so no, not a licensee either.

3. I shouldn't be calling to criminalise or jail him without all the facts. lol.

The guy has admitted himself to committing two criminal offences.

Failure to register a tenancy and refusal of HAP.

So I make no apologies for calling someone out as a criminal, especially when they've admitted it themselves.

4. With regards to the revenue knowing who owns each property through LPT. So what?

Firstly, there's no guarantee he owns all three of these apartments.

One could be in his wife's name, one could be in his son or daughters name?

And even if his name is on all three, so what? There's no law against owning three properties.

As for the tenants paying tax from the other apartments.

Where's the law that prohibits a property owner from allowing a family member or friend live in their own property?

A property owner is perfectly entitled to have guests stay and live as long as they like.

And a citizen does not need to own or be renting a property in order to be able to use the address for their job.

Because the OP said this:

“I know it's an unreliable website but he actually said it himself that he won't be registering the tenancy because I asked him.”

………

I stand by my previous comments on the matter and have nothing else to add.

I think asking about the RTB registration is completely fair game. The only ones who would have any problem with this are ones you would almost certainly want to avoid anyway, like the one mentioned in your original post.

HAP is a little bit different. You don't need to mention it before renting imo. In theory, you can't be turned down for it, but if they have 4 interested parties and one wants to use HAP, and for whatever reason the LL doesn't want a HAP tenant, they can just pick one of the other ones and you'll never be able to prove the HAP was the reason. However, if they accept you, it's going to be a lot harder to turf you out afterwards for paying with HAP, even within the first 6 months. At that point, they'll also know that you are a reliable tenant who isn't going to wreck the place, so any prejudices they might have had will hopefully be over-ruled by thier desire to just avoid the hassle of trying to get someone out and rent it again.

If @YipeeDee is correct, this LL may just have not wanted HAP because they were operating in an under-handed way. Not registering the tenancy and possibly even not paying tax on rental income. Accepting HAP would mean they'd have to run it above-board, at least as far as the paperwork is concerned. I think most LLs would not have such an aversion to it in the first place, but it's still not something they need to know before you move in.