Rent a Room Scheme Experiences

I've been doing it for a couple of years. Ill do it forever.

Print out a list of your rules and give them to people when they are viewing. If they're not happy with the rules they don't need to apply. In your rules let them know you have a child. Children cry, that's life. Obviously it's not your goal but they need to know they're sharing a house with a kid and there could be tantrums. They have to be OK with that. If not, they can move elsewhere.

One of my rules is just leave the common areas as you find them. We haven't had a problem with that ever.

Get them a dedicated space for food storage in the kitchen.

I include the bills in the rent (I.e. They just pay a set amount each month) . Simpler for them and me.

Plus I include some common stuff they can use (fruit, eggs, condiments, milk, washing powder etc.). Saves them buying bulky goods and saves on storage and realistically only costs me a couple of quid extra a week.

Get them to pay the rent to your bank account. It's easily auditable if required by Revenue. You just tell Revenue each year how much rent you took in. As long as its below the tax free allowance they don't care.

You can't just ask people to get Garda vetted. There are specific criteria involved and renting a room to someone isn't one of them.

It sounds like you can create a self contained unit and your tenant won’t be sharing kitchen/ bathroom?

you should also clarify rules re access to the garden if you have one, also where should the tenant park if they have a car. Where they can / should dry their clothes. Also rules re guests/visitors etc.

you also need to ‘accept’ that you are receiving rent in return for giving up some of your personal space. Takes some re-adjusting.

good luck with it

My main concern would be for the safety of the child. I think it would be prudent to accept only a female as a licencee, with one condition of their accomodation being that there can be no visitors unless you are informed a week in advance AND approve of the visitor.

It's totally reasonable to apply whatever rules you want re sex of the licensee in your own home.

Your child's safety is mostly due to your actions: basically don't leave the child unaccompanied with the lodger, any more than you would leave them with a sports coach, scoutmaster, etc.

Vetting is pretty irrelevant- all it shows is that a person has not been caught.

Your house, your rules. No prob IMHO, though it will cut down your pool of candidates.

You need to think about:

What rules you want (no noise, no visitors at all, no overnight visitors, no fúcking). If its the last one, be very clear about it.

And when they apply (all days or just when your kid is staying).

Can someone tell me how exactly to declare rent a room income to revenue using their online service please?

Just a suggestion but would it be possible for you to host an English language student? There are lots of agencies looking for hosts for anything from a few days to an entire school term. There are plenty of 18+ as well doing internships as well.

I can't see any mention of it on their online service, that would be too easy.

Maybe it'd fit in this section

Emp / Off / Pen not subject to PAYE

Income arising from an employment, office, pension or directorship that was not subjected to PAYE.

That's under Additional Incomes in Manage Your Tax for 2022 in MyAccount on Revenue.

I'd give them a buzz to be sure.

I used an accountant (not just for the rent a room) and the Form 11 they used has a section for Exempt Income where they put in the rent a room. You wouldn't want to do a Form 11 just for rent a room though. Major pain in the hole.

If your rental income is less than 5,000€ In the tax year you can use MyAccount; greater than 5k must be done via Form 11

the online Form 11 isn’t bad to complete, I do it every year

https://www.revenue.ie/en/property/rental-income/irish-rental-income/how-do-you-declare-your-rental-income.aspx

If you have no other income other than exempt ROR and employment income, you can use form 12.

How much amenities can you reasonably fit in 1 room?

Will the lessee be able cook and do their laundry?

I don't know this for certain, but I am assuming that it is possible that Revenue might consider your "visitor" to be a licencee for the purpose of income tax ............. while a court or the PRTB might consider them a tenant - thus accruing tenants rights.

it certainly will!

per https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/owning_a_home/home_owners/rent_a_room_scheme.html

"While renting out a room that is part of your home is not covered by landlord and tenant law, renting out a self-contained unit is covered"

It’s not considered separate; daft but any money you receive from the tenants is included in the 14k

The revenue do not care whether the person is a licensee or a tenant. All they care is that the taxpayer and the other occupant are under the same roof, even if there are 2 dewllings under the roof.

The RTB will consider the occupant of a self contained dwelling as a tenant.

One of my neighbours is doing RaR with a student since September. They rent an en-suite bedroom (first floor) plus use of a living area with mini kitchen which is in the converted garage. It is not actually self contained as the family and student use the same front entrance and the same staircase to the bedrooms but my neighbour said she rarely sees her student who doesn't use any of the family areas as the door into the converted garage is in the hall just inside the front door. Could the rtb deem that set-up a tenancy?

If you create a self contained unit, the tenant gets RTB rights with one small enough exception.

You may still qualify under the rent a room scheme for tax relief. if the unit and your residence are within the envelope of the same house.

Converting part of your home also devalues your property and also affects you insurance and mortgage as well as requiring planning permission.

Subdividing a planning unit always needs planning. Creating two dwellings where there is one is a sub-division. I know someone being summoned to court for doing just that.

Is a self contained unit one with a shared entrance and a shared kitchen?

I presume this setup would still fall under RAR?