Tips for homeowner new to Rent a Room scheme?

I've no experience in this but I've heard someone before saying they'll always go for someone from a different county in their 20s who are big into playing gaa, as those are the kind of people who will most likely be heading back to their homeplace most weekends playing matches etc.

Dont listen to sob stories. Go with your gut. You don't owe anyone anything that is looking to rent.

Know some people who do this, get students via University. They all seem to go home at weekends and rarely emerge from room when there.

If you looking for house mates company the student option may not be for you.

I'd double check that on the bills, as far as I know the €14k is the max rent you can take in for it to be tax-free and that anything they pay towards bills is separate to the max €14k. Someone else here might confirm this though as I'm not 100% sure.

Also definitely be upfront on your expectations on them having guests over. You don't want to be living with someone who's using your house trying to complete tinder. I've also been in houseshares where their partner was a regular enough visitor (which was fine for the most part) but eventually they just moved them in as we weren't vocal enough about it.

Shouldn't be - but to be 100% clear, they currently are.

When I did similar, I took a generously averaged amount for bills with the rent each week/fortnight/month, and then every 3 or 4 months did a square-up against the actual bills, and gave refunds. Saved arguments when people moved out part say thru a billing time.

I also only charged people for actual days they were allocated the room: if someone wanted to move out, they could go whenever they wanted and paid only pro-rate for the actual time they were there. No point in someone having a sour-grapes attitude around the place.

I wouldn't be so stressed about long cooking - slow cookers are built to be efficient. Heating can be more of an issue, but is still not enormous relative to the room-rent cost.

Be very clear up-front about parties, overnight guests and the like. Some will say you're being OTT - but it's your home, your rules.

Just to be clear.

Revenue document/ tax legislstion state that charges similar to food etc is included in the 14k, so if you charge room and board, laundry or any other service, the amount cannot exceed 14k.

Ultilities are not similar to the examples given.

You should get professional advice on the above rather than relying on asking random people (no offense intended), as to not charge bills based on current utilities rates could be ruinous and charging bills which could effect the 14k limit could result in a high tax bill.

Couple of things not noted here.

Its your house, the licensees staying with you have no rights. Don't give a lease and threats of the RTB mean nothing, your not bound by them. You can and should kick them out if they are difficult to live with, even to the point of packing up their stuff and dumping into the front garden(if it comes to it). A not insignificant amount of single room renters are nuts but you won't see it till they move in. You have to be a hard ass or they will walk over you and make your house hostile.

Larger deposits drive off people who are bad with money.

Keep a very close eye on your bills, crypto mining has become a serious problem in house shares.

To be honest, you (or the lodgers) can't be as worried about bills as you appear to be. It just turns into a disaster.

You can't realistically assess an "abnormal" amount of electricity? Is a 5, 10 or 15 minute shower allowed? What about a guy who takes twice the number of showers, but for half the length of time? What about cooking a roast dinner vs microwavable meals? How about standing charges that exist whether you use nothing or a lot?

Split them evenly, or if your lodger is away every weekend, split the bill by the total number of "person-days" and everyone pays a share.

eg: you there 7 days, 2 weekday lodgers at 5 days each. 7+5+5 = 17 "person-days"

€170 electricity bill. Split it €70/50/50. If that seems unfair for someone who is there Monday evening to Friday morning and goes out to work, versus someone who is there all weekend, adjust accordingly. But Make a ratio and stick to it. You can't go adjusting then for someone who is away for the odd night, or happens to stay one weekend.

I had a few lodgers for about 18 months, after my marriage ended. I was living in my house with a three year old so I have to be a bit choosey.

The first guy I picked was a language student who was a teacher in Turkey. He is a great guy and I still keep in contact with him. He was always super respectful around having friends over - asked me, gave me plenty of notice and cleaned up. He had his faults (his cleaning of common areas was only okay) but because he was such a good tenant I didn't mind. And the money was a lifesaver at a difficult time. I had a Spanish student afterwards who was grand but had her boyfriend around quite a bit. But it was till within the bounds I considered okay.

The final chap was terrible. He smoked in the house, even after I told him not to, left the heating on all the time, even over the summer because he liked swanning around in t-shirt and shorts, and had friends over more than I liked. I came home one Friday and he was smoking a joint in his bedroom. I had flagged it well in advance that my daughter and I would be around that weekend (we often went to my parents house in the country at the weekend). I kicked him out. I did give him a while to find a place but as far as I was concerned that was unforgivably foolish of him and he had no-one but himself to blame. I used to smoke a joint myself in my younger days, but doing that stuff around kids is a big no-no in my book. If nothing else, it would have serious implications for the looming custody fight in the family court if it came up. I was renting this room at a substantial discount because I understood that sharing with an owner occupier and a young child means that there are limits to what someone can do in the house.

I realised several things after the whole thing. Have your red lines, and flag them in advance. Be reasonable....it is going to be someone's home, but look at the things you really don't want to deal with, spell it out clearly and stick to them. Also, accept tenants based on their stability and sensibility, not on whether you find them interesting or entertaining company. I choose the last guy over a Scandinavian woman who annoyed me by saying that she wouldn't be available to babysit. I had never suggested I needed a babysitter and wouldn't have asked her anyway. But on reflection, she was just setting a boundary, which was a wise thing for her to do...even if it did come across as insulting. I choose the last tenant because he was charming, and from an asian country and I thought it would be fun to live with someone from a different country. But he was just a giant manchild.