Should i Rent or sell my house ?

No Agenda, and no case to rent out the property. Its a clear sell decision for me (or maybe leave vacant until settled and then sell)

Most tenants are good people, but we have created an insane rental market in Ireland. We actively support overholding and a process of legal eviction that can take over 2 years, even if the tenant is not paying rent. If you get a bad tenant, it will cost a fortune. If OP rents out the property, they will still be liable to pay tax in Spain, and will have to do tax returns in Spain as well as Ireland. Then there is dealing with any issues that arise in the property while living in a different country - how are property visits etc going to work. Anyone who believes that being a landlord is "hands off" has never been a landlord. What if OP decides to give up on Spain and return to Ireland - all the capital is tied up in a rental property and there is limited chance of getting access to the property they own in any kind of short timeframe. As bad as things are now, another anti-landlord measure is just around the corner. Then the OP will be liable to a CGT liability in a couple of years time when they do sell, even if the value of the property stays flat.

There is no way renting sounds like a viable option to OP.

No CGT payable on the sale of a PPR, which I'm assuming is the case in the OP.

There would be CGT on the rise in value during the years it was rented, if the OP decides to go that way. As well as income tax for those years as well.

I've just got rid of a single property that I have rented for the last 20+ years, and would have happily continued renting for the next 20, if the risk/reward balance had not shifted so far to risk. Absolutely not worth it IMO - you might be fine, but you might not - and if a tenant goes rogue it can go very, very wrong.

Avoid renting for all the reasons mentioned. Unfortunately, in present day Ireland, leaving it vacant is a better option if you're not sure you want to sell.

I'd sell, new life elsewhere having to worry about property back home which was still mine is hassle I could do without.

What proportion of renters act as you say? Undoubtedly some should never be given a rental. But are we talking 1%, 5%??? Many renters are decent ordinary people who pay their rent on time, look after the property and behave well towards their neighbours etc.

I point out again that most if not all adults in Ireland will have rented or be renting at some stage of their life. If they haven't, then they've either lived with Mammy & Daddy or born with a silver spoon and a family with a string of properties. The fact that most people who are small scale landlords now will have rented themselves should inform the discussion more. Less of the blackguarding of tenants.

Nobody is blackguarding tenants who play by the rules. Its well known there are rogue bad tenants who dont pay rent and thrash properties.

Demonising landlords who play by the rules is not on either, but the dogs in the street know that landlords have regularly been criticised by the media and blamed for all the problems in the market. Also, they are constantly vilified by some elected public representatives. Its pretty nasty behaviour and shameful to hear those td's speaking about one section of our citizens like that.

Its well known there are thousands of rentals that tick along with no issues. Its unfortunate that the government didnt take those folks into consideration when they started changing the regulations.

i've been reading here on boards for years that the changes were all one-sided and landlords would leave which is exactly what happened. Now things are worse for everyone because the rules were changed to appease the opposition and tenant charities who were advocates for the small % who didnt obey the rules. Bad cases make for poor laws comes to mind yet there's more populist legislation on the way where the control that landlords have on their property will take another hit in favour of tenants. The rental market here = death by a thousand cuts.

Looking from a renters perspective, I'd be unwilling to rent somewhere if there was any suggestion that it might be short term and that the deciding factor would be up to a LL, who may or may not decide their move is permanent (no offence to the OP), one would hope that this would be clear at the start of any lease.

The OP should possibly consider contacting companies who have an international workforce where accommodation is required on a continuous short term basis, that way, if they decide their move is not permanent then they won't have a permanent tenant in place.

You know it's not the law that rent is taxed at 52% don't you?

I get your analogy here, but not your logic, as this would mean no-one should drive a car would it not? Maybe I am misunderstanding, apologies if this is the case.

All investments involve an element of risk, people contemplating any investment should (imo) do it on a long term basis, over the course of 20 years (or more), yes they might get a bad tenant, but they may get 10 goods ones.

I think the OP (and others considering same) shouldn't rent out their home because at the moment they simply don't know if the move is permanent.

It's entirely dependent on other relatively high income whether the rental income would hit 52%.

My point is that it's not a given

Not true. That’s only a withholding tax.

In a similar enough position at the moment, just finishing an 18 renovation and had always planned to move into the new house and rent out the existing one.

We were really thinking of selling but have decided to make it available to Ukrainian refugees via the local council.

You get 800e a month tax free and you only have to commit for 6 months at a time.

We are waiting for clarification whether it will set the rent benchmark for PRTB purposes. If it does we will leave it empty and pay the mortgage down monthly.

The 800e is less than 50% of the market rate locally for rent. But considering the tax rate and potential of a SF government its a no brainer for now. We will reasses in a few years.

Might be something to consider