Rent increase query

Here is a good starting point:

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting-a-home/tenants-rights-and-responsibilities/tenants-rights-and-obligations/

And here - with some useful contact numbers where you can provide your exact circumstances and get some guidance as well as a list of FAQ's including rent increases:

https://threshold.ie/get-help/

"He says the rent no longer covers the mortgage on the property."
- Just a heads up to you OP, stating this is generally a pretty clear indication that your landlord is very amateurish OR just a bad landlord. A landlords costs (mortgage, tax, insurance, etc) are so individual to them that they should have no bearing on the rent. Tell him "extend the term, lower your payment, drop the rent?" (just kidding).

A rental investment does not need to cover the mortgage to be profitable, only the mortgage interest payments.

If the rent has been covering the mortgage before now, it means the OPs landlord was getting a free house paid for by the OP. No other investment comes close to that level of return. It is pure price gouging.

Professional landlords (as opposed to amateurs) will seek a rental yield that covers the cost of capital (interest on mortgage) + some extra % for risk and effort involved. They would not seek or hope to achieve the entire capital repayments being covered by rent.

OP your landlord is a cowboy

OP, wait for the landlord to come back to you with their proposal for a rent increase, if you are in an RTB, the most it can be increased is 2% per year. If it is not in an RTB, they cannot increase the rent until you have been in the property 2 years, then they can bring it to market level, if they choose.

The landlords bills are not your problem any more than your bills are their problem, but since they have only one property, the relationship between landlord and tenant can be different, oftentimes much better than with a professional landlord.

There is lots of bad advice given above , ignore that, as you could see if you read their other posts, they are completely anti-landlord- all landlords bad, all tenants good. They seem to have a serious chip on their shoulder and get joy from seeing landlords in such dire straits that they need to sell their property. This has absolutely no benefit to tenants, and definitely is of no benefit to you. If it were me, I would see what the landlord says, then keep the lines of communication open and friendly, going in with your chest out, as has been suggested above, will definitely make the landlord want to sell and be done with it, especially if he is paying extra money to cover the mortgage.

Personally, I would not be buying any property that did not cover the mortgage and expenses from the rent, considering that I would have had to put in a deposit and risk losing the property and the risk of bad tenants, which could costs me many nights of lost sleep and tens of thousands of euro in lost rent and repairs.

Ye are both human, and both adults, hope it works out well for both of you.

Unfortunately increased costs will generally be passed onto the end user. The important question for you is when was the rent last increased. The landlord can increase the rent at up to 2% per year since the last increase. So that could be anywhere between 2-16%. Have a look on the RTB website there is a guide as to how the rent review should be performed.

OP you say that you receive hap.

I wonder could you consider approaching your local authority about purchasing it?

The opinion that the received rent from an asset must cover the mortgage payments entirely or else you need to up the rent charged is pure cowboy logic. The tenant in this instance is giving the landlord a house for free - landlord only has to stump up enough deposit to get a mortgage, then the tenant pays the rest of the way.

It is completely unrealistic view of an investment. You are still making profit so long as your received rent covers mortgage interest (not full mortgage payment) and any depreciation of the asset (house prices are still rising so depreciation is negligible)

@timmyntc

Your view is over simplistic. I will leave it at that.

Post #21, the OP says they are not in a controlled area.

Not that it's any help to OP here, but:

If the landlord cannot afford the mortgage payments without having the tenant cover them entirely, they should not be a landlord.

Right now the OP is close to paying an entire mortgage on a property (HAP covering some) but their landlord is benefiting from the ownership with almost nothing put into it themselves except the deposit for mortgage.

OP make sure your landlord gives you proper written notice of everything from rent increase to any possible eviction in future if it arises. If proper notice isn't given then their request is invalid, and you would have a strong case at the RTB. Don't be afraid to stand up for your rights

What is the bad advice? Or are you just continuing to project a victim mentality for no reason?

no need for the hysteric dramatics about "landlords in such dire straights that they need to sell the property". The OP only said the landlord was moaning that (due to the landlords own bad management) the rent no longer covers their interest an capital repayments. One shouldn't be in any business if they don't have the financial capacity, or planning wherewithal, to be able to ride out minor bumps. There are a lot of the entitled handout brigade out there though that they are too special for normal common sense to apply to them. They have to be able to manage their cashflow