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€100,000 in fines and 22 Criminal convictions against Irish Landlords

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  • 11-04-2013 10:25am
    #1
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭


    Seems like the PRTB is on a crackdown against non-compliant landlords who aren't registering the tenancy (presumably to stay out of the tax net) They've secured 22 convictions in the last 3 months alone and have sent out 43,000 warning letters in 2012.

    As far as I know Revenue won't give BTL landlords mortgage relief on interest until they've proved that they have registered the tenancy with the PRTB. So this crackdown is likely to be on landlords who have been in the game much longer and are mortgage free.


    http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/landlords-fined-over-100000-for-tenancy-breaches-29188741.html
    MORE than €100,000 in fines and a total of 22 criminal convictions have been secured against Irish landlords in just three months for breaches of tenancy registration regulations.

    In just the past two weeks alone, five landlords have been convicted of failing to register tenancies despite repeated warnings to do so by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB).

    They were fined a combined total of €19,500 as well as being ordered to pay legal costs of €25,000.

    Figures seen by the Irish Independent revealed a major crackdown on landlords who have repeatedly ignored warnings to ensure all properties come under strict new tenancy regulations.

    A total of 43,000 warning letters have been issued by the PRTB alone since 2012.

    The five landlords prosecuted over the past fortnight include Brian Gilhooly of Hillcrest, Mulgannon, Co Wexford; David Stapleton of Garryhill, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow; Mr Philip Hogan of 41 Tara Court, Watergate, Limerick; Austin Broderick of Inch, Thurles, Co Tipperary and Catherine Harman of Mosskeigh Farm, Templemartin, Bandon, Co Cork.

    Dispute

    Since January 1, a total of 22 convictions have been secured over breaches of registration regulations.

    Under new rules, a landlord must register each tenancy at a cost of €90 each.

    PRTB director Anne Marie Caulfield stressed that every effort had been made to facilitate landlords but prosecutions would now be taken against all those who ignored warning letters.

    "We are co-operating very closely with other public sector bodies such as local authorities and the Department of Social Protection to identify unregistered landlords," she said.

    All five of the cases taken over the past fortnight involved landlords whose tenants were in receipt of rent supplement payments.

    A landlord, if convicted under the Residential Tenancies Act (2004) for failing to comply with a notice, faces a fine of up to €4,000 and/or six months' imprisonment along with a daily fine of €250 for a continuing offence.

    The PRTB was established under the 2004 Act and is a self-financing statutory agency whose function is the registration of all private rented accommodation and the provision of a dispute resolution service for both landlords and tenants.


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    #2
    quietsailor
    Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    about time, there are enough databases in the country to be able to cross check and figure out what houses are rented out by whom and if they are registered.

    The various government depts need to set up some sort of a joint review force and once a LL or tenant is highlighted with one dept all the depts check their files for these people.

    It will cost money to do, it may not even break even as regards costs vs monies paid but it would be worth it to catch these people and stop them. I'm sick of seeing threads on here where either the tenant won't pay rent or the LL won't return the deposit/carry out work. It's basically the same threads over and over again so they aren't one-off issues.


    Edit: Whoa, sorry for the rant, I wrote way more than I thought I had. I must be more pissed off about the topic than I realised


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    #3
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,991 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    I'm sure we all know people who rent out a property and don't have it declared. I know at least 2.

    When I rented out my 2nd property a couple of years back, I remember asking them for advice about how to go about it all, and when I asked them about tax returns I got a "what tax returns?" answer. Now I don't know if it was simply a refusal to declare it, or a genuine lack of knowledge that they had to make a tax return.

    But I'm guessing probably the former.

    I would say there are tens of thousands of rented properties in the state that are outside the tax system.


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    #4
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭RATM


    NIMAN wrote: »

    I would say there are tens of thousands of rented properties in the state that are outside the tax system.

    It certainly looks that way given that the PRTB sent out 43,000 warning letters in one year alone. Even if you were generous and said that each person got two warnings that is still 20,000+ non compliant landlords, some of whom would own multiple units.

    It would be interesting to find out how many units there rented in the entire country to ascertain the true extent of the problem.

    I wonder would Revenue chase non-compliant landlords for taxation, interest and penalties going back many years ? If so some people are going to get a shocker of a tax bill.


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    #5
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    RATM wrote: »
    I wonder would Revenue chase non-compliant landlords for taxation, interest and penalties going back many years ? If so some people are going to get a shocker of a tax bill.
    Of course they would, and rightly so.

    I am a landlord and pay every blasted tax they lump on me and don't even get to write off some genuine business expenses, but the answer is NOT tax evasion, it's a strong landlord's lobby group etc.

    The cases mentioned all rented to SW tenants on RS. If I was a tax cheat landlord I would most certainly not let to people on RS. I think the individuals prosecuted here are also guilty of gross stupidity.

    We should remember though that these warning letters were only for non-PRTB registration. It does not imply that the letters went to tax evading individuals. Some people likely thought the PRTB €90 to be a complete rip off (which it is) and decided not to pay it. If you had no mortgage or a very small one and had several tenancies relating to a single property in a given year (not uncommon) then paying the 90 quid would be more than you'd get back in interest relief.

    I would certainly agree though that Revenue should be targeting these folks for an audit now, to make sure.


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    #6
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,991 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    I think the whole idea of non-conforming landlords, along with the many people driving NI or UK cars in this country, are perfect examples of low-hanging fruit that could raise easy money for the state if the loopholes were followed up on and closed off asap.

    For me, it does appear that it would be a very difficult thing to investigate a lot of these people?


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    #7
    Ray Palmer
    Registered Users Posts: 8,355 ✭✭✭Ray Palmer


    quietsailor wrote: »
    about time, there are enough databases in the country to be able to cross check and figure out what houses are rented out by whom and if they are registered.

    The various government depts need to set up some sort of a joint review force and once a LL or tenant is highlighted with one dept all the depts check their files for these people.

    The data isn't the problem the legalities of data sharing is. The government can't turn around tomorrow and decide to share data among departments without requests. If they tried there would be instant uproar and it wouldn't happen with out a very long legal battle. Eventually EU would step in a simply say no.

    There is a reason for such laws and they should remain in place. There are legitimate dangers of data hacking and if it was all shared people could access all your data.

    As for the article it is a tiny amount of people. While people will often say report the LL what some will have missed is that we aren't talking about one letter being ignored, these people completely ignored the requests. The fines haven't been received and probably won't be in many cases. Good chance these people are in lots of debit so have no money to give hence they ignored requests.

    I am all for prosecution and fines given I pay my taxes, charges, PRTB etc... but don't be fooled by such a small amount of prosecutions.


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    #8
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭RATM


    Ray Palmer wrote: »

    As for the article it is a tiny amount of people. While people will often say report the LL what some will have missed is that we aren't talking about one letter being ignored, these people completely ignored the requests. The fines haven't been received and probably won't be in many cases. Good chance these people are in lots of debit so have no money to give hence they ignored requests.

    I am all for prosecution and fines given I pay my taxes, charges, PRTB etc... but don't be fooled by such a small amount of prosecutions.

    I wouldn't say the PRTB issuing warning letters 43,000 times is a tiny amount of people. As I said even if we're generous and allow two warning letters before people complied that is still 20,000 landlords who have been in breach of one regulation or other. Focusing on the 22 who were convicted is unhelpful- these 22 people obviously thought they were above the law and were pigheaded to get warning letters and not act upon them. In many cases these 20,000 odd landlords will have multiple properties so the extent of the non-compliance per effected tenant multiplies in itself.

    Those 22 convicted aside what we have here is a seriously big issue of landlords not complying with the PRTB.


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    #9
    Brownhead
    Site Banned Posts: 21 ✭Brownhead


    I think the RTB should put their own house in order before they go chasing anyone else. The RTB is far too slow to do anything and is useless.


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    #10
    Pawwed Rig
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 22,294 CMod ✭✭✭✭Pawwed Rig


    €100,000 seems like a very low amount tbh considering the fines are €4,000. So congratulations PRTB you have prosecuted 25 people since the start of the year. At that rate they should get around to all landlords who have not resistered in around 5,000 years.

    I love this part

    'The PRTB was established under the 2004 Act and is a self-financing statutory agency whose function is the registration of all private rented accommodation and the provision of a dispute resolution service for both landlords and tenants.'

    self financed? Really? I thought it was landlord financed.


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