# Advice needed regarding tenant request to understate rent?



## KAZZA (17 Sep 2013)

This is my 2nd year renting out my house. 

I have not registered wit PRTB yet but will be doing this week. I am living between UK and Ireland so am not receiving social welfare and I am unemployed and looking for work. Am I due to pay tax on rental income?

New tenant is applying for rent relief and has asked me to give her new lease saying she is paying 800 instead of the 850 which is rent amount. She says in order to receive % of rent allowance when she goes back to work, could I so this up for her? I don't want to lie or get into trouble but I already have had problems with her paying rent and if she doesn't get rent allowance I won't get paid?? 

Any advice would be great.


----------



## cremeegg (17 Sep 2013)

Profit on rental income is taxable. If your total income is low you will have little tax to pay.

You would be better off without this tenant. Is your property in a good letting area, if so I would refuse and hope she leaves. 

If you would have difficulty attracting another tenant you might consider it, but I would be reluctant. People who bring you problems seldom bring only one.


----------



## Trustmeh (17 Sep 2013)

Plus one.

I had to reread to catch the new lease part! Dangerous ground that. And agree slippery slope, im guessing she has already or will soon slip in other ways. She will see you as an easy touch.

Did she pay a months deposit and a full months rent before she was given keys? Or did u let that slide?


----------



## shesells (17 Sep 2013)

If you lie on the contract, you can't legally enforce a higher rent. As the others have said, the writing is already on the wall with this tenant. Time to move on.


----------



## SarahMc (18 Sep 2013)

In most cases Rent Allowance is paid to the tenant monthly, and there are many cases of the tenant not passing it on to the Landlord. There isn't really any penalties for this. If she has been a sporadic/late payer in the past, there is no guarantee this will change just because she gets awarded Rent Allowance.

By putting a lower rent on the form you are also fraudulently completing an official document. I don't know what she means when she tells you it is to have a % of rent allowance when 'she goes back go work'.


----------



## Bronte (18 Sep 2013)

SarahMc said:


> By putting a lower rent on the form you are also fraudulently completing an official document. I don't know what she means when she tells you it is to have a % of rent allowance when 'she goes back go work'.


 
I didn't understand this either, but maybe it's someone who is out of work in the summer months, like a lecturer not employed full time. 

OP my advice to you is if you want to keep the tenant, then reduce the rent to 800€. That's what I did last year or thereabouts when they reduced the rates, which they've since increased for certain counties.  It's a big hassle for tenant's to get the rent allowance, and these are people on very basic amounts and anything can trip them up, so I just go along with the system as I know what grief they can get, otherwise they'd be getting it from all sides.


----------



## KAZZA (18 Sep 2013)

Thanks for all the advice. She is starting work this Friday so she says she is only going to receive half of the rent supplement but only if I fill out the form she wants to say she is only paying €800. She also mentioned PRTB or NPPR or evidence of building insurance policy? I did get a deposit from her and a months rent up front.
Im reluctant to furnish her with a new lease with a different amount than I am actually getting as if revenue decide to check me out I will have lied to them. I have registered with the PRTB and had to give the amount of rent I was receiving so will be caught out some way. 
Sorry for all the questions etc but I am lost and new to all this and have not got a clue. Do I have to register with local county council too or just with revenue and the prtb?
Thanks


----------



## Bronte (19 Sep 2013)

KAZZA said:


> She also mentioned PRTB or NPPR or evidence of building insurance policy? I did get a deposit from her and a months rent up front.


 
This is also for the rent allowance people, some of them are asking for this as it helps to prove there really is a landlord.  

You've again asked what to do about the rent, choice is make a false declaration or not.   Another way to decide is do you really want to go down the road of doings things wrong from the beginning.  It's not worth it.  

In relation to your other questions, have you looked up revenue.ie, the key thread on here in relation to landlords, the posts about landlords.  Have you hired an accountant?


----------



## Allen (24 Sep 2013)

If you sign a lease saying the rent is €800, do you think the tenant will actually pay you more than this?


----------



## Janet (24 Sep 2013)

I don't understand what she means either. If she had asked you to overstate it, that might make some sense (i.e. if she gets 50% of her rent paid then saying it's 900 gets her more than saying it's 800) although I'm not familiar enough with how social welfare payments for rent work to really know. 

I think I vaguely remember my brother telling my once that he wasn't allowed to spend over a certain amount on rent, even though he wasn't getting the full amount from SW and had to top it up out of his dole money anyway. Could it be that she's not supposed to rent somewhere more expensive than 800? But whatever the reasoning behind it, as others have said, if she has 800 in writing, you might never get more than that and, falsifying anything is bound to lead to issues somewhere down the line.


----------



## Bronte (24 Sep 2013)

Janet said:


> I think I vaguely remember my brother telling my once that he wasn't allowed to spend over a certain amount on rent, .


 

That is correct, their are ceiling's on the max rents that can be paid, even if the tenant is willing to pay more.


----------



## Capricorn 1 (24 Sep 2013)

Tenants can only get a certain amount of rent allowance according to where they live.  See link to table:
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Maximum-Rent-Limits-by-County.aspx

This tenant is probably only allowed €800 and wants to pay you €50 under the table.  This is not a good idea as if you draw up a lease with the wrong amount and inform the PRTB differently, you will be making a false declaration.  Also, if a dispute arises in the future, it will be difficult to explain the different amounts to PRTB etc.


----------

