Myself, my spouse and some of our children live in our present ppr in the midlands. Our full time jobs are there. We also have a property in another county where 1 of our children (student) lives and where I have a second part time job. From September, a second of our children (student) is moving to this property too and my work there will increase so I will be there every weekend. We are thinking of renting out a room in this property as demand is very high in the area and we need the money to pay college fees. Can we transfer our ppr legitimately to this property to avail of the rent a room scheme? There is no demand to rent a room in our house in the midlands. We are not planning on selling either property so CGT considerations should not apply (unless our circumstances change).
Changing PPR legitimately for tax purposes
- Thread starter Tadaima
- Start date
Brendan Burgess
Founder
- Messages
- 54,070
Do you have a mortgage on it? You could set the interest against the rent, maybe?
Thanks for the responses. Yes, I have a mortgage on it and am aware I could set the interest against it. But, I also don't want to find myself with a "tenant". I would prefer a licensee arrangement under the rent a room scheme for tax purposes (only if legitimate). Also, I will have 2 of my own teenagers (17 and 18 years old) living there during the week without me and if the person we are renting to does not work out, I want to be able to get them out quickly.
T McGibney
Registered User
- Messages
- 7,125
You can't 'transfer' your PPR. A property is or isn't your PPR at any given time depending on a host of circumstances at that time.
Whatever about the rent a room scheme, if you have teenagers living there, this may be a valid basis for treating any arrangement you make with a lodger as a licensee arrangement. You should get legal advice to confirm or debunk this idea.
This is interesting. So my teenager would then make the tax return I assume.
T McGibney
Registered User
- Messages
- 7,125
I wouldn't take that as Gospel by any stretch.
Update after discussing with the professionals:: Regardless of where either my spouse or I work, we can only have one PPR - in our case the property in the midlands. Too much would have to change for the second property to become our PPR. Our son could claim rent a room if the second property was in his name (not doing that) or if there was evidence he was paying us market rent (which we would pay tax, prsi etc on). There could be an issue with CAT if we rent the property to him under market rate. In other words, it is possible for him to claim rent a room but we would have to jump through hoops and pay the same tax regardless. We have therefore decided not to rent a room in this property as the after tax income is not worth the hassle, wear and tear and loss of privacy when I am working there.