Many thanks for the latest replies mf1 and Clubman. Before I read them I rang Revenue just to clarify the situation and their info was exactly the same as yours, ie no sliding scale (which strikes me as a bit unfair, but anyway....). And mf1 was spot on with his calculation on what the clawback would be, about E14,000....which, needless to say, has ended any plan I ever had to rent out my house!
Really not sure what to do now. I genuinely have
no interest in going down a shady route - eg pretending I still live there full-time and renting out a room(s), or finding tenants who are happy to do everything under the table (as a letting agent I spoke to last week suggested I do) - because I just don't want to live in fear of Revenue catching me, and then having to pay the penalties. I could claim I object to the 'shady route' for moral reasons, but I'd be lying, it's just the fear of being caught.
If any of you were in this situation what would you do?
I know all discussion of the property market is banned here so I won't go down that route, but just as a point of information I've tried to sell the house with no success, despite the asking price being dropped from E390,000 to E350,000 (and falling).
Circumstances mean I cannot live in the house for the forseeable future, the clawback (which I cannot afford) makes it impossible to rent it out. Is there any other option you can think of?
Many thanks again for the advice.
PS mf1 - meant to clarify, it wasn't a new house when I bought it. Although it looks like new now