Problematic House Inheritance

E

eirman

Registered User
Messages
121
A friend of mine is approaching pension age.
He has not made enough contributions to qualify for a contributory pension and the means test for the non-contributory pension will be a problem.

His own house is on the same piece of land as his parent's house.
He inherited the parent's house. It's lying empty.

The house is probably worth a notional 100K.
A future motorway may force a cumpulsory purchase order, so no one is ever likely to purchase it.
It would need a lot of investment to bring it up to a standard where it could be let out.

It's essentially a valueless house which is causing great angst as the pension age approaches.

My question is .......
Could a "change of use" be obtained for this burdensome house, converting it into storage.
He is prepared to do anything to the house, necessary to make it uninhabitable.
 
Last edited:
Bronte said:
Why not demolish it.
Click to expand...
He's seeking a less extreme solution.
(Back in the 18/19th century, impoverished gentry removed their roofs to avoid property taxes.)

Perhaps legally 'merge' the two property into one (one being a lodge or a store)
 
The obvious approach would be to put it on the market to see if it attracts any offers instead of relying on what might or might not happen
 
If it sold for 50k he would fail the 20k means test.
I suppose he could buy a 50k car/painting/rolex.

For some anomalous reason it was never listed for LPT (but it has an Eircode).
As far as I know, change of ownership of house was by way of Assent (no stamp duty was payable and Revenue were not alerted.)

Perhaps if he stripped out all the furniture and used it for storing hay, he would not have to declare it.
 
Last edited:
I suggest the starting point would be to ask a local auctioneer to value the property. Until you have that it is all guesswork.
 
Am I right in thinking that the difference in the two pensions is €248.30 (Contributory) and €156.60 (Non-contributory) = €91.70 at the moment?

If an estate agent were to value the house at anything significant it might be worth his while to do it up and sell and it would possibly take a long time to use up the €97.70 difference in pensions that he will profit by the sale of the house.

Another option might be to investigate having the Eircode removed and deem the house to be uninhabitable.

I would be more worried about not having paid any LPT fees that were due down through the years and any fines that may apply as a result of that.

Perhaps my thinking above is off the wall as usual :) I'm sure others here will find plenty of faults in my ramblings :) :)
 
There only a €11.30 difference between the 2 pensions.

There are no fines related to LPT arrears and the 4% interest charge is not being applied at the moment.
The Household Charge of €100 is doubled for non-payment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top