Rent a room scheme may be extended to all landlords.

qwerty5 said:

Can they? Are there many rooms going for > €1000 a month. The going rate where I am, in Dublin, is about €600pm.
Plus you're not just renting the room. You're sharing the house. There is some inconvenience in that.

I'd argue it from the point that a landlord has much less rights than somebody renting to a lodger. I looked into renting a house out a few years ago. The risk to me wasn't worth the reward so I didn't bother.
For renting a room, we didn't want to do it at the time but after doing it for a few years now, we're happy to do it forever.

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Where I am 600 is the very minimum. €800 to 850 seems to be the average. some rooms are advertised at €1000/€1100. The highest level I saw was 1350, though in this case, there should be no tax benefits... With the current price I can charge, I don't get €850 after expenses, so not even close after tax (no mortgage).

By the way, I don't think there's any chance of getting that type of tax relief in the budget: too expensive, not popular and I am not convinced it would change that much in terms of housing short-term. Short term is all what matters for a lot of people/politicians. As a LL, I don't necessarily think it's a good use of taxpayers' money. I would say it would do very little.

I can't see them extending a €14k tax break to landlords without serious strings attached

Premos said:

By the way, I don't think there's any chance of getting that type of tax relief in the budget: too expensive, not popular and I am not convinced it would change that much in terms of housing short-term. Short term is all what matters for a lot of people/politicians. As a LL, I don't necessarily think it's a good use of taxpayers' money. I would say it would do very little.

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I was going to reply saying the same thing.

I can't see them extending a €14k tax break to landlords without serious strings attached.

I would say a €5k tax break is more likely.

They’re less likely to do anything that carries a ‘deadweight cost’. i.e. where it’s just rewarding something that’s already happening.

‘Rent a Room’ is clearly all about creating additional capacity that wasn’t previously there. It’s an incentive for someone to rent out a bedroom in their own home that would otherwise be vacant, thus creating capacity that wouldn’t exist otherwise.

It’s not the same as an arms length tenancy in an investment property.

A lot of this is ‘deckchairs on the Titanic’ stuff anyway. What’s needed is supply, and tradespeople to deliver that supply.

What is the point in stimulating demand for limited stock with tax-breaks? It’ll just encourage people like me to compete with potential homeowners and push prices up.