Rent a room scheme

O

orange

Guest
Hi,

I was a first time buyer when I purchased my house 3 years ago (therefore exempt from stamp duty). Since then I have been living in the house and renting out rooms under the "rent a room scheme" .

I have now been offered a job in Australia. If I move there I would like to keep my house (as it is my own private residence) and I would like to continue to rent out the rooms under the rent a room scheme". Can I do this? Is there anything I should be aware of?

thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Thanks for your comment.

I've been doing some research on this and it also says that if I have someone living there on my behalf you can still do the rent a room scheme. So If I don't charge rent to someone who will live in the house instead of me, I can still carry on with the rent a room scheme eventhough I'm not actually living there. Do you know anything about this rule? Would I need to register this person somewhere?
 
orange said:
I've been doing some research on this and it also says that if I have someone living there on my behalf you can still do the rent a room scheme.
Click to expand...

Strange. Can you provide link or document reference for that ?


www.citizeninformation.ie said:
Your home must be in Ireland and must be occupied by you during the year of assessment as your principal private residence.
Click to expand...
 
This is from the citizens information website

"First-time buyers
A first-time buyer is defined as a person (or where there is more than one buyer, each person):
Who has not on any previous occasion, either individually or jointly, purchased or built on his or her own behalf a house in Ireland or abroad
Where the property purchased is occupied by the purchaser (or a person on his or her behalf) as his or her only or principal place of residence
Where no rent (except under the Rent a Room Scheme) is derived from the property for up to 5 years after completion of the purchase - see 'Clawback of stamp duty relief' below. "
 
The definition of FTB is not relevant to your question about rent-a-room. Rent a room is available to any home owners. I'd imagine the text you quoted is for FTBs who buy a house for e.g. their parents to live in. It also only relates to stamp duty clawback, which is different again from rent-a-room.

Now, if you found that same paragraph with a heading "Rent a Room", you'd be set, but I don't think it exists unfort.

Because you bought your house more than 2 years go, you would not be liable for stamp duty clawback if you rented it out. But, if you move to Australia and are not living there, you will be renting it out (in the normal sense) and will have to pay tax (and register with all the relevant tax/PTRB folks) on the rental income.
 
Slightly related to this topic...what do you have to do to register for the rent a room scheme, or do you need to do anything? Bought a house in August, but because of a mortgage moratorium, don't start paying back mortgage til the end of this month. I've been renting a room to someone who is a student claiming rent allowance. I filled out all the forms for him, but haven't had to do anything else. Does this sound right?

Also, slightly unrelated. I filled out a form for mortgage tax relief just after I bought the house and sent it back, but haven't received anything back saying how much tax relief I'm getting, or how much my final mortgage repayments will be. Is this normal?

Thanks!!
 
Your only obligation is to complete a tax return - outlining 'rent a room' income. I take it the form you completed was the one for the lodger to claim back the tax allowance right?
 
Yeah, it was one he needed to submit to his college course for them to pay his rent allowance.

So do I need to download this form or what? Thanks!!
 
WaterSprite said:
Guys, this is a different OP. S/he's living in the house, so no NPPR fee here.

loukkcat, the form you need to fill out is the Form 12 tax return (if you are a PAYE worker) - have a search on the Revenue site for info on rent-a-room.
Click to expand...
Was responding to the OP. Didn't realise someone else had tacked on a different scenario half way through.
 
Howitzer said:
Was responding to the OP. Didn't realise someone else had tacked on a different scenario half way through.
Click to expand...

Yep, I figured, but just wanted to clarify for loukcat. Orange would have to pay the €200 NPPR fee, loukcat wouldn't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register