Renting out first time buyer house

Hi all,
Hopefully someone can shed some light on this subject.

I bought a house, and was liable to the first time buyers grant, so paid no stamp duty. I have been living in the house for the past 1year 4months. The problem is that now due to work I have to move out of the county where I bought the house, and to the otherside of the country.

I understand that if I rented the house, I would be liable for stamp duty clawback. I've done some research and understand that I have to have the house as my primary residence for 2 years before renting in order to avoid the stamp duty clawback.

My question is, due to the fact for work I need to move, is there a loop hole where the government will allow rental of the house in situations where its not physically possible to occupy the house?

Any advise is much appreciated.

Thanks

Pretty sure there's no loophole. Your only option to avoid paying clawback is to wait until you've owned the house for two years before renting it out. However, if you have to leave the house unoccupied you may be in breach of insurance / mortgage conditions, so this may not be possible. [insurance may be void if a house is unoccupied for a substantial period - check terms and conditions].

It should be relatively easy for you to amend the insurance on the house if it is unoccupied. Terms of the insurance will change.

Work out how much rent you would get for the remainder 8 months of the 2 yr period and work out what amt of stamp duty you would be liable for. This should give you an idea as to whether you should wait or not.

Can you not maintain it as your principal residence and rent out a room for less than €10,000 a year? It's only for 8 months, so it's not too bad.

Brendan