To sell or not to sell?


The point is you are "one of those", if you rent out before the 5 years are up you are an investor. Surely you understand and concede that the revenue for clarity purposes have to create definitions for these terms and how you act defines what you become? So by renting out within 5 years of purchase you become an investor, the only person you are fooling is yourself if think otherwise.

For the record, I understand your predicament as I was in the exact same one myself about 6 or 7 years ago, bought a place which really effected my quality of life, could just about keep my head over water financially, was actually living from my credit card once all bills were paid. Ironically it brought about my decision to live abroad (for a short period of time) which ended up me staying abroad (strange the way life turns out I bought in Dublin to settle down, ended up abroad to afford it, never moved back). The point is you do have options (that dont involve leaving Ireland) where you can make this work without putting your future financial self in jeopardy. Sit down, maybe get an accountant to help (any friends studying accountancy that could help you), and work out the financial impact of selling and renting, selling and upgrading, renting the whole place out (paying tax and SD clawback), renting a room out (clawback), not moving out but availing of offers from BoS as the owner occupier, looking at other outgoings cost of social life, holidays, car that maybe you could cut back on etc. and chosing the most financially viable one.

You arent going to get any support from AAM condoning avoiding the revenue, its up to you whether you ignore or follow advice on the forum, but you should bare in mind you could/may/will get caught. This financial discomfort you are feeling will only last a short while, till you are on your feet again. Do you want to risk getting hit with a big tax bill in 6 or 7 years time, putting you right back into a financial rut, due to decisions you make now?
 
Effectively, you want to exploit the property bubble before it comes crashing down...
FTB assistance is... not to enable you to make a killing or pay off all your debts such as your carloan.
No. I'm not trying to exploit anything. I'm in a situation and I just want to investigate if I can change it or benefit from it.

What is inherently unfair is a property market which enables people like you to do this, not the fact that if you rent the property out within 5 years of purchase you get a clawback. If you didn't know this on sign up, that's not our problem.
Yes I did know it on sign-up and perhaps I was being naive thinking I can get away with renting it out. I didn't know any better when making the statement but from everyone's remarks since I think I'm big enough and ugly enough to know when to back away from an idea.

If you want to play at being a landlord - and you don't sound like you'd be a good one to be honest - fine - but do it properly.
I don't want to 'play at being a landlord'. Being a landlord would have been a side-effect of moving out. I'm not some young greedy kid who wants to exploit the situation for massive investment gains. Like I said I'm just in a situation that I would like to investigate to see it can be improved. I apologise if I'm coming off as a spoilt brat looking to get away with murder but believe me that's not the type of person I am at all.

...such a person, in my view, is not a serious investor with an understanding of his responsibilities as a landlord...
You're right, I'm not a serious investor. No intention of becoming one either. And of course I have no understanding of my responsibilities as a landlord... because I'm not a landlord. It was a suggestion. I would make myself fully aware of any responsibilities before undertaking anything.
 
The point is you are "one of those"... by renting out within 5 years of purchase you become an investor, the only person you are fooling is yourself if think otherwise.
I can see how it might look but I personally wouldn't consider myself 'one of those' because long-term financial gain would not be my priority if renting the apt. Yes I'm looking to gain some extra cash flow each month but that's simply to ease my present situation. I'm not sure I would class that as 'investor gains'. Yes on paper I would be classed as an investor, and the majority of AAM users would class me as one but I know myself that is not what I want to be. But I'm going to hold me hands up on this one because like I said I'm being naive and if the law says I can't rent then I'm not going to. End of story.

Reading those lines above I've come to realise that I do have many options that don't involve selling. I think a good option for now would be to adopt the 'rent-a-room' scheme and also try and reduce the term to maybe 30 years, hopefully giving me some extra cash.

I really do appreciate all the comments from everyone (even the ones with knives attached ). I am taking everything on board all the time. Being young I don't know how all this works and all your advice has been invaluable. Thanks.
 
I agree with an earlier poster that youre more attractive on the singles market with a property than with 90k ;-)

Whether you are moving abroad or not, theres also the possibility of renting out the whole apartment instead of just one room and paying off the mortgage more quickly.

Im not sure where you would stand regarding FTB grants . maybe revenue would want it back.. but if youre genuinely moving abroad for work purposes and keeping it as your home in Ireland...
 
....But I'm going to hold me hands up on this one because like I said I'm being naive and if the law says I can't rent then I'm not going to. End of story.

The law does not state that you can't rent.

It says you cannot rent within five years of benefiting from an FTB tax advantage without returning some of that advantage to the exchequer. The issue surrounds your initial unwillingness to face a liability for stamp duty clawback.
 
Im not sure where you would stand regarding FTB grants . maybe revenue would want it back.. but if youre genuinely moving abroad for work purposes and keeping it as your home in Ireland...

Did you not read the 15-odd posts before your one?