Irish Property Owners Association – a ‘taxsault’ on property owners?

This is a statement sent out from the IPOA, it makes a lot of very valid points and also raises the spectre of cost-push inflation in rental costs. Nobody stands to gain from the current increase in rental costs, not the tenant, not the landlord who is using the increase to set off higher costs from taxes and other state imposed costs and certainly not the people who manage or live in rented property. The only beneficiary of this is the exchequer.

It has been reported that rental rates in some parts of the country are increasing, but that is hardly surprising given the enormous direct and indirect taxation levied on landlords.

The landlords’ national representative body, the Irish Property Owners Association (IPOA), invented a new verb to describe the situation – to “taxsault”.  And they said that is precisely what is happening now.  “Private landlords cannot be expected to subsidise the rising costs of letting,” said the IPOA’s Margaret McCormick. “They have to cover their costs including heavy mortgages, try to earn a sustainable income and pay their taxes, …

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Irish Property Owners Association budget 2013 response

The Budget failed to address one of the key issues for landlords in the private rental sector, who are providing good quality homes for in excess of 600,000 people.

The so called Local Property Tax, billed for the funding of local services, should be collected from the people using the services under the “Users Pays Principle”.  “This perpetuates a blatant unfairness in the system”, said Stephen Faughnan, Chairman of the Irish Property Owners Association. “This situation will inevitably result in rents having to rise, and represents another layer of of continuing unfairness.” Property Owners in the private rental market may now be forced to participate in an unfair tax code.

The only very slight crumb of comfort in the Budget for private landlords is that the inequitable Non-Principal Private Residence Charge and the Household Charge are being abolished, but their replacement with a Local Property Tax just continues the discrimination whereby tenants and a variety of others availing of local services do not have to directly pay for those services, unlike private home owners who may live next door.

In …

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The PRTB (Private Residential Tenancies Board)

If you rent a property which is covered by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 then you must register a tenancy with the PRTB, if you get the registration in within a month it will cost €70, if you are late it is €140. This fee gives the landlord virtually nothing and if you don’t register the PRTB can (in case of any dispute), defend the tenant but not accept any complaints from a landlord.

The fact that this is so one-sided is evidence that there is an anti-landlord undercurrent which is highly prevalent in Ireland goes so far as to be expressed in legislation. Contrary to popular belief, a landlord has very little ability to turf out tenants or behave in a manner which is one sided.

If you don’t register your tenancy you cannot offset mortgage interest against rental income, the laws on offsetting expenses (mortgage interest) for landlords have changed, and now you can only offset 75% of the interest against rental income, if you had this reduced to zero for not registering with the PRTB you could …

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