Rent relief questions

missmatty

I rented an apartment with a friend during the boom, think it was from 2004-2008, we paid 600E a month each. I brought up the question of rent relief with the landlady once but it didn't go down too well. We had paid our electricity bills the whole time but we only paid the gas bill the first two times it came in, the landlady intercepted it and paid it after that. So she said that since she had paid those bills there was no need to apply for rent relief as she had saved us that amount anyway. I left it as I didn't want any hassle from her, she knew i thought that was a crap excuse but she was crafty so I didn't want to take her on. I moved out of there nearly two years ago now. Could I apply retrospectively for this money? As far as I am aware I am legally entitled to it, it was her own decision to pay those bills and she didn't discuss it with us.

A second question: the place I moved to is owner-occupied, can I claim relief on that also? I was on the revenue website but it didn't give much info. Thanks!

meditraitor

missmatty wrote: »

I rented an apartment with a friend during the boom, think it was from 2004-2008, we paid 600E a month each. I brought up the question of rent relief with the landlady once but it didn't go down too well. We had paid our electricity bills the whole time but we only paid the gas bill the first two times it came in, the landlady intercepted it and paid it after that. So she said that since she had paid those bills there was no need to apply for rent relief as she had saved us that amount anyway. I left it as I didn't want any hassle from her, she knew i thought that was a crap excuse but she was crafty so I didn't want to take her on. I moved out of there nearly two years ago now. Could I apply retrospectively for this money? As far as I am aware I am legally entitled to it, it was her own decision to pay those bills and she didn't discuss it with us.

A second question: the place I moved to is owner-occupied, can I claim relief on that also? I was on the revenue website but it didn't give much info. Thanks!

Rent relief is worth bugger all, and certainly less than a years gas bill, leave it be and move on.

D3PO

you can only claim back 5 years i believe so only back as far as 2005 you can reply retrospectively.

Cookie_Monster

meditraitor wrote: »

Rent relief is worth bugger all, and certainly less than a years gas bill, leave it be and move on.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
up to €400 a year is not bugger all

and probably more than I'd pay for gas for a year once bill split between people in the apt

Zamboni

I'd hazard a speculative guess that she was not paying her income tax and bribed you off with the gas bill instead of rent relief.
I think you need her tax number to claim the relief back so unless you have that I'd move on.

missmatty

Yes, a thousand quid or more over the four/five years is not nothing to me If I am eligible for my current place I'll definitely apply. The point with the previous place was that we signed up for the rent and full bills and she subsequently decided to pay one of the bills herself without asking us. I assumed originally she was registered as we got the place through an agency but she probably wasn't, and didn't want me to apply for the rent relief.

I've heard you can apply using only the address of the rented place?

D3PO

Zamboni wrote: »

I think you need her tax number to claim the relief back so unless you have that I'd move on.

no you dont. you are asked for the PPS number on the form if you leave it blank you still get your relief

Suzyq

Yep, I got it with only the address and the relief was applied no problem so I guess it's the same for back claiming it.

meditraitor

missmatty wrote: »

Yes, a thousand quid or more over the four/five years is not nothing to me If I am eligible for my current place I'll definitely apply. The point with the previous place was that we signed up for the rent and full bills and she subsequently decided to pay one of the bills herself without asking us. I assumed originally she was registered as we got the place through an agency but she probably wasn't, and didn't want me to apply for the rent relief.

I've heard you can apply using only the address of the rented place?

Will you repay the gas bills?

meditraitor

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
up to €400 a year is not bugger all

and probably more than I'd pay for gas for a year once bill split between people in the apt

€400 a year in gas bills is tiny, even €800 (2 people) is probably smaller than the average yearly bill.

Partizan

meditraitor wrote: »

Rent relief is worth bugger all, and certainly less than a years gas bill, leave it be and move on.

I got €1,707.60 in the post this week from claiming back rent all the way back to 2007.

Yeah its worth bugger all. :rolleyes:

Zamboni

D3PO wrote: »

no you dont. you are asked for the PPS number on the form if you leave it blank you still get your relief

Surely that insane. Paying out rent relief on a property where the landlord may not be declaring tax on its rental?
Must be wide open to abuse.

Partizan

missmatty wrote: »

I rented an apartment with a friend during the boom, think it was from 2004-2008, we paid 600E a month each. I brought up the question of rent relief with the landlady once but it didn't go down too well. We had paid our electricity bills the whole time but we only paid the gas bill the first two times it came in, the landlady intercepted it and paid it after that. So she said that since she had paid those bills there was no need to apply for rent relief as she had saved us that amount anyway. I left it as I didn't want any hassle from her, she knew i thought that was a crap excuse but she was crafty so I didn't want to take her on. I moved out of there nearly two years ago now. Could I apply retrospectively for this money? As far as I am aware I am legally entitled to it, it was her own decision to pay those bills and she didn't discuss it with us.

A second question: the place I moved to is owner-occupied, can I claim relief on that also? I was on the revenue website but it didn't give much info. Thanks!

Its sounds like your landlady was not paying her full tax. Dont say a word and fill out the online form at www.revenue.ie

You dont need your landlady's PPS no. Just fill out the form and make your claim.

Partizan

Zamboni wrote: »

Surely that insane. Paying out rent relief on a property where the landlord may not be declaring tax on its rental?
Must be wide open to abuse.

Thats the LL's problem, not yours. Get your money back, money that you are entitled to and LL will get a nice letter in the post.

meditraitor

Partizan wrote: »

I got €1,707.60 in the post this week from claiming back rent all the way back to 2007.

Yeah its worth bugger all. :rolleyes:

Do you know how much a yearly gas bill is? ye thats bugger all compared to a 3 years GAS. Thats my point

missmatty

meditraitor wrote: »

Will you repay the gas bills?

I don't owe her anything, and I didn't ask her to pay those bills either. She got an awful lot of rent off us on a property that she wasn't even paying a mortgage on. Her elderly sister-in-law lived downstairs and we kept an eye on her and were model tenants while we were there. I don't know why you are obsessed with gas bills.

Ste.phen

So it's OK for someone to evade tax like that if they pay for some gas?
In effect,The landlady bribing the OP to not claim their entitlements from the Revenue, on the assumption that the landlady may some day be caught out?

Screw that, claim your relief and say no more about it.

Zamboni

Scary stuff.
By all means claim your rent relief.
Must admit I am shocked that a tenant does not need to fill in the landlord pps number.
Its such an obvious control check for Revenue to make that compulsory.

meditraitor

missmatty wrote: »

I don't owe her anything, and I didn't ask her to pay those bills either. She got an awful lot of rent off us on a property that she wasn't even paying a mortgage on. Her elderly sister-in-law lived downstairs and we kept an eye on her and were model tenants while we were there. I don't know why you are obsessed with gas bills.

You were too cowardly to speak to her at the time and didnt give out abot her paying your gas bills and now you want to report her to the taxman so you can get your 40 pieces of silver, fair enough.

Enjoy

coco06

how about you tell the landlady you are thinking of claiming it back and she might just give you the cash upfront to save her being checked out??

missmatty

Excuse me Meditraitor, I did speak to her about paying our gas bills while I was still living there. She said it was fine, not to worry about it. It was pulled out later as ammunition when I had the decency to mention to her beforehand that I was applying for my rent relief. I could have applied away without mentioning it to her (which I should have done) but I thought I'd be open enough to discuss it with her.

If you have no more constructive advice than trying to make me out to be a bitch then leave it.

meditraitor

missmatty wrote: »

If you have no more constructive advice than trying to make me out to be a bitch then leave it.

State in you post that you only want palitable constructive posts if thats what you want, I am just saying what I see.

You were happy to take the gas bill at the time and now you want to claim what you deserve ( or pound of flesh), what a crap country this is becoming

2c

wobblyknees

meditraitor wrote: »

State in you post that you only want palitable constructive posts if thats what you want, I am just saying what I see.

You were happy to take the gas bill at the time and now you want to claim what you deserve ( or pound of flesh), what a crap country this is becoming

2c

+1

Having said that, I'd probably do the same myself. Just wouldn't make it obvious or make it out that I am completely in the right by doing so.

missmatty

Thanks for your opinions guys.

Back to my second question; does anyone know if rent relief is available if you are living in an owner-occupied place?

D3PO

missmatty wrote: »

Thanks for your opinions guys.

Back to my second question; does anyone know if rent relief is available if you are living in an owner-occupied place?

yes it is

shoegirl

Zamboni wrote: »

I'd hazard a speculative guess that she was not paying her income tax and bribed you off with the gas bill instead of rent relief.
I think you need her tax number to claim the relief back so unless you have that I'd move on.

Once you have her name and address or the name/address of the letting agent it can be chased from there.

Its worth about 240 a year per person. Not to be sniffed at.

angel01

I am looking to claim rent relief myself, going back to 2006 till now, is there any way roughly I can calculate how much of a refund that I could get?

I was paying out roughly 1200 a year in rent.

NewDirection

angel01 wrote: »

I am looking to claim rent relief myself, going back to 2006 till now, is there any way roughly I can calculate how much of a refund that I could get?

I was paying out roughly 1200 a year in rent.

I could be wrong, but 1200 *20% = €240 a year. There's a cap of €400 a year.


On OP's question. Claim away, your entitled to the money. Don't mind all the people here criticizing you for not trying to protect a tax dodger.

eden_my_ass

Zamboni wrote: »

Scary stuff.
By all means claim your rent relief.
Must admit I am shocked that a tenant does not need to fill in the landlord pps number.
Its such an obvious control check for Revenue to make that compulsory.

It seems a balanced risk, the revenue will pay out a reasonably small sum, in return they will get names that almost certainly are real landlords. This allows them to audit those individuals and make sure they're paying the much higher income tax the rent would have led to (except for owner occupiers in rent-a-room...makes little sense here but easier to implement a common scheme). So for a small outlay, they probably rake in a huge amount of under the counter landlords and hit them with fines if necessary. One of the few government agencies with a real flare for the job!

Cookie_Monster

meditraitor wrote: »

€400 a year in gas bills is tiny, even €800 (2 people) is probably smaller than the average yearly bill.

our gas bill has been 44 and 35 for the last 2 bi-monthly bills. divide that by two people and its way less than rent relief.

you must just leave the gas on all day to clock up that much

eden_my_ass

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

our gas bill has been 44 and 35 for the last 2 bi-monthly bills. divide that by two people and its way less than rent relief.

you must just leave the gas on all day to clock up that much

Is that cooking alone, cooking/heating, or heating....sounds like great value if you heated through the worst winter in decades for 44 and 35 euros Different strokes for different folks, my last bimonthly was 164 euros, heating/cooking for two people in a solid, well insulated apartment (heating for a couple of hours a day max)