Rental Allowance paid to unregistered landlords

sophia25

I know this has been discussed so many times whether a Landlord should accept someone with rent supplement but what about HSE paying for properties without checking if property is registered with PRTB, landlord is tax complicit and there are no pending court cases on properties.

I am aware of a landlord who is renting out 2 properties which are being paid for by HSE through rent supplement. He has not registered them with PRTB, has not declared the income from them and has not paid the mortgage on these in over two years and the bank has now passed them onto a solicitor for repossession.

I think in this day and age surely before a govt dept pays out a hefty cheque each month, they could do a crosscheck to ensure that the landlord is tax compliant and registered. They are paying this landlord and yet the tenants are unwittingly at risk of eviction because the mortgage is so seriously in default. Taxpayers money is being used to fund the landlord's lifestyle and there seem to be no checks in place to prevent this.

Zamboni

Why don't you report it to the Revenue and the HSE?

Ray Palmer

In this day and age we have data protection. Government departments can't cross check things without express permission. There is nothing stopping the HSE from requesting the information but more paper work and change to work practices then meets the unions.

So then you have to weigh up if all the hassle would actually yield results worthy of the expense.

Personally anybody avoiding tax should be caught as it extremely unfair on those actually doing the right thing. PRTB is a joke and a terrible system. Why each tenancy has to be registered as opposed to the property is pointless other than to charge LL for a "service" twice.

AS for the case mentioned that is beyond a joke and I can't see the person getting away with it in the long run. I suspect they plan to leave the country or have already left

mikemac

While PRTB might issue sanctions they are so ineffective the landlord has very little to worry about

However, the Revenue would nail him and with interest and penalties.
And if he's self employed might suddenly find himself getting audited.;)

If you want anything to be done OP, go to the Revenue. They just love hearing about these cases

sophia25

I appreciate Data Protection concerns etc but perhaps before HSE issue the first cheque perhaps they could have a tax clearance cert, proof of prtb registration. I don't know how you could regulate against a landlord receiving rent and not paying mortgage but surely tenants should have some protection?? I have reported him to revenue so I don't know what will happen there. I am seriously tempted to contact HSE/ tenants and let them know about legal case pending on the property, but afraid to do this because (i) karma and (ii) personal safety if he found out I did it. I just can't believe that he gets almost €2k pm from HSE and no checks are made to ensure his eligibility.

ricman

See the hse just deal with the tenant ,they have the landlord s tax no and adress on the ra form.

I think the hse have enough to do , they send a welfare officer to the house ,i dont think they have the time to monitor landlords tax status.Up till now theres hasn,t been many landlords getting into mortgage difficultys ,its mostly people who bought houses after 2003 that have negative equity.
i think the tax office can get acess to welfare or hse records if they suspect a certain person is avoiding paying tax.
You are only liable to pay tax if the rent is higher than the mortgage payments.
The tax office can get acess to almost any data if they suspect a person of tax avoidance.











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sophia25

No I agree the HSE have a lot to do, but in an age where we have to examine spending surely requesting a tax clearance cert should be a priority. It seems madness that the govt hand this landlord money without ensuring he's legit. Wrt to tax, if a landlord does not register with PRTB, then he can't claim interest as tax deductible so would be liable for tax on 100% income. It just feels wrong that such a substantial sum of money can be handed to a land lord without any checks being made. The tenant jumps through hoops to get this awarded but surely it's just as important to ensure the landlord is legit?:(

Icepick

WTF is this?
Report him.