Ridiculous NPPR situation.

ZENER

Apologies if this is the wrong forum but seeing as there are lots of other similar threads I thought I'd try here first.

A relative of mine received a letter last week looking for him to pay the NPPR charger on his own house.

A few years ago he and his wife broke up and he moved out to rented accommodation leaving his children and ex in the house. Is he liable for this charge ?

Seems a bit unreasonable to me, he's paying the mortgage on the house and gets no rental income from it ?

Anyone got any thoughts ?

Thanks

Ken

quadrifoglio verde

Technically he's liable if at the time he was on the deeds as it wasn't his principle private residence. It's wasn't a second property tax, it was a tax if you didn't live in the property you owned.

However id probably get legal advice if I was in that situation as his ex who should also be on the deeds was living there.

MouseTail

If there is a judicial separation, he is not liable.

murphaph

NPPR gets more ridiculous by the day. Does your relative fall under the 2km rule? (ridiculous arbitrary number that seems to serve no purpose other than making it look like the yput some thought into the tax called charge)

If you had a second property, you were not liable for the charge if the person living in it was not paying rent and if:

They were related to you or to your spouse
They were a ward of court and had been placed in your care
You were their legal guardian.
The property must be within 2 kilometres of your home or be a self-contained residence on the same property as your main residence, such as a granny flat or annexe.

Mrs OBumble

Does he own the house? Is it his primary residence? These questions alone determine whether he's liable, not whether he's deriving rental income from it.

Realistically, the ex should be paying rent, not living rent-free.

murphaph

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Does he own the house? Is it his primary residence? These questions alone determine whether he's liable, not whether he's deriving rental income from it.

There are exemptions so even those falling into the above categories may not be liable. The OP's relative clearly shouldn't be liable either, but may be legally. He "did the decent thing" and left the home to his estranged wife and his kids and gets punished for it by the state.

ZENER

Thanks for the replies ! Seems the whole system is FUBAR !? My brother is certainly determined that he's not liable for the charge but fearful of the 3,100 euro he might have to pay. Trying to convince hime not to and to challenge it.

There's no judicial separation as far as I know and his ex doesn't pay anything for living there. He's having a difficult enough time of things at the moment too. Hopefully I can convince him to challenge it.

There may be a few test cases perhaps and the Council will dig a bit deeper into cases like his ? Of course pigs might fly too :roll eyes:

Ken

Stheno

ZENER wrote: »

There's no judicial separation as far as I know and his ex doesn't pay anything for living there. He's having a difficult enough time of things at the moment too. Hopefully I can convince him to challenge it.

|Then surely the exemption that applies if relatives live there applies? His wife and kids live there?

ZENER

Stheno wrote: »

|Then surely the exemption that applies if relatives live there applies? His wife and kids live there?

It's probably an error on there part but he's contacted them but so far no reply. The deadline is looming and he's getting panicky.

Ken

Victor

Folks, can we keep this about ZENER's query and discuss side issues elsewhere? Some posts moved here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057278757

Moderator

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I would be very wary of accepting anything said by the council staff as being definitive and much more trusting of anything Revenue say.*

ZENER wrote: »

A relative of mine received a letter last week looking for him to pay the NPPR charger on his own house.

A few years ago he and his wife broke up and he moved out to rented accommodation leaving his children and ex in the house. Is he liable for this charge ?

We can't say whether he is liable. He needs to speak to a solicitor, preferably the one he dealt with in purchasing the property and/or the relationship break-up. It may be relevant if she is still your his wife - Revenue have been previously of the opinion that a married couple can only have one PPR. *

One way of avoiding any further penalties would be to pay, but insisting that it is not due. However, that creates a problem of it being difficult in getting the money back.


* Do NOT take me as saying these two sentences overlap.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Does he own the house? Is it his primary residence? These questions alone determine whether he's liable, not whether he's deriving rental income from it.

As stated, there are certain exemptions.

Realistically, the ex should be paying rent, not living rent-free.

This may be covered by a separation / maintenance agreement.

Ogham

Did your relative pay the property tax on the house his wife lives in?

That is how they have "discovered" this possible NPPR liability. They see that your relatives address for tax etc is at his rented address but he has declared liability for LPT at an other address.
He needs to get his wife to be liable for LpT - and that might sort it .

Those letters from the Council are not demands or bills - just a fishing exercise.

Failing the above - he can appeal to the council - possible on hardship grounds if he can't pay the full bill and penalty or on the grounds of the separation (informal).
Councils have some discretion they can use when chasing NPPR debts - they can write some of it off.

See- http://www.moneyguideireland.com/penalties-of-e6320-to-be-charged-on-unpaid-nppr-of-e1000.html