Taking over lease

starmc14

Hey,
Just looking for some advice on how to approach my landlady about taking over the lease on my apartment in my name and subletting a room.

Background my boyf and I have decided to go our seperate ways after 3 yrs of renting the same apartment together. All very civil. Both our names are on the lease.
Anyway I would like to stay on on in the apartment rather than look for something else. Ideally I would take over the lease and sublet the ensuite at the end of March.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience in such a situation and how best to approach this with the landlady?

Cheers in advance.

starmc14

starmc14 wrote: »

Hey,
Just looking for some advice on how to approach my landlady about taking over the lease on my apartment in my name and subletting a room.

Background my boyf and I have decided to go our seperate ways after 3 yrs of renting the same apartment together. All very civil. Both our names are on the lease.
Anyway I would like to stay on on in the apartment rather than look for something else. Ideally I would take over the lease and sublet the ensuite at the end of March.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience in such a situation and how best to approach this with the landlady?

Cheers in advance.

Bump - anyone?!

quietsailor

Have you approached the landlady about your boyfriend leaving - that is the first and most important thing to do. If you jump in talking about subletting and breaking leases/changing leases the LL could decide it's too much trouble and decide to ask you to leave and get a new couple in - where you're renting would factor a large part in that as in Dublin it's simple to get new tenants, outside in the middle of Cavan, not so easy to get new tenants.

Also remember the new rules regarding rent renewals - the law has changed and the rent can only be changed once every 2 years now, so if your rent is low compared to the surrounding rental properties it is a good chance for her to have new tenants and a higher rent.

First tell her your boyfriend and yourself have split amicably and he's moving out - see how she reacts
Ask if you can take over the lease and sublet a room - again see how she reacts. If she is of the "don't care as long as I get my rent" you'll be ok.
BEAR IN MIND sublet is a form of owner occupier - you're the landlord to the new person and as you already live there it is owner occupier. You're responsible for the whole rent and if they are short some month or leave suddenly you have to make sure the full amount is paid to the owner (original landlady). Are you able to cover the whole rent for say 3 months in a row without it causing you financial hassle? If not think carefully and vet the new tenant rigorously before you take them on.

Best of luck with it.

starmc14

quietsailor wrote: »

Have you approached the landlady about your boyfriend leaving - that is the first and most important thing to do. If you jump in talking about subletting and breaking leases/changing leases the LL could decide it's too much trouble and decide to ask you to leave and get a new couple in - where you're renting would factor a large part in that as in Dublin it's simple to get new tenants, outside in the middle of Cavan, not so easy to get new tenants.

Also remember the new rules regarding rent renewals - the law has changed and the rent can only be changed once every 2 years now, so if your rent is low compared to the surrounding rental properties it is a good chance for her to have new tenants and a higher rent.

First tell her your boyfriend and yourself have split amicably and he's moving out - see how she reacts
Ask if you can take over the lease and sublet a room - again see how she reacts. If she is of the "don't care as long as I get my rent" you'll be ok.
BEAR IN MIND sublet is a form of owner occupier - you're the landlord to the new person and as you already live there it is owner occupier. You're responsible for the whole rent and if they are short some month or leave suddenly you have to make sure the full amount is paid to the owner (original landlady). Are you able to cover the whole rent for say 3 months in a row without it causing you financial hassle? If not think carefully and vet the new tenant rigorously before you take them on.

Best of luck with it.

Great thanks for your input - to date our landlady has been pretty hands off as long as the rent is paid & apartment is looked after. Paying the rent myself is not an issue either if it came to it. Anyway, we will talk to her and see how open she is to the idea

Mrs OBumble

starmc14 wrote: »

Paying the rent myself is not an issue either if it came to it.

Just make sure that she understands this bit.

Some LLs have the idea that a single person "can't afford it", which is nonsense in many cases.

quietsailor

Yes reassure the LL that you can AND WILL pay the rent by yourself if you have to, that's the first priority for any LL - making sure the tenant can pay the rent.

Let us know how you get on

starmc14

Hi guys,

OP here...

Good news .. landlady is open to me taking over the lease and letting out the other room. As in her words - I have been a great tenant
She is looking into the relevant paperwork and will revert to me as soon as possible.

starmc14

Hi All,

OP here with an update & also looking for some advice

So finally it is all in agreement with the landlady that the lease will transfer over to my name from April 1st 2016 & the rent will remain at the current level under the new lease. In fairness to the landlady, she has been so understanding & very helpful - goes to show there are some decent ones out there!

So now I am in a position to start advertising the room for sublet, I was just wondering if anyone has any tips on this - apart from the obvious look for references etc.

The property is 15min walk from O'Connell St in a gated complex, so I am thinking of advertising it as a Mon-Fri let only, does anyone know if there is much demand for this in Dublin at the moment?

Any advice would be great guys, just want to ensure I don't end up with a crazy person - I have lived in house shares before with 'interesting' people!!!!

Michael D Not Higgins

starmc14 wrote: »

The property is 15min walk from O'Connell St in a gated complex, so I am thinking of advertising it as a Mon-Fri let only, does anyone know if there is much demand for this in Dublin at the moment?

Any advice would be great guys, just want to ensure I don't end up with a crazy person - I have lived in house shares before with 'interesting' people!!!!

You're definitely limiting yourself a lot with a Mon-Fri let.

Also, remember that in this situation you can kick them out whenever you want as they will be a licensee rather than a tenant. The general accepted guideline is to give notice in line with their payment schedule e.g. one week, one month, etc. but if they're a real nuisance, you can ask them to leave that same day if needed.

PhoenixParker

airbnb might be a better option then a Mon-Fri let?
(allowing for the taxes etc which they're very rigid on now)

You can try for both in turn and if neither works go for a classic house share?

quietsailor

These are written assuming that you are in an area/city that renting out is easy. If you are in an area that not a lot of people want to rent then you may have to forego some things just to get a person in to stay.

Tip #1
Check all references, be careful of extremely shiny "oh this person is so wonderful..." type references - It could be a former LL of the person who just wanted rid of the a$$hole tenant/licencee and agreed to give a good reference to get them out the door. If your gut reaction is you don't like this person don't overrule it on the basis of one look at a reference, check the ref out and ask the referee.

Tip #2
Verify all references - if you've a lot of references to sort through rate the ones with headed note paper from a job that has a land line number more highly than a reference with a basic postal address and mobile number. In the second case you've no way of knowing if the referee you are talking to isn't a close friend of the possible licencee.

Tip #3
Have a list of house rules drawn up so the incoming person knows what they're getting into, only you can decide this but the harsher the rules (on the new tenant) the harder it will be to get a tenant and if one does sign up they will probably get sick of the place after a few months and leave. After you write the list read it imagining you are the tenant moving into someone else's house - would you find any of these rules annoying?

It'd be a good idea to have a chat about what consumables you share costs for - toilet paper, washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets etc. I've had people move in with me who expected all this to be provided in the rent along with towels and bed clothes!

Tip #4
Get the rent paid by Standing Order - it focusses their mind on paying the rent and it lets them know you're serious. If they're serious in turn it won't bother them as they can cancel it easily. It also acts as a form of proof of payment, if it's on the bank statement it got paid, if it isn't there it didn't get paid and rent is due.

Tip #5
If you think this will be a long term thing set up a bank a/c dedicated to renting only. Rent coming in, bills going out, rent to your landlord going out. It makes it easy to see if it is costing you more than you thought it would and if there are any financial irregularities they'll be quickly visible as they aren't hidden in among your day to day transactions.

Tip #6
This is a rent-a-room scheme as far as the Revenue are concerned and ALL money paid by the licencee is considered rental income for the purposes of tax calculations. No matter if it is for their portion of the electricity/heat and whatever costs you agree to share Revenue treat it as income. €12,000 is the limit before you get taxed so it is better to have a low rent rather than a higher rent that puts you over the €12,000 and then you loose 50%+ on taxes and USC

starmc14

quietsailor wrote: »

These are written assuming that you are in an area/city that renting out is easy. If you are in an area that not a lot of people want to rent then you may have to forego some things just to get a person in to stay.

Tip #1
Check all references, be careful of extremely shiny "oh this person is so wonderful..." type references - It could be a former LL of the person who just wanted rid of the a$$hole tenant/licencee and agreed to give a good reference to get them out the door. If your gut reaction is you don't like this person don't overrule it on the basis of one look at a reference, check the ref out and ask the referee.

Tip #2
Verify all references - if you've a lot of references to sort through rate the ones with headed note paper from a job that has a land line number more highly than a reference with a basic postal address and mobile number. In the second case you've no way of knowing if the referee you are talking to isn't a close friend of the possible licencee.

Tip #3
Have a list of house rules drawn up so the incoming person knows what they're getting into, only you can decide this but the harsher the rules (on the new tenant) the harder it will be to get a tenant and if one does sign up they will probably get sick of the place after a few months and leave. After you write the list read it imagining you are the tenant moving into someone else's house - would you find any of these rules annoying?

It'd be a good idea to have a chat about what consumables you share costs for - toilet paper, washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets etc. I've had people move in with me who expected all this to be provided in the rent along with towels and bed clothes!

Tip #4
Get the rent paid by Standing Order - it focusses their mind on paying the rent and it lets them know you're serious. If they're serious in turn it won't bother them as they can cancel it easily. It also acts as a form of proof of payment, if it's on the bank statement it got paid, if it isn't there it didn't get paid and rent is due.

Tip #5
If you think this will be a long term thing set up a bank a/c dedicated to renting only. Rent coming in, bills going out, rent to your landlord going out. It makes it easy to see if it is costing you more than you thought it would and if there are any financial irregularities they'll be quickly visible as they aren't hidden in among your day to day transactions.

Tip #6
This is a rent-a-room scheme as far as the Revenue are concerned and ALL money paid by the licencee is considered rental income for the purposes of tax calculations. No matter if it is for their portion of the electricity/heat and whatever costs you agree to share Revenue treat it as income. €12,000 is the limit before you get taxed so it is better to have a low rent rather than a higher rent that puts you over the €12,000 and then you loose 50%+ on taxes and USC

Thanks so much for this. Interesting point on the rent a room from a Revenue perspective. Had never heard of this from a renting pont of view, considering it is not my property. Rent won't be over the limit so no issue here.


I am in Dublin city centre so will be no issue in renting the room.

Thanks all for input.

Can a mod please close the thread. Thanks.

athtrasna

Rent a room income must be declared though not taxed, it's total money you get from the person including for bills.