Rent-a-room query

The_Conductor

Grateful for people's opinion on this.
3 floor unit subdivided into 2 separate units (but legally a single unit on a single folio).
All 3 floors have entrances/exits externally, and are interconnected (by stairs) internally.
Two people have inherited this setup- and their intention is to lock the door between floor 3 and floors 1-2 and let floors-1-2 as a separate unit, still with contiguous internal access- while both parties claim the rent-a-room relief letting floors 1 and 2 (as a defacto separate unit).

Essentially- both parties want to claim the rent a room relief- and they both are entitled to an equal share of the rental income for floors 1-2- they are well below the 14k cut-off (providing they split the rental income in this manner- if the gross is looked at instead- they are well over the 14k threshold).

Can they legitimately split the rental income in this manner- both living on floor 3 of the 3 floor unit?

The issue is sullied a little on a few different levels, not least the fact that you could, theoretically, split all 3 levels separately- while they are interconnected internally, they also have separate access doors on each floor, and each floor could theoretically be divided from any or all of the other floors, by a door at the top/bottom of the stairs (which could be locked).

Its an unusual situation on a few different levels (if you'll excuse the pun).

If it has any bearing on the matter- the 3 floors were paying LPT as a single unit up until this year- when the owners conceded with the Revenue Commissioners- and subdivided it for LPT purposes, into 2 separate units and agreed to pay LPT to the Revenue Commissioners going forward on that basis.

So- 3 floors, entirely interconnected internally by stairs, each of the 3 floors have exterior doors, and there has been a recent concession to the Revenue Commissioners to view it as 2 units for LPT purposes- despite the entire unit being on a single property folio and having been constructed as such by the builder from the outset.

Any ideas or opinions? The two owners (siblings), who are sharing one of the three floors- would like to rent out the two lower floors under the rent-a-room scheme (as a defacto separate unit- but with a door at the top of the stairs which would otherwise grant them access to floors 1/2) and split the income equally between them- so both get a reasonable income from floors 1/2 but its untaxed for both as it comes under the 14k threshold..........

I.e. multiple people claiming the rent-a-room relief in the one property........?

Its a bit of an unusual situation- and the Revenue Commissioners are not being very helpful with information/opinions.

DubCount

https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-07/07-01-32.pdf

Section 5.1. Where more than 1 individual is entitled to the income, the threshold is split evenly between them.

Section 4 outlines property requirements.

Maybe get formal advice from your accountant to confirm