Rent Freeze - the mechanics of

RubyGlee

My landlord messaged me to say he won’t be looking for this months rent. I told him I’m still working for now so would prefer to pay this months and that would give me time if I do get laid off to sort out social welfare. I’m sure they will bring out some emergency rent benefit for those of us who will only need a short term option

Dav010

Tacitus Kilgore wrote: »

Yes it is, my current house - rented - is 1350/month, 2 years ago it was 1000/month, 2 years before that it was 700/month.

There's no mortgage on it, it's a kip that's never been updated since it was built with single glazed windows an cavity block walls in 1983.

Why does the landlord need to raise the price "iN LiNe WiTh ThE mArKeT" every 2 years? He knows there are no other suitable properties in the area so what choice do we have but to line his pockets? It's blatant profiteering of a basic need, how is it anything else?

Maybe a few lads like him will find out what being knocked off a high horse really means.

Ah here, that’s just a rant about historical rent increases. If the LL increased rent within the regulations, they have done absolutely nothing wrong and there is not word of LLs taking advantage of this current situation to raise rents or evict tenants.

If you feel the LL has done something wrong, contact the RTB.

Pkiernan

Tacitus Kilgore wrote: »

If it's mortgage free the landlord should do what's right. Now is not the time for profiteering off assets, Many people are basically volunteering to be unemployed at the moment for the greater good. Losing out on a bit of free money because one owns an asset is barely a contribution but would make a huge difference.

If rent only covers 5% of payment on a property it should not be rented, that's terrible business.

Whether they freeze rent or not, some tenants won't be able to pay full rent, its up to the landlord how they deal with it then. Eviction won't be the answer though.

I agree with you that tenants may need a hand.

Just curious as to whether you'll give to tenants in need as well? Or are you not willing to help people less fortunate than yourself?

Tacitus Kilgore

Pkiernan wrote: »

I agree with you that tenants may need a hand.

Just curious as to whether you'll give to tenants in need as well? Or are you not willing to help people less fortunate than yourself?

Haven't much to give financially but did do the shopping and pharmacy run for some neighbours and a family next town over who are quarantined atm.

I'm doing my bit, I don't think its too much to ask everyone to do what they can

Edgware

Unfortunately history has shown us that there will always be racketeeers, spivs and black marketters who will take advantage of shortages, weather extremities, natural disasters etc.
This applies to every level of society. There will be tenants who will do their utmost to honour their commitments and their will be tenants who see it as an opportunity to welch. There will be decent landlords who appreciate the difficulties their tenants are in and there will be landlords who act despicably and put people under pressure

utmbuilder

150,000 jobs lost, and various associations saying another 200,000 more

people need to re-skill quickly, its a disaster tenants and for landlords.

With rents so high, both are going to be exceptionally vulnerable.

The landlords will have the banks to deal with, the tenants wont.

Its a mess, its a real mess, fair enough if a landlord had bad credit from a buy to let but the ones who don't
should not end up screwed.

utmbuilder

utmbuilder wrote: »

people need to re-skill quickly, its a disaster tenants and for landlords.

I dont think people need to re-skill, as such, though. Most people will walk back into their same job. Most people are just on an indefinite break, I'd say, and will just have to "weather the storm" for the moment.

Samuel T. Cogley

The other issue is it isn't just a mortgage that needs to be covered. Other expenses aren't negligible. There's still insurance, maintenance and management fees to be paid.

Samuel T. Cogley

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

The other issue is it isn't just a mortgage that needs to be covered. Other expenses aren't negligible. There's still insurance, maintenance and management fees to be paid.

We're all f*cked, landlords need to accept that, now.
I'm a freelancer who has lost every gig I had booked (full book inc tours to France, Norway and Oz) from now until possibly Sept.

How am I meant to pay 1,000pm rent on dole of €203 a week?

Who knows how long this is going to last? I'm gonna make sure I can feed my family before even contemplating rent. I haven't heard from my landlord yet. Rent is due on the 1st, and I'll wait to see what the govt announce by the 28th before getting in touch with them.

Landlords are gonna have to take the hit as the rest of the public are.

There is nothing special about you as a landlord, sorry.

LeineGlas

jrosen wrote: »

I was only thinking the same. Im a landlord and the property has a mortgage on it. So I wont be allowing any rent break.The mortgage still has to be paid. Even if I got a break on the mortgage, it will be tagged onto the end for me and ultimately I will take the hit.

I dont see how there could be a break for renters.

Why do you need a break on your mortgage if you are still taking rent?

cefh17

LeineGlas wrote: »

Why do you need a break on your mortgage if you are still taking rent?

Because he's greedy

Dav010

cefh17 wrote: »

Because he's greedy

Because as much as he would like to help, it is unrealistic to expect the LL to absorb all the cost of rent not being paid. It just will not work.

cefh17

Dav010 wrote: »

Because as much as he would like to help, it is unrealistic to expect the LL to absorb all the cost of rent not being paid. It just will not work.

What cost? He'd be having a holiday on his mortgage too.

I doubt he'll give the tenant at the end of the mortgage 3 months free rent to cancel out this mortgage holiday.

If he gets no mortgage holiday then fair enough, but even then you'd hope given the situation that allowances can be made where possible

Dav010

cefh17 wrote: »

What cost? He'd be having a holiday on his mortgage too.

I doubt he'll give the tenant at the end of the mortgage 3 months free rent to cancel out this mortgage holiday.

If he gets no mortgage holiday then fair enough, but even then you'd hope given the situation that allowances can be made where possible

If you go back and read a few pages, you will see that tagging extra months on at the end of the mortgage term does not benefit a landlord who sells before the term has elapsed. The LL still has 3 months with no rental income and no repayment of capital and interest.

And it does not account for ancillary costs also mentioned.

jrosen

LeineGlas wrote: »

Why do you need a break on your mortgage if you are still taking rent?

I wont need a break on the mortgage if my tenant continues to pay.

If my tenant stops paying because they A) cant or they see this as an opportunity to take advantage of then I will have to look at my options and see how flexible my bank are.

Dav010

jrosen wrote: »

I wont need a break on the mortgage if my tenant continues to pay.

If my tenant stops paying because they A) cant or they see this as an opportunity to take advantage of then I will have to look at my options and see how flexible my bank are.

Results of meeting just announced, you can apply for 3 month mortgage pause.

Fol20

Tacitus Kilgore wrote: »

If it's mortgage free the landlord should do what's right. Now is not the time for profiteering off assets, Many people are basically volunteering to be unemployed at the moment for the greater good. Losing out on a bit of free money because one owns an asset is barely a contribution but would make a huge difference.

If rent only covers 5% of payment on a property it should not be rented, that's terrible business.

Whether they freeze rent or not, some tenants won't be able to pay full rent, its up to the landlord how they deal with it then. Eviction won't be the answer though.

So one the one side you want people to have a nice side and be socially responsible yet you also understand what terrible business practices are.. You do realise that both of these are like oil and water.

Fol20

cefh17 wrote: »

Because he's greedy

Because they didnt read what he said properly and just go to the usual ll are greedy because they provide a service an actually expect to be paid of this service

Dav010

Fol20 wrote: »

So one the one side you want people to have a nice side and be socially responsible yet you also understand what terrible business practices are.. You do realise that both of these are like oil and water.

It will be interesting to see how the “professional” landlords respond to this. Will the REITs and forward funded landlords be willing to absorb losses.

Fol20

Dav010 wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how the “professional” landlords respond to this. Will the REITs and forward funded landlords be willing to absorb losses.

Very good point, they are already taking a hit as it is.

LeineGlas

GreeBo wrote: »

Foresight on the tenants part to have money to cover times without income?

"Don't be poor", why didn't I think of that earlier.

transik

jrosen wrote: »

I was only thinking the same. Im a landlord and the property has a mortgage on it. So I wont be allowing any rent break.The mortgage still has to be paid. Even if I got a break on the mortgage, it will be tagged onto the end for me and ultimately I will take the hit.

I dont see how there could be a break for renters.

My landlord property is payed off a long time ago, so he doesn’t have any mortgage on it at the moment.


He could very easily absorb some of that rent not to mention flat already has a ballooned rent on it just because its in Dublin.
After all those years with no maintenance and constantly refusing to fix mould in the flat 3 months with no rent seems like a fair deal

DubCount

A 3 month rent holiday is coming IMHO. The nature of renting is such that you cant add the unpaid rent onto the end of the contract like you can with a mortgage. Most tenants who are in need of the holiday, will be unable to save up that amount of money by the end of the lease. Its also next to impossible to separate the "cant pays" from the "wont pays" so I reckon the holiday will be across the board. Landlords with a mortgage will be offered a corresponding mortgage repayment holiday (added to the end of the mortgage).

I see little chance of very much help for landlords. Many businesses are suffering. General business supports for other businesses will be available to Landlords big and small. There may be some kind of tax credit system to partially make up the loss. Ultimately though, this is going to cost Landlords money. As usual, the inherent conflict between the rental sector being "a business" and "a social service" at the same time is going to be spun to the cost of Landlords.

Dav010

transik wrote: »

My landlord property is payed off a long time ago, so he doesn’t have any mortgage on it at the moment.


He could very easily absorb some of that rent not to mention flat already has a ballooned rent on this just because its in Dublin.
After all those years with no maintenance and constantly refusing to fix mould in the flat 3 months with no rent seems like a fair deal

Why are you assuming he can easily absorb the loss in rent? Are you privy to his accounts?

This feeds into the notion that all landlords are rich and have no other costs nor debts to pay.

Jet Black

transik wrote: »

My landlord property is payed off a long time ago, so he doesn’t have any mortgage on it at the moment.


He could very easily absorb some of that rent not to mention flat already has a ballooned rent on it just because its in Dublin.
After all those years with no maintenance and constantly refusing to fix mould in the flat 3 months with no rent seems like a fair deal

Thinking the same about my tenant. They can still easily pay, I know that won't be out of work because of what they do. Should I be expected to let them take a rent break too?

The Student

Why can't tenants apply for a loan from the bank to cover rent?

Or the govt reduce the tax to offset the net income the landlord loses?

Yes we are in difficult times but both landlord and tenant need to take some of the fallout.

The Student

Eric_Noon wrote: »

Call utility bill companys and explain your situation, thats what i did!

Apart from spotify and phone bill I now have no bills due until May, and if i am not in a position to pay my bills come May, the companys will be told just that.

Let me play devils advocate. Suppose your tenant stops paying despite the fact you gave them a break. How likely do you think the RTB will evict them even when we return to some sort of normality. I am genuinely curious.

Vita nova

At the very least landlords should directly pass on a mortgage break but not necessarily offer a complete rent break, however it may be academic if the tenant simply can't pay or if the government forces a rent break(is that even possible?).

At its simplest, if the tenant pays Y rent and the mortgage repayment is X then the tenant should only pay Y-X rent for the duration of the break. The landlord will lose rent as the missed mortgage payments will have to be repaid later but given the situation it's not a big sacrifice - provided the break doesn't last more than a few months.

crkcvnirl

Hi All,
If I'm understanding some posts on this thread correctly theres chat asking who'll make up the payments at the end of a tenancy.

Before I delve in and give my pennies worth I want to put on the record that I'm a landlord with a number of properties and I certainly do not relish in anyway a drop in my income.

So now for my pennies worth.....

At this moment in time we're looking at the most devastating event ever to hit us economically and socially in modern times. Even in the depths of the crash the likes of Pennies and BTs never even closed, but here we have them doing just that today. There are facebook posts about thriving business closing for the sake of staff and their customers. Many may never reopen.


Looking at the Italian situation this bloody virus has the ability to kill young and old alike, irrespective of their property portfolio or bank balance.

There are doctors, nurses, first responders, gardai, hospital cleaning staff, shop workers, bus drivers, truck drivers, warehouse operatives working themselves ragged and many putting themselves directly in the way of very real harm to help our very ill sisters, brothers, mothers, dads, relatives and our friends.

A lot of those heroes are our tenants, so I for one don't give a hoot about having to pay a few extra quid in 6, 7, 10 or even 15 years time. It's small money by comparison to the heroic work those ppl are doing for us.


At this time of national emergency don't come out with the bs about who'll pay for what and when, if your tenant can't pay rent for a month or 2 so what, you'll get a mortgage break and you’ll also pay nothing.

Lets say the mortgage holiday taken is for 3 months as mentioned by the Finance Minister earlier, the bank involved would just add the 3 months on to the end of the overall term. The interest rates are so low, 3 months interest added on would be buttons in the greater scheme of things. Also sounds like some ppl have forgotten that bank loan interest is an expense and can be written off anyway.

I'll be calling my own bank tomorrow to see what needs to be done in case my tenants need a dig out. I'll happily apply for a mortgage holiday the very moment they need it.

Please don’t come back at me whinging, just do the right thing and share some good karma!

boege

I am not sure I understand people equating mortgage breaks with rent breaks One is along term financial vehicle and the other a short/medium term one. Also many landlords do not have mortgages so in practice this becomes a rent break and so it is very hard to apply it in an even-handed way.

In practice, and I am old enough to have seen this before, I expect the arse to fall out of the rental market. At a macro level the ability to pay high rents will disappear, as many lose their jobs. There are already stories of many non-nationals 'heading home' as they have no work here now. Tenants will act quickly to seek better quality accommodation and prices will fall as landlords of sh*tholes price race to the bottom to fill vacancies.

I am both a landlord and a farther of a son renting who has lost his job in another city. He is thinking of coming home as he cannot afford to pay the rent. His house has already lost a number of tenants - its a big house.

As a landlord I have no choice but to respond to this new reality. If my tenant is in trouble and can prove it, I will act with consideration.

The market will correct itself and a new reality will emerge. I do not know where it will stop as we are truly in crystal ball territory.