Can my property agent rent my house under HAP scheme without my knowledge

MoIrish

I live in Australia and I own a house in Drogheda and a property management company taking vcare of my house which is 3/2 since 2017 and just yesterday came to know that my house is rented under HAP scheme, can anyone guide me, is it possible my agent can do this without my permission, the market rent for my house is 2000-2200/month but I get paid 1535/month and when I ask her why im not getting market rent and she keep saying coz im in rented restricted area and I can increase even if I change my tenant. I feel so betrayed and my mortgage is 1655/month and I can not able to afford to pay 1655/month as I get after GST, TAX, agent fee 1345/m. Please help me and guide me. Thank you so very much Mo

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hi MoIrish.

I think you may have posted this in the wrong section unfortunately.

Boards.ie: Mike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058353694/can-my-property-agent-rent-my-house-under-hap-scheme-without-my-knowledge

Conversation moved to the appropriate forum.

Xterminator

Hi OP

I find it astonishing that you are upset, that your renter is on HAP! I'm upset your renter is on hap because im a tax payer in Ireland!! The HAP renter is just paying off 85% + of your monthly repayments.

You have a property and you think a renter(& the tax payer) should pay 100% of your costs and your fees etc so that you own the asset at the end of term and they own nothing. Think about that.

Your agent has found you a tenant in an RPZ. You could not increase rent above agreed limits with a new tenant. That is how an RPZ works. Rents in a RPZ cannot be increased by more than 2% per annum pro rata.

You can find a calculator etc here https://www.rtb.ie/registration-and-compliance/setting-and-reviewing-rent/rent-pressure-zones-setting-rent-and-rent-reviews

Im not sure when you think the agent (who you feel is betraying you) should be doing. Are you just upset because the tenant is on HAP? you know the rpz limits and HAP are separate things? Have you conflated them?

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122206594#Comment_122206594

OP already has a thread open here and it's quite lengthy.

Maz2016

Landlords or agents cant discriminate against HAP tenants - you are obliged to accept. In fact, there has been cases where it went to court and the tenant will almost always win.

As for RPZ (Rent Pressure Zone), you could have two identical houses side - one could be achieving significently higher rent than the other but you cant do anything. Whatever the rent was set at at the time and add the 2% on . Your agent isn't doing anything wrong.

Pauliedragon

OP, setting up a new thread with the same question wont give you different answers.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122210278#Comment_122210278

He started it elsewhere at pretty much the same time as the one here and it got moved without the mover realising there was already an active one. They need to be merged or this one closed.

tohaltuwi

At this point I think OP is taking the proverbial or there is some deficit of understanding I don’t think anybody here can help resolve.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122210314#Comment_122210314

See above.

spaceHopper

Yes that is how it works,

You cannot refuse a HAP tenant, it's the law.

Your property is in a rent pressure zone so you can only increase the rent by 2% per a year max. I'd suggest you use the calculator on the RTB site and set the rent as high as it will let you. Or sell it and move on.

It's not the agent or tenants fault you didn't fix your mortgage before rates went up.

CandyButcher

you are all Fn mad to be letting HAP tenants into your property where already the rules and reg are massively tenant sided. A tenant is entitled to stick there middle finger up at you and not pay rent and you cant evict them for months a year… and then they can wreck your home on the way out. So I would never let some agent chose who has that sort of power over my property. Its a landlords market ffs get a professional in with a good job, you’ll be getting complaints about those hap heads of antisocial behaviour, seen it all too many times

The_Conductor

You cannot discriminate in any manner against a HAP tenant- to the extent that even asking prospective tenants about their employment status to try and ascertain such details indirectly- could land you with a large fine. Its all well and good saying don't let your property to a HAP tenant, they will destroy your property= recent cases that have creaked their way through the RTB system have tended to feature non-HAP tenants, one case in particular featured a solicitor who caused over 20k of damage to a townhouse in Galway.

So- get down of your high horse- a HAP tenant is a tenant like any other tenant, the only difference is that a portion of their rent is state subsidised- they are as liable or likely to be as good a tenant as anyone else……….

kippy

HAP recipients may also be holding down a full time job, many are, and be as respectable as you get.

Not fair to tar a massive percentage of renters with the same brush.

Donald Trump

What kind of person can't conclude that if they can't afford to pay for something, either don't buy it in the first place, or in cases such as the above, just sell it?

Bass Reeves

@Moirish basically there is nothing to you can do other than serve notice and sell the house. I presume that this was your PPR before you moved to Australia and intend returning to Ireland at some stage.

I would not get too worried about HAP tenant a significant amount now are employed receiving partial rent from HAP.

I understand you annoyance about not being able to rise it ⁹to the market rate after a tenancy ended. I suspect the house was moved into the RPZ last autumn. Many got caught in areas that were not RPZ's last year.

I was speaking to a small LL a month ago about it. His property is going to be vacated in the next few months. Tenants have given him notice. The house is at less than 50% of the market rent. He is completely legit registered with RTB etc. House was rented to present tenants for 10 years and he only once put up the rent about 5 years ago and did not at the time even put it to the market rate. Tenants have actually told him they know a few people interested and one couple offered him cash on top HAP ( the rent is below the HAP threshold so he cannot even maximise that) however as I poi t out to him it carries too much risk.

My advive was to either let the house empty for two years, maybe aerbnb it or short term let by word of mouth ( example people needing a house for a few weeks around a funeral, wedding or other event) or accept the present maximum rent he can attain. However because he is so far below the market rent achievable I be inclined to leave it vacant for two years, it will give him time to repaint and do minor refurbishment