Stress-free house rental for a fee?

Have you been a landlord before and how long do you intend on moving abroad for? If you plan on moving back into your property when you return then I'd think long and hard before renting it out because there's a good chance you'd have a battle on your hands trying to get it back.

If you'd have other options if you return (live with family, rent elsewhere yourself) then it could be worthwhile.

An agency will not do that; they have no more power to remove a non-performing tenant than you do. You can hire a solicitor to represent you in the necessary legal proceedings if you aren't in the country, I suppose, but that's just going to add to your costs. Really the only use for an agency is having someone local who can do the administrative work and take care of necessary maintenance and repairs and can collect the rent and remit your tax payments so that the tenant doesn't have to be responsible for it.

No agency will guarantee rent payments; there's no money in it. Rent guarantee insurance is a thing, but I don't believe anyone in Ireland offers it; there was a company that tried some years back, but they didn't last long. It takes so long to remove tenants who are in arrears here that they'd be paying out the maximum policy value every time, so the only way they'd make money is by charging you a huge premium in any case.

All the stuff about rental income taxes can be found on this Revenue page. How much you'll pay will depend on how much other income you have that's subject to Irish taxes, which will depend on your tax residence status. If you have no other non-employment income, you work exclusively outside of Ireland, and you are not tax-resident in Ireland, then all of your rental income would probably be in the 20% income tax band. You'd be well advised to check with a tax professional for advice on your particular situation, however.

One other thing to keep in mind; if you're planning to return to Ireland after a short time (e.g. only a year or two), it might not be worth the potential hassle of renting the place out. If you get a bad tenant and they overhold and refuse to leave when you need the place back, you might find yourself stuck living in expensive short-term accommodations for months or even years while you go through the process to remove them, which would quickly eat up any profits from your rental income. There's also always a risk that the laws might be changed and you might no longer be able to terminate a tenancy to move into the property yourself in the future. All in all, being a landlord is a risky business; even if you are planning to be abroad indefinitely, you still might want to consider selling the place instead; it could work out better for you in the end and be far less hassle than letting it.

Which breaks basically Rule 1 of the Rent a Room Scheme...

For you to qualify for rent-a room relief, your home must be located in the State and you must occupy it as your sole residence during the year of assessment. 

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/owning_a_home/home_owners/rent_a_room_scheme.html

Ok but without RAR 2 bedrooms let does not req RTB registration as they are not self contained so are licensee's easier to end residency when u return.

Are there any agencies that do short term corporate letting

It is and I quote

Persons occupying accommodation in which the owner is not resident under a formal licence arrangement with the owner where the occupants are not entitled to its exclusive use and the owner has continuing access to the accommodation and/or can move around or change the occupants

I have done this in a limited supply market quality tenants are plentiful. No rent caps or RTB regs required end of.

Stated clearly on RTB site

For RAR you would only be able to charge rent for the room, so a lower amount than the full property. You would then need to manage multiple tenants separately, any of which can just leave with short notice.

Who do you blame for them not been able to take the risk?

Successive governments.

Nothing done about bad tenants so it was just an excuse to socialise private market now starved of abusive LL lol

Good exchange for short supply and higher rents

I live in a jurisdiction where 2 months is req and when I leave it must be handed back in the same condition no walking away leaving a skip full of rubbish Irish style.

Take control of the process yourself and pick the tenant yourself, you can always hand it over to a management company afterwards.

look for references, information about the persons and meet them to get a feel for them, you have to be carefull what information you are allowed to ask directly for. Look for a steady job, family and community ties etc.

Personally I prioritise picking the right people over the ability to pay rent even if that meant getting a lower rent, because paid rent is better than unpaid rent.

If have always picked tenants myself and ive never had a problem with them. Once a tenant lost his job and moved out early with no penalties.

So I would make sure that I dont leave the selection of the tenant to anyone else, and i would make it clear to the tenant that they can contact you with any issues if needs be, stay in the loop because if the management company messes them around they might take it out on your house.

The approach that the RTB take is to look at the actual situation rather than the legal form. If the owner has a room for his/her use, but is not using that room, they may deem that the remaining occupiers to have exclusive use of the property, and therefore to be tenants in stead of licensees. Even if there is a licensee agreement, the RTB may still look past that and decide a resident is a tenant if the circumstances suggest that is the reality.

I'm not saying I agree, its just a risk.

Second guessing the RTB is difficult. I'm not certain how a case will be viewed in the RTB but they do tend to be "tenant leaning" in my view. Even for a PPR, there is a risk they could say the owner is not resident in the property, so the people staying there "in effect" have exclusive use of the property, so they're tenants and all that that implies. Whether that is a correct legal interpretation by the RTB or not - who knows - but nobody is going to have deep enough pockets to find out.

Also, a property being a PPR or a property owner being away with work for a defined period doesnt seem to be considered in any of the bundles of legislation for property letting. There are very sad examples of property owners being left homesless while a tenant overholds etc.. The majority of tenants/licensees are good honest people who pay their way, leave when they are supposed to, and treat the property they live in with care. If you end up with one of the minority, there simply isnt a route which guarantees the law will be on your side.