PEOPLE ON SOCIAL welfare will continue to be able to earn up to €14,000 a year in rent without it impacting on their payments, after the Cabinet approved an extension to the measure. 

Last May, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys introduced new regulations so that a person in receipt of a social welfare payment or pension can rent out a room in their home with the first €14,000 not being counted in the social welfare means test.

The idea was to remove any disincentive for a person letting out a room in their home, for example to a student or somebody from Ukraine, for fear that it would impact on their social welfare payment. 

Government yesterday approved the extension of the sunset clause on changes to the social welfare regulations. 

This means that the renting a room measure for people receiving a social welfare payment or pension is being extended. 

In a statement last May, Minister Humphreys said the initial measures had been worked on for months, but that the war in Ukraine “brought a new urgency to this situation”.

“These measures also reflect our overriding desire to ensure rooms that are available in homes across the country are freed up for potential tenants. Where there are barriers or anomalies in place, it is up to us to remove them,” she said.