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Are you a landlord? Here are 3 ways you can help the housing crisis
How you could help both students and homeless families.
AS SOME OF US know all too well, getting your hands on a home can be an extremely difficult feat in the current property market.
Earlier this week, it was found that the cost of a three-bed in Dublin has risen by €17,000 in the last three months, and our investigation of the current rental market in August wasn’t exactly encouraging either.
If you’re lucky enough to be on the right side of the rental market and have property to let, here are three things you can do to help those who aren’t.
1. Teach yourself about your tenants’ rights
As a landlord, it is so important to ensure that you are providing your tenants with all the rights that they are entitled to - which includes minimum standards of accommodation such as oven, a fridge and a microwave, along with access to a washing machine, dryer or yard to dry clothes in.
From advertising stage (where you must provide a Building Energy Rating), to dealing with noise complaints from your tenants, to the fact that you’ll have to prove you are selling a home to end a tenancy – it is illegal not to respect their rights.
Organisations from the likes of the Residential Tenancy Board (which you must register all of your tenancies with) and Citizens Information can get you fully up to speed about how best to protect both their rights and your own as a landlord.
2. Think about renting a room to students
One of the groups that grapples the most with the housing crisis is cash-poor students, and affordable rental accommodation for them is a scarce commodity. To target that, an initiative from TCD, UCD and Daft asked Dublin homeowners to rent rooms to students.
Though you may already be renting a property elsewhere, don’t forget that bedrooms that are now empty while your kids are at college or have moved out can also offer relief to a students in a market which has reached its lowest supply.
If you are a homeowner with a spare bedroom, you could be set to earn up to €14,000 in non-taxable income by letting it out to students who may be struggling to find adequate accommodation.
3. Become a HAP landlord
As we detailed last month, the Housing Assistance Programme is something that 20,000 landlords are availing of currently and a scheme that easily offers landlords hassle-free income from their property.
Most importantly however, by signing up to become a HAP landlord, you can provide social housing to Ireland’s most vulnerable families who are able to work full-time and still keep their housing support.
The scheme is administered by one body and the money is automatically transferred to your account, without having to chase it. As a HAP tenant details in the video below, the scheme allows quicker access to homes they would not be able to afford otherwise. And there could be increased tax relief in it for you too.
Think becoming a HAP landlord sounds like something you’d be interested in? For more information, see the HAP Landlord Information Booklet or contact your local authority here, or find out more about becoming a HAP landlord or a HAP tenant at www.hap.ie
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