Rent Tax Credit and Registering a Tenancy

Rent Tax Credit and Registering a Tenancy

Budget 2023 Announcement

In Budget 2023, a new Rent Tax Credit was announced for people who pay for private rented accommodation. This tax credit will be €500 a year and will apply to each person paying rent rather than each tenancy. The credit will be available for 2022 until 2025. You will be able to claim the credit for rent you paid in 2022, in early 2023, and during the year for subsequent years. This credit will not be available to people getting social housing support, such as the Housing Assistance Payment. Renters will be able to apply for it at the end of this year where they will get €1,000 off their taxes in total for 2023 be because it will be backdated for 2022. Renters will be able to apply for it at the end of this year where they will get €1,000 off their taxes in total for 2023 because it will be backdated for 2022.

Why Landlords Should Register with the RTB

  • Landlords can claim mortgage interest relief for their property;
  • Landlords can claim the registration fee as an allowable expense.
  • It is a landlords’ legal responsibility to register their tenancy. Failure to register can result in a criminal conviction.
  • An application for dispute resolution cannot be accepted from a landlord if the tenancy is not registered. However, a dispute application can be accepted from a tenant irrespective of whether or not the tenancy is registered.
  • Avoiding a late fee – landlords who register their tenancy within one calendar month of the tenancy commencing or annually within one calendar month of the anniversary of the tenancy commencement, re-register a continuing tenancy, avoid paying a late fee.
  • Info for landlords on what to do if they get a notice to register a tenancy
  • Landlords who do not register a tenancy can be fined up to €4,000 and face imprisonment for up to six months. Source 
  • a further penalty of €250 for each day of non-registration can be also applied. A landlord with an unregistered tenancy of five years could thus be charged over €450,000 in daily additional fines.
  • The landlord would also have to pay the RTB’s legal costs if it takes the offender to court.

Takeaways from the Announcement

  • Tenants should of course try to avail of any concessions offered them by the government.
  • This tax relief payment is almost insultingly low – €500 is less than most people’s monthly rent, less than 2.7% of average rent in the first three months of 2022 alone, the average listed rent nationwide rose by 2.8%. (Daft 2022)
  • Unfair that this payment does not apply to HAP tenants or tenants receiving other types of supplementary payments.
  • Unfair that the government is getting tenants to do their dirty work for them i.e. forcing landlords to register. It is not a tenants responsibility to make sure their landlord has registered them – this is, expressly, the responsibility of the landlord.
  • Nothing has been put in place to deal with eviction threats after tenants requesting their landlords to register.
  • As always, more marginalised tenants will not benefit from this as it does not take into account the various reasons a tenant may not be able to get registered: landlord will evict them if they do; tenant may be undocumented; tenant may not have the digital literacy that is now required to do anything with Revenue; tenant may be subletting & therefore not know their landlord; various other reasons.
  • Tenants are entitled to basic standards when renting. Being registered with the RTB is one of these basic standards. Basic standards are often not met in rental households – this is one of many reasons CATU exists.

Advice to Tenants Who Want to Get this Tax Credit

  1. Check if your tenancy is registered with the RTB. You can do that here.
  2. If you are registered, you should have got a letter from the RTB at the time of registration. If you have lost that, you can contact the RTB for a new one by emailing registrations@rtb.ie
  3. In December you can file this with Revenue online service. You will need a PPS number for this, and you will need to create an account if you haven’t got one already. This can take a few weeks.

If You Are Not Registered

  1. Consider joining CATU if you have not done so already. Your landlord may not be happy to have their tenancy registered and you will need some support dealing with this. Existing CATU members should talk to their local branch, or if you have no local branch yet contact admin@catuireland.org 
  2. For CATU branches and Member Defence officers, assess the risk. Is the landlord likely to try to evict or otherwise hassle the tenant if they are told to register the tenancy? The tenant will be best placed to answer this. Do some research on the landlord if needed (contact Landlord Research Team).
  3. If it’s unlikely that the landlord will evict or otherwise hassle the tenant, tenant should file their info with the RTB: Notify the RTB of an unregistered tenancy
  4. If there is a risk the landlord will evict or hassle the tenant, plan actions that will pressure them while keeping the tenant safe, housed, and supported.

    Special thanks to member Michelle in Mountjoy-Dorset St for their research

Sources

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/tax_relief_for_tenants.html

https://www.independent.ie/business/budget/no-way-out-500-tax-relief-for-tenants-will-buy-revenue-details-of-many-unregistered-landlords-42022392.html

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/tax_relief_for_tenants.html