Landlords – How compliant is your Property

Renting can be difficult, so here are some tips to help you.

Posted on 3 Mar 2016 by Colin Napper

Whether you are an experienced investor, accidental landlord or you are thinking about buying a new property and renting out your existing property Swipe Property can offer you free advice on the Dublin Lettings Market.

We get asked for advice all the time from discerning landlords long before they use Swipe Property’s services.

The fact is the lettings industry has changed dramatically over the last few years with more regulation and compliance required for landlords.

As a new entrant to the lettings game gaining valuable advice can be difficult and sometimes you learn a lot while on the journey.

This blog post will at least give you some more knowledge to help you decide to go it alone or consult a Dublin Letting agent to take care of your property for you.

Health and Safety
Health and Safety should not be overlooked and it is something you should have covered from the get go. A well maintained property should have the following items.

– Fire Alarms
– Carbon Monoxide alarms ( if there is gas present )
– Boiler serviced ( once a year )
– Fire Extinguisher
– Fire Blanket

Landlord Insurance

I have come across some landlords whom weren’t aware that they needed a landlord insurance policy when renting out their homes.

The insurance policy will be null and void if your insurance company receive a claim if you have purchased a general home insurance policy.

The same can be said for landlords who rent their property out via Airbnb as this can be deemed a holiday home rental.

Irish operating Insurance companies

– Zurich
Axa
– AON
AIG

Prtb registration

The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established in 2004 to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants.

It is compulsory for landlords & property management agents to register all residential properties either fixed term leases or part 4 tenancies with the PRTB.

The PRTB offer dispute resoloution in the event of a dispute over multiple issues including rent arrears notices, illegal evictions, deposit retention, rent reviews and other tenancy disputes.

The cost of registering your tenancy with the PRTB is €90 and the application can be filed online and needs to be in no later than 30 days from the lease start date. http://www.prtb.ie/

Energy Certificate

A Building Energy Rating (BER) Certificate is an indication of the energy performance level of a property.

A BER cert is accompanied by an Report which lets you know what you can do to improve the energy performance of your property

BER is the calculated energy use for space and hot water heating, ventilation and lighting based on standard occupancy.

The label has a scale of A-G. A-rated homes are the most energy efficient and will tend to have the lowest energy bills.

In order to advertise a home for rent or sale it is compulsory to have a BER certificate on your property.

When placing an ad on Daft.ie they will request the energy rating of the property but you can complete this detail in at another date.

For further information see:

Property tax

If you purchase a residential property in Ireland you are obliged to pay an annual Local Property tax.

The tax payable is calculated based on the value of the property and it is up to the owner to determine this value.

Some property owners try to calcualte the value of their property themselves and they could be left liable for additional charges if it is deemed that the value was incorrect and the property price fell into a different tax bracket.

The valuation as of from May 2013 will apply to the property up until Nov 2019 meaning you dont need to keep getting property valuations every year.

Local property Tax rates:

local property tax

Water tax

Irish Water is an Irish Utility company setup by the Irish government in 2013 to provide safe, clean and affordable waste for the Irish people which was previously provided by the local authority’s.

Yes you might think it is mad that a country like Ireland can be charged for water with all the rain we get, but the powers that be feel we need to update our water infrastructure but a large section of the Irish people have let it been known that they wont pay with regular marches in Ireland already.

water marches

Landlords are asked to contact Irish water to inform them of the details of the currents tenants in order to register them with the utility company.

This will ensure that no water bill will be issued in the landlords name as this utility has received property owner information from the Irish revenue.

In order to register your tenants details with Irish Water click to Irish water for further information.

Compliance

Managing a rental property a few years ago didnt require that much thought from most landlords. They would advertise a property in the Herald newspaper get a call and organise to meet potential tenants. Some would check the references, organise a lease to be signed and exchange cash and keys would be handed over. Electric and gas was changed over and the landlord would call over each month to collect the rent.

Now a days the process requires more details and is regulated so landlords need to make sure they have the correct procedures in place.

At Swipe Property we have a comprehensive process when Letting out property.

– Advertising on Daft.ie, Swipeproperty.ie listings
– Conduct a Video tour
Reference checks including Work, Landlord, Copies of ID and PPS no
Digital Inventory report on all properties
– Part 4 letting agreement or Fixed term letting agreements
– Organise a BER certificate
– Changeover of Electric, Gas, Irish Water and Waste accounts
– Registration of the PRTB
– Set-up a standing order for future rent payments.
– Implement a Fire extinguisher, alarms and Fire blanket.
– Organise a Boiler Service

The above covers our lettings process and we also provide a full property management service to landlords including

– Rent management
– Rent reviews
– Tenancy renewals
– Rent arrears notices
– Property Management
– Point of contact with tenants
– Accounts management

If you are interested in hearing more about Swipe Property lettings and property management service why not get in touch today.