For an entire year, 26-year old Susan Farrell and her two flatmates chased their former landlady for her RSI number so they could claim rent relief - with no success. While Farrell believes the relief was "measly money" when compared to the amount of annual rent they were paying, she says it was nonetheless money they were entitled to - at that time the relief was £500 (#634) at 24 per cent tax for single people under 55, but the annual allowance has since been increased to £1,000 (#1,269) at 20 per cent. The average rent for a two-bed apartment near the city centre is now about £1,200 (#1,523) per month.
They decided to let the matter rest because pursuing it further "wouldn't have led to a very good relationship with her while we were living there and we were afraid she would increase the rent.
"Things are bad enough in the rental market without having to repeatedly ask your landlord for their tax details. An employer wouldn't get away with it, but it's a landlord's market and tenants have very little protection," says Farrell.
Ironically, she and her flatmates have since moved out of their three-bedroom apartment in Dublin 8 after their rent was hiked from £750 (#952) per month to £1,200 (#1,523) at the end of their lease.
The annual allowance for singles over 55 is £2,000 (#2,540), for married couples under 55 is £2,000 (#2,539) and married over 55 is £4,000 (#5,078) - all subject to the standard rate of tax.
31-year old Andy Ryan "did a deal" with his landlady when she asked him not to claim rent relief. "She said that if I scratched her back in terms of not shopping her to the Revenue Commissioners, she would scratch mine by keeping rent increases low. I decided that it would be worth more to me in the long term and would be less hassle to oblige her."
Such landlord/tenant negotiation usually involves a "bit of bartering", according to Kieran Murphy of Threshold, whereby both parties come to some mutually agreeable arrangement.
While he would encourage tenants to claim relief, he believes it can put them in "an awkward spot".
"If the landlord is not declaring his rental income and does not want to divulge his details, it can create difficulty. If the tenant decides to pursue it, the landlord could issue a notice to quit, especially if it is a periodic tenancy."
Some will avoid the potential hassle of claiming relief given the shortage of accommodation and vulnerability of their position. According to Fintan McNamara of the Irish Property Owner's Association, some landlords refuse to divulge their RSI details purely for security reasons.
"Anyone could ring up and ask for information on you, it happens with the banks. We believe it is sufficient to supply the address of the property on the rent relief claim form."
He believes that dodging the taxman is not a widespread activity among landlords.
"Landlords would be foolish not to declare their rental income but schemes like rent relief are forcing more landlords to be above board which is pushing market rent levels upwards." He says three quarters of the landlords of the 77,000 tenants who claimed rent relief last year were found to be declaring their income.
This figure perhaps only suggests that those tenants of non-declaring landlords are steering well clear of the system. Some tenants whose landlord are reluctant to reveal their RSI numbers are not aware that the Revenue Commissioners will consider rent relief claims that supply only the name of the landlord and the address of the property. "In our experience the Revenue Commissioners tend to facilitate people and are not overly rigorous in this regard," says Kieran Murphy.
In a case where a tenant decides to go ahead with a claim against his/her landlord's wishes, "there may well be a time delay before they are contacted by Revenue and the source of the information may not be that obvious,"says Murphy.
"But for some claiming the relief may not be very high priority if it is going to put them in a difficult situation. It is a small amount in comparison to the amount of rent the tenant pays."
emorgan@irish-times.ie
