Q&A:Your property questions answered
Q I currently own a property and rent a room under the rent-a-room relief scheme. I am due to leave the country in search of a job. If I continue renting the room, am I still entitled to claim mortgage interest relief and can I maintain the property as my principal private residence (PPR)? I expect to be out of the country for three years or more.
AYours is not an unusual question and we went to Revenue for clarification.
Rent-a-room relief and interest relief on home loans require the claimant to use the property as their sole or main residence. According to Revenue “In general, a property will be an individual’s sole or main residence if it is their home and it is the place where friends and correspondents would expect to find him/her”. In other words, when you move abroad, wherever you live in the new country will become your main residence.
Revenue goes on to say that “in the circumstances outlined in your query, it is difficult to envisage how an individual could satisfy the requirement that the property is occupied or used as their sole or main residence while living abroad”.
As you are moving abroad you might be well advised to cut emotional ties with your property, look on it as an investment and rent it out accordingly.
Are contents covered by house insurance?
Q Our daughter is moving to university in Dublin shortly and will be renting an apartment with a friend. What is the position as regards insurance for that apartment if, for example, it is burgled? We were assessing the value of her possessions and, while at first it doesn’t seem much, when you start adding up the cost of her laptop, printer, iPod etc it easily amounts to thousands of euro. Can we expect that this will be covered under her landlord’s insurance?
AHer landlord will have taken out building insurance to cover him or her in the event of fire, flood, water damage, etc to the apartment. Contents are a different matter and it would be most unusual for these to be covered under the landlord's policy. Therefore your daughter (or you!) would be well advised to take out contents insurance.
As you say, young people tend to have accumulated a great many expensive electronic devices – much more than they think. Don’t forget clothes either. Replacing these could be expensive.
If she has a good bicycle, this should also be insured, as bikes tend to disappear at an alarming rate in Dublin. Also you may opt to have some of the contents (eg, laptop, camera) insured while she has them out of the apartment.
Be careful to insure for the full replacement cost, as new, at today’s prices. If you under-insure you will not get the full replacement value. Shop around – it’s a competitive market – and be aware of the high excesses that some policies carry.
Your questions
Send your queries to Property questions, The Irish Times, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail propertyquestions@irishtimes.com. This column is a readers’ service and is not intended to replace professional advice.
