Residential Tenancies Board

Formerly known as the PRTB, the (now) RTB, or Residential Tenancies Board, is the registration body for all residential tenancies – private and social i.e. local authority and approved housing bodies in Ireland.  
Originally, under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and now under the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015, all landlords must register all residential tenancies with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

What landlords need to know:

The RTB acts as an independent body to help monitor and regulate the residential rental sector.  Primary functions are as follows:

·         To enforce the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2015

·         To provide dispute resolution between landlords (both housing bodies and private landlords) and tenants

·         To maintain a database of tenancies in Ireland

·         To use and share that data for the purposes of research

     

The RTB supports both landlords and tenants, although that is not always perceived in the marketplace.  It can get involved in issues such as antisocial behaviour or non-payment of rent. 

Costs:

There is a registration charge of €90 per tenancy. Landlords who fail to register within the prescribed time can be fined up to €3,000, and or face up six months imprisonment.

The Acts do not apply to the following types of rented property:

• Business lettings
• Holiday lettings
• Formerly rent-controlled dwellings or long-occupation lease tenancies – separate legislation applies to them
• Owner-occupied accommodation (for example, if you rent a room in your landlord's home)
• Dwellings in which the spouse, parent or child of the landlord lives. This applies to informal family arrangements where there is no tenancy agreement in writing. However, the Acts do cover formal agreements between family members, for example where a lease has been signed
• Social housing provided by local authorities (though, as noted above, the voluntary housing sector has been included since 7 April 2016)

Part 4 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (which deals with security of tenure) does not apply to:

• Employment-related lettings – these are sometimes called ‘tied’ houses as they are tied to the job and you must leave the dwelling when the job ends, and
• Section 50 student accommodation (pdf)
• Tenancies in a landlord’s home in a flat or apartment that was originally part of the main house, where the landlord has chosen to opt out of the provisions of Part 4

As a landlord, if you require any information about registering with the RTB or if you have any questions about rent reviews or tenancy termination, please contact me directly on Michael@KinsellaEstates.ie 

For specific queries or to speak with a local property expert about your buying and selling needs in Wexford, Wicklow and surrounding areas, contact Michael, Alan or Eileen Kinsella at www.KinsellaEstates.ie .  

EAST COAST FM: Thank You

Huge thanks to everyone who came along and supported our East Coast FM Coffee Morning to raise money for cancer services throughout County Wicklow.  I am delighted to say that the team here at Kinsella Estates, together with our clients and friends raised €960 so far, with more money still coming in daily.

This is a great sum raised for a great cause - we were delighted to get involved this year and genuinely appreciate the support locally.

Thank you all,

Michael, Eileen and the team here at Kinsella Estates

Impact of a New Government on the Property Market

The Property Industry Ireland (PII, a lobby group of IBEC) have issued a industry report looking at the impact a new government (when we get one!) will have on the property market.  The report is called 'The First One Hundred Days in Housing' and predicts that the number of new homes delivered in 2017/2018 will be determined by policy decisions made within the first three months of the new Dail.

If this is true, then the entire country will be watching with interest as low supply is the single greatest challenge in the marketplace at the moment.  This is particularly true in Wicklow although Wexford is starting to see some  new developments completing and coming on stream.  Here at Kinsella Estates, we  are delighted to be launching a new scheme shortly, you can register your interest with us by email Michael@KinsellaEstates.ie and we will release details shortly.

The lack of housing supply means that people are stuck.  Owner-occupiers are stuck in so-called 'starter homes' that are badly needed for the private rental market;  first-time buyers have mortgage approvals ready-to-go but cannot find suitable new homes and large home-owners are unable to trade down when the time comes as there are no local homes available.  This has a knock-on effect for social housing locally and the rental market in general.  The obvious solution is to make more new homes available and that is what is need now from government.  Given uncertainty surrounding who will be our new Taoiseach, it is difficult to guess how the Cabinet will be made up.  If priority is given to social housing, then delivery is likely to happen where the housing lists are longest, for example, in Dublin.  However, if priority is given to first-time buyers, then delivery will be focused on delivering affording houses along the commuter belt, for example Wicklow.  

Since 2009, the construction industry has delivered significantly less housing units per year than were needed.  Seven years on, the shortage has reached crisis point.  We can see this every day with the level of enquiries we get from  buyers who are frustrated with the lack of choice out there.  For people who are considering selling their home or investment properties over the next few years, it makes sense to do so before new supply starts becoming available over the next 12-24 months.  If this is something that you have been thinking about, you can speak with me directly on Tel:  +353 53 94 21718 and I can talk you through local supply and demand in the immediate area.

The PII has made several recommendations to the impending new government, calling for the  appointment of a cabinet level minister with oversight for housing, infrastructure and planning policy.  At the moment this position is at the level of junior minister.  A cabinet level minister would report directly to the Taoiseach.  They have also called for emergency planning and development legislation (for three years) to fast-track new private and public housing developments through the planning process.  It also recommends a review of the tax-base of property, taking in the local property tax (LPT), stamp duty, VAT and development levies.

I would love to hear your thoughts on these recommendations - do you have any to add to these, whether as a future buyer, seller, investor or developer in the Wicklow/Wexford area?

For specific queries or to speak with a local property expert about your buying and selling needs in Wexford, Wicklow and surrounding areas, contact Michael, Alan or Eileen Kinsella at www.KinsellaEstates.ie . 

Alternatively, you can email me directly on michael@kinsellaestates.ie or telephone : +353 53 94 21718

The importance of local knowledge in property

With all the general election campaigning over the past few weeks, and  today as we are going through the final rounds of vote counting, it strikes me that politics - like property - is all local.  The strongest, most popular and (we have to believe) most  hard-working politicians in each constituency  wins.  What has changed in the last few decades is the party system; candidates locally win locally, not simply by being a member of any political party.  This is because as the world is getting smaller due to better information systems and technology, the reality is that people continue live in one area (at a time!) and that's where their priorities lie.    

 

I am not a politician but  I do know property and I know the south east region.  And because of this I know that when you are thinking of buying or selling your home, it pays to think local.

While the media talks about 'the' property market in Ireland, every frustrated seller or house-hunter knows that there are many different markets operating in every county in Ireland.  The marketplace locally is measured by supply and demand but it can be a bit more complicated than this.  For example, when we talk about supply, are we comparing like with like?  Rural versus urban, size versus location, houses versus apartments... All these distinctions make up genuine supply.  Similarly, when we try to gauge demand locally, we have to consider the  cash buyers versus mortgaged buyers, investors versus home-buyers, even experienced home-buyers versus first-time buyers.   

While it is true to say that every home for sale needs only one buyer, the financial reality is that several bidders are required to really test the value of a property and to ensure that that value is achieved.

This is where a local expert comes into their own.  Not all sellers are in the same position and not all buyers are equal.  To avoid time wasting, a clued-in local agent can attract genuine buyers to the right property and introduce enough competition to have the sale move along, in order to achieve the right price in a reasonable time frame.  As you might imagine, this is difficult to do with only one bidder!

The best way to make this happen is by maintaining a database of ready buyers and keeping this updated.  Here at Kinsella Estates, we dedicate time and attention to buyers, we stay in touch with them.  By doing this, we already have a good idea of who the likely buyers might be when we take on a new property for sale.  In any given area, there is a finite number of suitable, finance-ready buyers.  We make it our job to know them 

And this is particularly true for commercial property.  Whether you are buying or selling, looking to lease or rent out your commercial premises, knowing your local market of consumers is the main test of how well a commercial unit can be sustained in any given area.  On a given street in any large town, there will always be buildings that are more in demand than others just 100 yards away (similar to residential neighbourhoods!).  By not knowing the area well, valuations can be way off and that's never good news, for buyer or sellers.

With the relatively high level of vacant commercial property around at the moment, sellers need to know who is buying, and buyers need to have their own use for the property or be able to attract the right tenant in the right type of business.  There is no doubt that commercial property requires a bit more 'juggling' or keeping more balls in the air than most residential transactions, but this is where the local knowledge comes into play.  This probably explains why anecdotally, 30% of all commercial property is transacted off-market, which means that it never appears on property websites like Daft.ie and MyHome.ie but is available.

For specific queries or to speak with a local property expert about your buying and selling needs in Wexford, Wicklow and surrounding areas, contact Michael, Alan or Eileen Kinsella at www.KinsellaEstates.ie . 

Alternatively, you can email me directly on michael@kinsellaestates.ie or telephone : +353 53 94 21718

Commercial Property Managed by Kinsella Estates