Bring all landlords into the tax net
This provides a valuable service to those who need it. However, the regulation nationwide of the rental sector needs greatly to be improved.
Landlords are required by law to register their properties. Recent official figures for houses registered in the Waterford city council area, for example, stand at around 400. However, I suspect that unofficial figures are far greater and that this reflects the situation nationwide.
With the registration fee of €63.50 per property, better enforcement of this law would result in much needed funds being raised for the local authorities.
Also, in my view, property bought for the sole intention of making profit on rental income (ie, the owner does not need to live in the house) is effectively a business enterprise and should be considered accordingly by the revenue.
Owners of such properties should be required to pay a local tax on their earnings. Rates are paid according to how a property is classified, so if a person, for example, operates a hairdressing business from the home, the property is classed as commercial and rates are charged.
Anyone operating a business is required to pay commercial rates.
On the other hand, houses purchased to supply the rental market are classified as domestic, even when the owner has no intention of ever living there.
I believe that a local tax on such properties would be a potentially lucrative source of income from a sector which can afford it.
This would not be designed to discourage such commercial activity, but simply to recognise it as such. I also believe that with so many rental properties being constructed in cities, rents would be unlikely to rise automatically as a result of this.
Many first-time buyers and people trading up to buy a bigger family home are competing with speculators who have the means to push up prices and who are contributing to the spiralling costs of property.
In addition to the potential financial benefits, proper regulation of the rental market, combined with local rates, would have the effect of making people consider carefully before entering the business of letting properties.
Some landlords look after their properties and their tenants very well. Other houses are quite obviously rented. A proliferation of rented accommodation also contributes to anti-social behaviour and loss of a sense of community in residential areas.
The good work of residents’ associations is undermined by the difficulties involved in obtaining the names of property owners in their areas.
The law needs to be amended to allow local authorities to better control the rental sector, so that those who enter the property market for the sole purpose of making a profit do so in a responsible way which benefits not only themselves, but also the community at large.
Jim D’Arcy,
18, Asgard Avenue,
Grange Manor,
Waterford.
