Take advantage of holiday homes

A HOLIDAY home scheme in pretty Sneem will give purchasers their days in the sun — it made the ‘transitional’ deadline for valuable tax breaks before the schemes were headed off at the pass.

Set in the award-wining village on the Ring of Kerry, the Sneem Leisure Village is a package of 17 self-catering holiday homes, to be run under Bord Failte auspices for a 10-year period, and with construction started and aimed at a 2005 summer completion with capital allowances available from this year.

The houses are all detached, with 14 x 1,140 sq ft three beds and three x 1,315 sq ft four beds. They’ll share access to a leisure suite with gym, steam room, sauna, and jacuzzi.

Local facilities include golf sailing, fishing, canoeing, walks, climbs and attractions such as the preserved Staigue Fort (a ring fort), and some of the country’s best beaches at Derrynane.

Selling agents for the holiday homes are Hamilton Osborne King, and they are priced at €240,000 including fit out but excluding VAT, as VAT can be reclaimed by the purchaser: with the tax savings, the net cost to buyers is €147,800 (to self-employed, other buyers will pay a slight bit more) according to tax advisers SWS Corporate Services.

Capital allowances will be offset over a 10-year period. Cottages will be leased to a management company for 21 years, with a break option after 10 years if purchasers want to retain them for private use. There’s a guaranteed rental income of €8,000 for the first three years.