It’s the conundrum that has puzzled many; rents are at record highs according to official statistics, and yet smaller landlords continue to sell up.
Indeed, new figures from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) suggest that 40 per cent of property sales in the final three months of 2022 involved landlords selling their investment properties.
And it’s likely to continue. According to a recent market update from Lisney, the estate agent expects more investors to leave the market this year, “which is good news for buyers but bad news for renters and will cause even more difficulties in a severely undersupplied lettings market”.
It won’t be a flood – just 18 per cent of landlords responding to a recent survey from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) said they were “likely/very likely” to sell up in the next two years. However, it could be significant enough to tighten the rental market even further.
So what’s going on? Do landlords have legitimate complaints or is it just strategic cribbing? Here, three landlords give their views on what’s behind the trend.
Fear of change in government
Taxes, regulations, difficult tenants – all are an issue, say landlords.
Limerick-based Kersten Mehl, director of KMPM, and past president of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), currently manages more than 1,000 properties on behalf of clients. He has spent 45 years in the business, starting his own investment portfolio back in the late 1980s, when he bought two properties in Limerick. He sees the exodus on a daily basis.
“Last year was my worst year ever; I lost 60-80 properties,” he says. “Of the people bailing out, I wouldn’t say anyone has economic issues; they’ve just had enough.”
Well worth reading to get a fuller picture of the problem. Interesting solution suggested for larger landlords: treat it like a business. Looking across the range of problems with housing (almost €5,000,000,000 in redress schemes already) it’s clear that the disastrous consequences of the building boom will run for decades yet.
Rents are at record highs but so are house prices, are a lot of landlords not simply trying to cash out at the top of the market?
A lot of talk of economic downturns/recession of some sort, would kinda make sense to sell off now for a lot of people?
“The thing about the rents is that I pay 52 per cent tax. So [if] I get €1,000 in rent; well, I get €480 and it’s €520 for the taxman. But out of the €480 I’ve to look after it, insure it, etc. I’m lucky enough that I’ve most of them [properties] paid for [so there’s no mortgage repayments],” says Pádraig.
Are landlords able to write off some expenses against their tax liability?
Quite allot of woe is me articles about landlords of late, looks like 18% dip which given the current market is not ideal.
However there needs to be a balance between tenants rights and landlords ability to make an income.
My understanding always was that the return on rental income was always relatively small but the benefit being it’s relatively passive. Surely they are making something off of it.
Jfc the skew in that article is something fierce. It’s mostly fat cat landlords moaning about tax eating their supernormal profits, ok, I get that, but you signed up for it each of the 20 times you bought a ‘unit’. The survey said nothing about it but they managed to make the story about Sinn Fein at the behest of one individual who, with decades of experience of coining it in property I’d hazard to guess is a staunch FFG voter. The IT trynna make SF not happen.
Government policy has pushed small landlords out
Meanwhile investment companies like REITs get sweetheart tax treatment.
Sinn Fein might try to rob people’s savings or pension, they might try to put the 52% tax up even further and a whole load of other shit to pay for the projects. They might also do some tricky stuff to our courts and criminal justice system and they might try to rewrite history about their friends in the PIRA.
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Paywall. Any opinion on it yourself, OP?
It’s the conundrum that has puzzled many; rents are at record highs according to official statistics, and yet smaller landlords continue to sell up.
Indeed, new figures from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) suggest that 40 per cent of property sales in the final three months of 2022 involved landlords selling their investment properties.
And it’s likely to continue. According to a recent market update from Lisney, the estate agent expects more investors to leave the market this year, “which is good news for buyers but bad news for renters and will cause even more difficulties in a severely undersupplied lettings market”.
It won’t be a flood – just 18 per cent of landlords responding to a recent survey from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) said they were “likely/very likely” to sell up in the next two years. However, it could be significant enough to tighten the rental market even further.
So what’s going on? Do landlords have legitimate complaints or is it just strategic cribbing? Here, three landlords give their views on what’s behind the trend.
Fear of change in government
Taxes, regulations, difficult tenants – all are an issue, say landlords.
Limerick-based Kersten Mehl, director of KMPM, and past president of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), currently manages more than 1,000 properties on behalf of clients. He has spent 45 years in the business, starting his own investment portfolio back in the late 1980s, when he bought two properties in Limerick. He sees the exodus on a daily basis.
“Last year was my worst year ever; I lost 60-80 properties,” he says. “Of the people bailing out, I wouldn’t say anyone has economic issues; they’ve just had enough.”
Well worth reading to get a fuller picture of the problem. Interesting solution suggested for larger landlords: treat it like a business. Looking across the range of problems with housing (almost €5,000,000,000 in redress schemes already) it’s clear that the disastrous consequences of the building boom will run for decades yet.
Rents are at record highs but so are house prices, are a lot of landlords not simply trying to cash out at the top of the market?
A lot of talk of economic downturns/recession of some sort, would kinda make sense to sell off now for a lot of people?
“The thing about the rents is that I pay 52 per cent tax. So [if] I get €1,000 in rent; well, I get €480 and it’s €520 for the taxman. But out of the €480 I’ve to look after it, insure it, etc. I’m lucky enough that I’ve most of them [properties] paid for [so there’s no mortgage repayments],” says Pádraig.
Are landlords able to write off some expenses against their tax liability?
Quite allot of woe is me articles about landlords of late, looks like 18% dip which given the current market is not ideal.
However there needs to be a balance between tenants rights and landlords ability to make an income.
My understanding always was that the return on rental income was always relatively small but the benefit being it’s relatively passive. Surely they are making something off of it.
Jfc the skew in that article is something fierce. It’s mostly fat cat landlords moaning about tax eating their supernormal profits, ok, I get that, but you signed up for it each of the 20 times you bought a ‘unit’. The survey said nothing about it but they managed to make the story about Sinn Fein at the behest of one individual who, with decades of experience of coining it in property I’d hazard to guess is a staunch FFG voter. The IT trynna make SF not happen.
Government policy has pushed small landlords out
Meanwhile investment companies like REITs get sweetheart tax treatment.
You reap what you sow
Hi I had found this video on youtube that discusses a similar topic, maybe you can check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQRQ3hqBvDk&t=3s
Sinn Fein might try to rob people’s savings or pension, they might try to put the 52% tax up even further and a whole load of other shit to pay for the projects. They might also do some tricky stuff to our courts and criminal justice system and they might try to rewrite history about their friends in the PIRA.
Of course loads of people will love this.