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Housing rents

How is my rent calculated?

Local authority rents are based on a system called "differential rents". This means that the rent is based on your ability to pay, so if your income is low, your rent will be low; and if your income increases, so will your rent. The income of any other members of your household will be added to the rent calculation and there may be deductions for any children in your family.

Each local authority operates its own rent scheme. Westmeath County Council has a minimum rent, which may depend on the size of your home. There is also a hardship clause that gives local authorities discretion to reduce the rent if there are particular reasons to do this. If your income or the income of anyone in your family changes, you must inform the local authority.

What happens if I miss a payment?

The most common difficulty local authority tenants get into, is rent arrears. If for whatever reason you find you are falling behind with the rent, it is vital to talk to your local authority or housing association and explain your situation. It is in everyone's interest to sort the problem out, without having to evict you. But if you cannot pay your rent and you fail to do anything about it, you may end up losing your home.

If you are in financial difficulty, the local authority or housing association should be able to help you sort this out and pay a little bit off the rent arrears each week.

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is a free, confidential service for people with debt and money management problems. Anyone from any background can experience debt and money problems and MABS staff are fully trained to help. The MABS service is available through the MABS offices located in Mullingar and Athlone.

How can I pay my rent?

Rent can be paid by:

• Standing Order
• Direct Debit
• Revenue Collector
• Cash Office

How often must I pay my rent? 

Rent must be paid weekly

 Rent Supplement

Rent Supplement will only be provided if the accommodation is suitable for your needs and the rent is below the maximum rent level set for your county.

You may get Rent Supplement if you have been living for 6 months (183 days) out of the last 12 months in one, or a combination, of the following:

• Accommodation for homeless people.
• Private rented accommodation. You can combine time living in more than one rented accommodation to satisfy the 6 months (183 days). You must be able to show that you could afford the rent at the beginning of your tenancy and that you could have continued to pay rent but are unable to do so because of a change in your circumstances which occurred after you started renting.
• An institution, for example, a hospital, care home or place of detention.

Or

• Have been assessed by a local authority as being eligible for and in need of social housing in the last 12 months. If you don't have a housing need assessment, you must go to the local authority to have your housing need assessed. The local authority must be in the area that you intend to live and claim Rent Supplement. Only when you are assessed as eligible for and in need of housing can you apply for Rent Supplement. Rent Supplement is not payable while the local authority is carrying out a housing needs assessment.

You must also:

• Pass a habitual residency test
• Pass a means test

You won’t qualify for Rent Supplement if you:

• Are in full-time employment (30 hours or more a week). However, if you are assessed as in need of housing under the Rental Accommodation Scheme and have been out of full-time employment for 12 months or more you may be entitled to the Supplement - see ‘Employment and Rent Supplement’ below
• Have refused a second offer of local authority accommodation in an 12-month period. In this case, you cannot claim Rent Supplement for 12 months.
• Are leaving local authority housing without reasonable cause.
• Are attending full-time education. However, if you are getting a Back to Education Allowance or participating in the Back to Education Programme you may be entitled to the Supplement

Renting from a parent: You cannot get Rent Supplement to help you pay rent to your parent if you are living in the family home. If your parent owns a second property, you will generally not get Rent Supplement to rent this property from them unless it is a bona fide tenancy and you are assessed as having a housing need. Your parent must also be able to prove that they have a history of renting this property.

Employment and Rent Supplement

You will not qualify for Rent Supplement if you are in full-time employment (30 hours per week or more). (In the case of couples, if one of a couple is in full time employment, both are excluded from claiming Rent Supplement).

Since June 2007, if you have been accepted as being in need of accommodation under the Rental Accomodation Scheme by your local authority and you have been unemployed or not in full-time employment for at least 12 months before you start work you may be able to keep your Rent Supplement. You may also be entitled to retain Rent Supplement if you have been participating in a Community Employment Scheme, Area Allowance Enterprise Scheme, or getting Back to Work Allowance immediately before you start work.

However, you will be reassessed for Rent Supplement and some of your additional income including some of your income from employment will be taken into account. As a result of the reassessment you may or may not continue to qualify for Rent Supplement. If you do qualify for Rent Supplement you may get a different rate of Supplement.

Income taken into account for Rent Supplement

• Net income from employment (this is gross income less PRSI and reasonable travel expenses. A child dependant aged 17 and under in full-time education does not have their income from employment assessed as means for Rent Supplement.)
• Social welfare payments (for exceptions - see 'Income not taken into account' below)
• Family Income Supplement
• Cash income (for example, maintenance)
• All income and the value of all property of which the claimant deprived himself/herself in order to qualify for SWA
• Capital (for example, property except your own home, savings and investments).

The capital value of property (except your own home), savings and investments will be assessed on a weekly basis as follows:

Capital	Weekly means assessed as
First €5,000	Nil
Next €10,000	€1 per €1,000
Next €25,000	€2 per €1,000
Any capital over €40,000	€4 per €1,000.

 

Income not taken into account when calculating Rent Supplement

Income from the following sources is disregarded or not taken in account when calculating the amount of Rent Supplement you qualify for:

• An amount equal to the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) rate for your household circumstances
• Child Benefit
• Mobility Allowance
• Foster care payments from the Health Service Executive (HSE)
• Payments for accommodating children under the Child Care Act
• Income from Gaeltacht students
• Grants or allowances from schemes promoting the welfare of blind people
• Money received from charitable organisations, for example, St Vincent de Paul
• Compensation awarded by the Compensation Tribunal in respect of Hepatitis C contracted from certain blood products, to those who have disabilities caused by Thalidomide and to those receiving compensation under the Residential Institutions Redress Board
• Maintenance grants paid by VEC or Local Authorities for educational purposes
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Respite Care Grant
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory) and Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Income from employment with the HSE as a home help
• Pensioners: If you are aged 65 or over (or where one of a couple is of pensionable age) and have a combined household income greater than the rate of SWA appropriate to your household circumstances, the difference between the maximum rate of State Pension (Contributory) appropriate to your circumstance and the rate of SWA appropriate to your circumstances is not taken into account.
• Carers' payments: The half-rate Carer's Allowance is never taken into account.
• If you are getting Carer's Allowance, the amount of Carer's Allowance above the appropriate SWA rate for your situation (either the adult dependent rate for a couple or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account. So if you are one of a couple and getting Carer's Allowance the amount of Carer's Allowance being paid less the SWA adult dependent rate is not taken into account and if you are single or a lone parent the amount disregarded is the rate of Carer's Allowance being paid less the personal rate of SWA.
• Any amount of Carer's Benefit in excess of the basic SWA rate for your situation (either the adult dependent rate or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account.
• Rehabilitative earnings disregard: A certain amount of your income from rehabilitative work which is not taken into account. If you are getting Disability Allowance or Blind Pension, €120 from rehabilitative training or employment is not taken into account in the assessment for Rent Supplement. Any earnings over €120 from rehabilitative training or employment will affect your Rent Supplement. If you are earning above €120 you can be assessed using whichever disregard is most in your interest - either the Rehabilitative earnings disregard or the Household income disregard (but not both).
• Household income disregard: A certain amount of your household income is not taken into account. €75 of any additional household income* is not taken into account. Also, 25% of additional household income over €75 is not taken into account. There is no upper limit on the amount that can be disregarded.

*Additional household income is income from part-time employment or part-time self-employment, Family Income Supplement, Community Employment (CE), Back to Work Allowance, Back to Enterprise Allowance or FÁS course. Maintenance is also assessed as additional household income (see below).

If you were getting Rent Supplement before 5 June 2007, you can continue to have your income assessed using the old income disregards, unless the current income disregards ensure a more favourable assessment. However, if you do not claim Rent Supplement for more than 13 weeks you will be assessed using the current income disregards. (Further information is available on how income was assessed for Rent Supplement before 5 June 2007- see below.)

Maintenance and Rent Supplement

Maintenance is assessed as additional household income (see above) and maintenance payments up to €95.23 per week are assessed in full. The household income disregard (see above) applies to maintenance payments above this amount. For example, if your only additional household income is maintenance, all of your maintenance payment up to €95.23 per week is assessed in full. The household income disregard of €75 applies to sums above this, so that any maintenance between €95.23 and €170.23 is not taken into account. 25% of all maintenance over €170.23 is also not taken into account.

Your contribution to rent (Household Contribution)

Once the amount of Rent Supplement you qualify for has been worked out, it will be reduced by €24. This is because you must pay at least €24 towards your rent. You may pay more than €24 because you are also required to contribute any additional assessable means that you have above the appropriate basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance rate towards your rent.

Any non-dependent household members who are solely dependent on a personal social welfare payment must also contribute €24. However, if benefit and privilege has been assessed against your social welfare payment you do not have to contribute €24.

A couple over 65 with an income equal to or less than the State Pension (Contributory) for their situation will only contribute €24 towards their rent. A couple who both have State Pensions (Contributory) and no other income will also only contribute €24 towards their rent.

Calculating Rent Supplement

Calculating your Rent Supplement can be difficult. The Department of Social Protection's representative (formerly known as the Community Welfare Officer) will decide if you are eligible for Rent Supplement and calculate the amount you will get. More information is available on how to calculate Rent Supplement.

Appealing a decision

If you are not satisfied with a decision made in relation to Rent Supplement, you should first find out why the decision was made by asking the Department of Social Protection's representative (formerly known as the Community Welfare Officer). You should provide any extra documentation to back up your case.

If the decision is not changed, then request an appeal form. Include as much detail as possible in your appeal and keep photocopies of everything.

If your appeal is unsuccessful, you can refer the appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. You may request a personal hearing and you can bring along a representative to help argue your case.

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