Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 July 2017
483. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the tax and fiscal incentives to encourage additional supply which have been considered as part of his rental sector strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33466/17]
View answerThe Strategy for the Rental Sector, published by my Department in December 2016, committed to the establishment of a working group in early 2017 to examine and report on the tax treatment of landlords (or rental accommodation providers), and to put forward options, where appropriate, for amendments to such treatment. This working group was set up in January 2017, is chaired by the Department of Finance and its membership consists of officials from the Tax and Economics Divisions of the Department of Finance; the Revenue Commissioners; the Housing Division of my Department; and the Residential Tenancies Board.
A public consultation was conducted in March/April 2017 and the consultation paper asked ten targeted questions which covered subjects such as mortgage interest relief, capital repayment relief, rental accommodation as a pension investment, the deductibility of various expenses, Capital Gains Tax, long-term tenancies, accidental landlords, the Rent-a-Room Scheme and vacant properties. The consultation received almost 70 written submissions from a wide range of interested parties, including individual landlords, representative bodies and charitable organisations.
It is expected that the report of the Working Group will be presented to the Minister for Finance by the end of this month, to allow for consideration as part of the deliberations for Budget 2018.
