Daft Property - Irish Property News

More pain as households hit with new €100 ‘property’ tax... ALMOST all households are set to be hit with a new €100 service charge to be announced this week, the Irish Independent has learned. The Cabinet will sign off on the combined water and property tax tomorrow, despite the easing of the debt burden under the new EU bailout deal. Environment Minister Phil Hogan is coming under pressure to exempt those on low incomes from the new tax, which will result in middle-income earners paying more. The Government is expecting to bring in upwards of €150m from the charge. The flat-rate levy, to be introduced next year, will be the first tough decision to be taken by the Coalition that will prove unpopular to the overwhelming majority of people. The options for the annual charge range from €100 to €200 a year. The likely outcome is a sum at the lower range of €100, with a small number of exemptions -- the solution favoured by Mr Hogan. However, this will have to be approved by the

Second-home owners have two days to pay €200 council charge or face fine... OWNERS of more than 300,000 holiday homes and residential investment properties have until Thursday to cough up €200 to their local authority or face fines. If the levy is not paid by June 30, owners risk penalties of €20 a month. The charge has raised almost €160m for local authorities nationwide since it was introduced in 2009. Last year, €66m was collected for 318,889 properties, down slightly on the 2009 figure of €68.2m on more than 322,000 properties. Those who are unable to pay the charge should contact their local authority to see if they can come to an arrangement to pay by instalments, said tax expert Cathal Maxwell of paylesstax.ie. Mr Maxwell added that there was a major squeeze being put on people with investment properties as lenders tried to force them off interest-only mortgage deals, invoking clauses in contracts to review the mortgage. This can mean monthly repayments tripling if inv