Cost rental faq

This new housing tenure offers a long-term, secure rental option that will contribute to the development of a healthy housing market in Ireland.

The rent is based on the cost of building, managing, and maintaining the homes which means it is an affordable housing option.

All cost rental rents are set at a minimum level of 25% below the market rents in the area where the scheme is located.

The deposit is one month’s rent less €50. For example, if the rent for the property is €1,200 then the deposit will be €1,150.

The homes are unfurnished; They will have flooring, blinds and white goods (fridge/freezer, dishwasher, oven & hob, microwave, washer/dryer)

Rules regarding pets may vary between schemes. A Clúid-appointed agent will confirm whether pets are allowed in this specific development at the time of application.

Restricted breeds of dogs are not permitted in any Clúid Cost Rental schemes.

To be eligible, you need to be able to prove the following:

• Your net household income is below €66,000 per annum inside Dublin & €59,000 per annum outside Dublin.
• You are not in receipt of any social housing supports (including Rent Supplement or HAP)
• You do not own a property
• Your household size matches the size of the property advertised (All members of the household must be living in Ireland at time of applying.)
• You can afford to pay the cost rent for the home
• Your household has only entered one application for a specific cost rental property

*Terms and conditions for cost rental housing in Ireland are set out in the Affordable Housing Act 2021.

You should apply for the size property that matches your needs. We will seek not to under- or over-occupy properties. In other words, a 1-bed home will not be allocated to a family of two adults and one child, and a 2-bed home would not be allocated to a single adult.

Set out below, are the guidelines we will be following:

• One -bed unit – suitable for one adult or a cohabiting couple
• Two -bed unit – suitable for two single adults in a house share/ cohabiting couple or cohabiting couple/lone parent with 1 or 2 children
• Three -bed unit – suitable for three single adults in a house share or cohabiting couple/lone parent with 1 to 3 children
• Four -bed unit – suitable for four single adults in a house share or cohabiting couple/lone parent with three or more children

We will not consider an application that will lead to over occupation of a property.

You can apply on the clúid website and follow the instructions. This is the only method to apply, registration of interest cannot be made by post or over the phone.

Once you have selected the property that you are eligible for, you will need to enter your details into our self-service eligibility checker, register your interest and uploaded the required documents. Failure to upload documents will result in exclusion from the lottery.

If this will be a joint application, enter information for two applicants. This is a three-step process;

• You must first register your interest in the property and uploaded the required documents into each document type.
• If there are more interested applicants than available properties, all applications will then be entered into a lottery. Once the lottery takes place, we will begin reviewing applications from the top of the list.

Each household can only submit one application per property type, provided they meet the required household size.

If a household submits more than one application, they will be disqualified from the lottery process.

The following documents will need to be submitted;

• Proof of ID for each household member, including children
• Proof of Address
• Proof of Residency
• Proof of Income for all members of the household over 18
• Employer Reference for all members of the household over 18
• Landlord Reference for all members of the household over 18
• Bank Statements for all members of the household over 18

Please have these documents ready when you register your interest as you will be asked to upload all documents at this stage. 

Proof of ID

For all household members on the application including children -must contain photograph and date of birth.

Valid Documents:

• Current valid signed Passport
• Current Valid Passport Card
• Current Valid Travel Document/Current Valid EU
• EEA Driving License – Irish Learner permit accepted
• Current EU National Identity Card
• Birth cert for children under 2 years old

Proof of Address

Must be dated within the last 6 weeks

Valid Documents:

• Utility Bill e.g. telephone, mobile, gas, electricity, heating, oil, waste collection
• Correspondence from a Regulated Financial Institution operating in the Republic of Ireland e.g. Insurance, Assurance, Bank, Building Society, Credit Union, Credit Card Company
• One month bank statement
• Correspondence from a Government Department – E.g. Social Welfare Department/ Department of Justice

Proof of Residency

Valid Documents:

• Employment Details Summary with the current year’s date on it
• Statement of Payments/Benefits from Dept. of Social Protection
• Tenancy agreement if you are renting
• Bank statements for at least 3 months showing day-to-day transactions or Direct debits for utility bills
• Irish Residency Card/Permit
• An employment letter from your current employer, which includes your name, address, and date you commenced work

Bank Statements

6 months recent bank statements for all over 18 years old.

Valid Document:

• The bank statements must show your wages and your rent payments.
• The bank statements must show your name and current address.

Landlord/ Property Owner Reference for the main applicant(s)

This must be dated within 12 weeks. Must mention at least the two main tenants on the application. If you are not currently renting privately, please provide a character reference from a colleague or a family friend.

Valid Documents:

• A letter of recommendation from your current property owner or estate agent

Employer reference for the main applicant(s)

This must be dated within 12 weeks.

Valid Documents:

• Letter dated and signed by line manager or HR Dept.

Proof of income for all members of the household over 18 years old

• If paid PAYE, 3 months’ payslips for every member of the household over 18 years old is required. If paid weekly this is 12 payslips, fortnightly is 6 payslips and monthly is 3 payslips.
• If a member of the household is self-employed, a minimum of 1 year’s accounts, along with an up-to-date tax balancing statement and preliminary tax receipt.
• If a member of the household has no income, you must provide evidence of this, this can be done by providing a statement from social welfare showing no payments and a statement from revenue showing no employment.
• If a member of the household is over 18 but in full time education, they must provide a letter from the college/course stating this.

Rent is generally considered to be ‘affordable’ if it is no more than 42% of your net household income (See the “What is net household Income” FAQ for an explanation of net household income).

Net household income is calculated by adding together the net income for each household member aged 18 years and over. Net income means that income tax, universal social charge, PRSI and pension are deducted from the relevant gross assessable income. Click here for an explanation of payslip terms.

Income that is assessable for the purposes of assessing eligibility for Cost Rental housing?

Income that is assessable:

• Employment income (including overtime, bonuses, commissions) with limits:
• Overtime: capped at 10% of basic income (unless regular overtime applies).
• Bonus: capped at 10% of basic income.
• Commission: capped at 30% of basic income.
• Self-employment income.
• Maintenance payments received (per Household Means Policy guidance).
• Income from dividends, investments, and similar sources.
• Occupational and social welfare pensions, from any source (including abroad).

All income from social insurance and assistance payments, allowances, and benefits
(including Family Income Supplement) except the items listed below.

Income that is disregarded (not counted):

• Child benefit or guardian’s payment
• Exceptional or urgent needs payments
• Carer’s allowance
• Scholarships or higher education grants
• Foster care payments
• Domiciliary care allowance
• Allowances/assistance from charities
• Fuel allowance
• Mobility allowance
• Living alone allowance
• Rent or mortgage interest supplements
• Payments under FÁS schemes

Click here to see a breakdown of the different parts of a payslip.

When entering your income into the application, you must enter the income without punctuation marks. For example, if your net income is €50,000, you must enter it as 50000.

All applicants over 18 years of age must have a valid PPSN to apply for Cost rental. If a member of the family over 18 years old does not have this, you will be unable to apply for cost rental property.

When you have made a mistake and your application is rejected, you must enter a new application with the correct information, you can do this by following the link to how to apply on the Clúid website under cost rental.

If you log in to your Keyholder account, you will see all the applications you have submitted.

Click on your application for this scheme to view the status of your application or the reason it was rejected.

You can download a PDF report of the application you submitted, at the top of the PDF it will show the reason your application was rejected. Please review this carefully to make sure all the information is correct.

If any details are incorrect, you can submit a new application with the correct information. To do this, follow the “How to Apply” link on the Clúid website under the Cost Rental tab.

This means you have an application in the status of pending.
Log in to your Key holder account, where you can see all the applications you have submitted and their current status.

Locate the application marked as Pending and continue with this application.

Please note: you will not be able to submit a new application until the pending one is completed.

If you have not created an application yourself, check with the other applicant you plan to live with, as they may have already started an application with the household details.

You will not be able to edit your application after you have submitted it. If you are selected in the lottery, the Housing Team will review your application. They will contact you directly if any further information or documents are required.

Download the PDF report for your submitted application and carefully check that all the information is correct.

When entering your income, please round your weekly or monthly income down to the nearest euro.

For example, if you earn €500.12 weekly after tax, enter your income as €500.

If any of the information is incorrect, you will need to submit a new application with the correct details.

To do this, follow the “How to Apply” link on the Clúid website under the Cost Rental tab.

Download the PDF report for your submitted application and carefully check that all the information is correct.

Pay particular attention to the income details. Check which input method you used to enter your income. If needed, change this to Input Method: Income.

If any of the information is incorrect, you will need to submit a new application with the correct details.

To do this, follow the “How to Apply” link on the Clúid website under the Cost Rental tab.

Have you checked the FAQ on “What size property can I apply for?” to ensure the property is suitable for your household size. If yes, follow the below steps:

• Download the PDF report for your submitted application and review it carefully to make sure all the information is correct.
• Make sure you have entered the details of all family members who will be moving in with you.
• Double-check that the information about income and household size is accurate.
• If any of the information is incorrect, you will need to submit a new application with the correct details.
• To do this, follow the “How to Apply” link on the Clúid website under the Cost Rental tab.

Your date of birth is used to ensure all adults/ dependants are entered into the system under the correct section of the application. For data protection reasons ,your date of birth will not save to your application, as at this time there is no reason for Clúid to save this information.

If we receive more eligible applicants than there are properties available, applicants will be selected via a lottery.

The lottery will be run once the advertising of the properties has ceased. This is operated by an external agency with full audit trail for transparency. The lottery will create at random a list of all applicants and we will approach applicants from the top of the list.

If your name is chosen from the lottery, you will hear from us within 20 working days after the closing date. However, this time frame may be extended for larger developments.

Yes, we will notify all applicants whether they are successful or not once the lottery takes place.

If you are unsuccessful in the lottery your application will go into queued status. In the event of vacancies within the next year, the lottery will be revisited.

No – Clúid will not be holding a waiting list for cost rental housing. You will be able to apply again when further schemes are advertised.

Yes, there will. Keep an eye on the Clúid website for further details. We now have the option to sign up for notifications of new scheme launches – https://www.cluid.ie/cost-rental/#sgn_form

The tenancy is a rolling contract. Provided there are no issues with breach of tenancy or rent arrears, after six months you will have security of tenure. This means you can only be evicted from the apartment if you breach your tenancy agreement or fail to pay the rent. These properties are a long-term rental option that offer security of tenure.

Applications are assessed at point of entry. If for example, after you’ve been allocated a property your household income increased above €59,000 you would still be entitled to continue renting the property.

This explains the process for tenants leaving a cost rental property managed by Clúid Housing.

If a tenant chooses to vacate the property, they are required to provide written notice. The notice must be given to Clúid Housing. The length of the notice period is determined by the RTB guidelines.
Example: The provided example illustrates that for tenancies less than 6 months, a 28-day notice is required.

This highlights that the RTB is the governing body that sets the rules for notice periods.

No. These properties will not be available to purchase.

However, if your net income is within the threshold you can apply for a Cost Rental home. If you are selected you will need to give up your social home and you will be paying Cost Rental rent, rather than your current social rent, which is based on your income. You will also be unable to receive HAP or RAS

There is no transfer policy for Cost Rental properties. Applicants should submit a new application for each scheme as eligibility criteria varies according to unit type and rent.