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Frequently Asked Questions

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)

If a house – Yes, however, you must not keep or breed any animals, pets, reptiles, insects, rodents or birds at the premises without first getting permission from Clúid.
If an apartment- Clúid has a strict no pet policy in apartments. By having a pet this will be a breach of your tenancy.

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.

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.

Rent is generally considered to be ‘affordable’ if it is approximately a third of your net household income (see above for an explanation of net household income).

Clúid has a maximum affordability threshold of 42% on its Cost Rental homes, meaning the rent must be no more than 42% of your total net household income.

For example, to rent a property with a monthly rent of €1,500, the net household income should be approx. € 42,857 or above.

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.

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.

Please note, if you do not have all documents ready at the time of registration, you will have a number of days until the advertisement closing date. After this time you will not be able to submit your application.

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 adults or cohabiting couple/lone parent with 1 or 2 children
  • Three -bed unit – suitable for suitable for three adults or cohabiting couple/lone parent with 2 to 3 children
  • Four -bed unit – suitable for suitable for four adults or cohabiting couple/lone parent with 3 to 5 children

We will not consider an application that will lead to over occupation of a property. Over occupation is where more than two children are occupying one bedroom per household.”

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. 

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.

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

If a tenant chooses to vacate the property, they are required to provide written notice. The notice must be given to Clúid. 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.

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 superannuation 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 from employment including overtime, bonuses and commissions. Overtime payments, commissions and bonuses will be assessable as follows:
    • overtime – generally restricted to a maximum of 10% of basic income, but regular overtime may be taken into account;
    • bonus – restricted to a maximum of 10% of basic income;
    • commission – restricted to a maximum of 30% of basic income, where applicable;
  • income from self-employment;
  • maintenance payments received, subject to criteria set out in the Guidance notes on the Household Means Policy of 30 March 2011
  • income from dividends, capital investments and other similar sources of income;
  • occupational and social welfare pensions, from whatever source, including from abroad, and
  • all income from social insurance and social assistance payments, allowances, and benefits, including Family Income Supplement is assessable, with the exception of the below.

Income from the following sources shall, in all cases, be disregarded for the purposes of assessing income:

  • 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; and
  • payments under FÁS schemes.

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

No, only one application per household is permitted. Anyone applying multiple times will be disqualified from the lottery.

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.

  • Proof of ID (Current Valid Signed Passport/Current Valid Passport Card/Current Valid Travel Document/Current Valid EU/EEA Driving Licence – must contain photograph (Irish Provisional accepted)/Current EU National Identity Card)/Birth cert for children under 2 years old.
  • Proof of address Address – must be dated within the last 6 weeks – (Utility Bill e.g. telephone, mobile, gas, electricity, heating, oil, waste collection (where a utility bill is a first bill, a second form of address verification is required)/Correspondence from a Regulated Financial Institution operating in the Republic of Ireland (Insurance / Assurance Co., Bank, Building Society, Credit Union, Credit Card Company)/Correspondence from a Government Department / Body)/ One month bank statement/ Correspondence from a Government Department – E.g. Social Welfare Department/ Department of Justice.
  • Proof of Residency in the Republic of Ireland. Documents that are eligible as proof of residence are as follows
  • Employment Details Summary (P60) 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 6 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 6 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 is12 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.

 

If your name is chosen from the lottery, you will hear from us within 20 working days after the closing date.

Yes, we will notify all applicants whether they are successful or not within 30 working days after the closing date.

If you are unsuccessful in the lottery your application will go into queued status. In the event of vacancies within the next year, a lottery process will determine allocation.

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.

You cannot transfer from a social home into a cost rental home.

However, if your net income is within the threshold (between approx.. €40,000 and €59,000) 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.

At this time there is no transfer policy for Cost Rental, meaning you cannot transfer from one cost rental home to a different cost rental home.

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