Property

Coronavirus: What if my daughter can’t meet her Hap scheme rent top-up?

Property Clinic: Contact your landlord and have an open conversation about it

‘Her son’s father who has lost his job can get payment from the Government immediately to assist him also.’ File photograph: Getty

Wed Apr 22 2020 - 06:00

My daughter is very worried about her rent as she has one child and pays €350 extra to her landlord each month plus her rent that's taken from her weekly unmarried mother's payment with the Housing Assistance Payment (Hap) scheme. Her child's father has now lost his job, and so her maintenance has dropped drastically. How will the rent freeze affect her?

From this question I gather that your daughter is on the Hap scheme and is topping it up with €350 each month which would be a standard structure. Based on the limited information I have, I would suggest the fact her son’s father has lost his job should not affect her ability to pay the rent to the landlord as the Hap scheme in most cases covers up to 88 per cent of the total rent the tenant pays every month.

On top of that, her son’s father who has lost his job can get payment from the Government immediately to assist him also. And although possibly the payment the father can make will drop it will close the gap on any worries she has. If you genuinely believe you are going to have an ongoing problem paying rent then contact your landlord and have an open and honest conversation about it.

On the rent freeze situation this is to do with any rental increase notices that were issued to tenants that were due to go up during the next three months. This can no longer happen due to emergency legislation the Government signed into law so your daughter has absolutely no exposure on that front.

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Hopefully, this comes as some consolation too.

Marcus O'Connor is a Chartered Surveyor and managing director of MFO, The Property Professionals. He is a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie

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