Monthly Archives: August 2020

I’m planning to buy my first home, how do I qualify for the Help to Buy Scheme?

As a first-time buyer, if you buy or self-build a new residential property, you may be able to claim a refund of income tax and DIRT that you paid over the previous 4 tax years. You cannot claim relief on the PRSI or USC you paid.

The maximum relief has been temporarily increased until 31 December 2020. Now, you can claim enhanced relief on the lesser of:

• €30,000
• 10% of the purchase price of the property
• 10% of the completion value of a self-build
• The amount of income tax and DIRT you paid for the previous 4 years

To be eligible for the enhanced relief, you must sign a contract for a new house or draw down on a self-build mortgage between 23 July 2020 and 31 December 2020.

To qualify, the property must:

• Be a new-build property or a self-build
• Cost under €500,000
• Be bought or built as your first home (it cannot be an investment property)

You must also:

• Live in the property for 5 years from the date that it is habitable
• Be fully tax compliant for the 4 years immediately before your claim

You do not qualify if you:

• Are a cash buyer
• Are buying with someone else who is not a first-time buyer
• Have previously bought or built a property, either individually or jointly with anyone else, even if you are now separated or divorced from that person. If you have inherited or been gifted a property previously, it does not affect your eligibility.

You must take out a mortgage of at least 70% of the purchase price (or, for a self-build, 70% of the valuation approved by the mortgage provider). This is known as the loan to value ratio. You can have a guarantor on the loan.

You can read more about the Enhanced Help to Buy Scheme on Revenue.ie

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find comprehensive integrated information online at citizensinformation.ie/covid19/ and you can get daily updates on what’s changed on Twitter at @citizensinfo. You can also get information and advice from:

• The Citizens Information Phone Service: Call 0761 07 4000, Monday to Friday, 9am – 8pm
• Our national call back service: Visit citizensinformation.ie/callback to request a phone call from an information officer

A limited number of appointments are being made in Citizens Information Centres offices where social distancing can be facilitated. You can continue to contact your local centre by email or phone using the details in Find a Centre page on citizensinformation.ie.

I just had a new patio fitted by a landscape gardener 2 months ago. The patio slabs are already beginning to crack. I am not happy with the quality of the work. What can I do?

When you hire someone to perform a service you are making a contract. As parties to the contract, you and the landscape gardener (the ‘service supplier’) have rights and obligations.  If your service supplier does not do what they said they would, they are in breach of the contract. Contracts can be written or verbal and a verbal agreement is still legally binding.

Under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980 you can expect that:

• The supplier has the necessary skill to provide the service
• The service will be provided with proper care and diligence
• The materials used will be sound
• Any goods supplied with the service will be of merchantable quality (that is of reasonable and acceptable standard, taking into account other factors such as durability and price)

Your service supplier is not allowed to mislead you. They should give you accurate and truthful information about the service. A misleading claim includes where you were told the service is of particular standard or quality and it isn’t.

If something goes wrong, your service supplier must put things right. As a general rule, the service supplier can repair or replace the service. Alternatively, they can refund the costs of the service to you.

If you are not happy with the quality of the service you should:

• Act as soon as you can – a delay can indicate that you have accepted faulty services

• Do not attempt to repair what went wrong yourself or give it to anyone else to repair it

• Make sure that you have a proof of purchase (a receipt, cheque stub, credit card statement or invoice)

• Keep all evidence of damage caused by poor work, for example take photos

• Check any warranty or guarantee you got from your service provider (the warranty or guarantee is the service supplier’s promise about the quality of their services and what they will do if there are problems). 

First, complain to the service supplier – explain what the problem is and how you want it to be put right. Put your complaint in writing so that you have a record. If you complain over-the-phone or face-to-face make sure to take note of what was agreed.

If the service supplier disputes your claims about the quality of the work, you may need to get the opinion of an independent expert.

Finally, if you have complained to the service supplier and the problem is still not resolved, you can use the small claims procedure (for jobs less than €2,000) or take a civil case (for claims over €2,000).

You can get more advice in our documents on complaining about building or home improvements and on buying a service.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find comprehensive integrated information online at citizensinformation.ie/covid19/ and you can get daily updates on what’s changed on Twitter at @citizensinfo. You can also get information and advice from:

• The Citizens Information Phone Service: Call 0761 07 4000, Monday to Friday, 9am – 8pm
• Our national call back service: Visit citizensinformation.ie/callback to request a phone call from an information officer

A limited number of appointments are being made in Citizens Information Centres offices where social distancing can be facilitated. You can continue to contact your local centre by email or phone using the details in Find a Centre page on citizensinformation.ie.

In response to recent press coverage of content on our website, citizensinformation.ie, the Citizens Information Board would like to clarify that we are not funded by the HSE. We are funded by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

The Citizens Information website publishes information for the general public in Ireland. We integrate information from a range of sources. We are not an official source of government information but we ensure that we source and verify all the information we publish from official government sources. We are confident in the accuracy of our information.

Our webpage on Testing for COVID-19 covers information for people in Ireland who may need to be tested for COVID-19. In this page, we refer to self-isolating and no longer requiring to self-isolate in the context of people who have been tested on the advice of the HSE, and does not apply to people who must restrict their movements for 14 days upon entry to the State.

Our webpages on Returning to Ireland and COVID-19 and COVID-19: Travel overview  cover information for people returning to Ireland from abroad and what they need to do.

Our webpage on Restricted movement and self-isolation for COVID-19 covers the differences between self-isolation and restricting movements in detail.

ENDS

I have to travel to a country on the ‘COVID-19 green list’ for essential purposes. What happens if it gets taken off the list while I am abroad?

The Government is advising against all non-essential travel overseas. But people may need to travel to and from Ireland for essential purposes and international travel cannot stop completely.

For that reason, on 21 July 2020, the Government published a ‘green list’ of countries with a similar or lower incidence of COVID-19 to that of Ireland. People entering Ireland from these locations do not have to restrict their movements for 14 days.  The list is intended to act as a guide to where Irish residents may travel safely for essential purposes, such as for essential work or to care for family members.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFA) travel advice for countries on the ‘green list’ is that you should take ‘normal precautions’. This means that the country is as safe as Ireland. The security rating for all other locations remains unchanged at either ‘avoid non-essential travel’ (‘orange’) or to ‘do not travel’ (‘red’). However, because the international transmission rate of the virus changes constantly, the ‘green list’ is reviewed every 2 weeks. That means that countries and locations can be added or removed at the end of each 14 day cycle.

For example, on 4 August 2020, two weeks after the ‘green list’ was first published, the Government removed 5 countries from the list (Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Monaco, and San Marino) because they had rising incidences of COVID-19. This meant that any Irish people who had travelled to Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Monaco, or San Marino before 4 August 2020, now have to restrict their movements for 14 days upon returning home.

In conclusion, if you travel to a country or territory on the ‘green list’ and the country is removed from the list while you are abroad, you will have to restrict your movements for 14 days to minimise your risk of spreading the virus. This means you must not:

• Visit other people.
• Meet face-to-face with anyone who is at higher risk from COVID-19.
• Use public transport (if possible). If you have no option but to use public transport, you must wear a face covering.
• Go to the shop unless absolutely necessary. If you have no option but to go to the shop, you must wear a face covering.

Lastly, everyone travelling into Ireland from any location, a ‘green list’ country or not, must complete a Passenger Locator Form.

You can find out more about the rules regarding international travel during COVID-19 on citizensinformation.ie.

Now that face coverings are mandatory in shops, I am concerned as I can’t wear a face covering?

Face coverings are not suitable for everyone and the law recognises this. For instance, children under 13 do not have to wear one. Even in places where face coverings are now mandatory such as public transport and in most shops, pharmacies, hair salons and other retail environments, you don’t have to wear one if you have a reasonable excuse.

If you have a reasonable excuse to not wear a face covering you should tell a member of staff in the shop or tell the driver or inspector on public transport.  But what exactly is a reasonable excuse?

You have a reasonable excuse not to wear a face covering if you:  

• Cannot wear a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or a disability, or because it would cause you severe distress
• Need to communicate with someone who has difficulties communicating
• Remove your face covering to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person or to provide emergency assistance to someone
• Remove your face covering to take medication
• Remove your face covering to avoid harm or injury

You don’t have to wear a face covering in post offices, credit unions or banks, sit-in restaurants or cafés or medical or dental offices.

Certain people do not have to wear one. For example, retail workers and drivers of public transport do not have to wear a face covering when they are separated by a screen from the public. Members of the Garda Síochána do not have to wear a face covering when performing their duties.

You can read more about when you need to wear a face covering on citizensinformation.ie and you can access our video on how to wear a face covering.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find comprehensive integrated information online at citizensinformation.ie/covid19/ and you can get daily updates on what’s changed on Twitter at @citizensinfo. You can also get information and advice from:

• The Citizens Information Phone Service: Call 0761 07 4000, Monday to Friday, 9am – 8pm
• Our national call back service: Visit citizensinformation.ie/callback to request a phone call from an information officer

A limited number of appointments are being made in Citizens Information Centres offices where social distancing can be facilitated. You can continue to contact your local centre by email or phone using the details in Find a Centre page on citizensinformation.ie.

On 4 August 2020, the Government announced that the move to Phase 4 that was planned for 10 August 2020 will now be delayed for at least 3 weeks until 31 August 2020.

Additional measures announced include:

• Pubs that do not serve food will not be able to reopen on Monday 10 August 2020
• Restaurants will have to close at 11pm
• Face coverings will become mandatory in shops and shopping centres from 10 August 2020
• The current restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings will continue with up to 50 people allowed to gather indoors and up to 200 allowed to gather outdoors
• 5 countries – Monaco, San Marino, Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus – have been removed from the COVID-19 Green List of countries (also called ‘normal precautions’ listed countries) that you can travel to without having to restrict your movement for 14 days when you return home. The public health advice continues to be that that the safest thing to do is not to travel abroad.

We will update citizensinformation.ie with detailed information when it is available.