Capital Gains Tax
If you own, or part own, an asset, you may have to pay Capital Gains Tax when you are selling/disposing of the asset. However, if the property you are selling is your main or only home, you may be entitled to apply for Principal Private Residence Relief (PPR Relief). With PPR Relief you may not have to pay any Capital Gains Tax on the sale. Further information can be obtained at www.revenue.ie. It is advisable that you consult your accountant to prepare for a full tax analysis when selling any asset.
Documents Required
Before you go “Sale Agreed” with your agent, there are some documents you can arrange in advance:
Title deeds
Usually your title deeds will be held by your bank for the duration of your mortgage. Deeds can take upward of 3 weeks to arrive from any financial institution. This can cause the biggest delay in drafting & issuing your contracts for sale. It is recommended that once you decide to sell your property, you should request your title deeds from your bank. In order to do this, your solicitor will have you execute an authority which they will send to your bank. Your bank will then request that your solicitor hold your deeds on accountable trust. This means that they will undertake with your bank to hold your deeds and to discharge the balance of the mortgage from any proceeds of sale.
BER certificate & report
A property’s Building Energy Rating (BER) must be included in all sale and rental advertisements. Usually by the time you are putting the property to market this assessment will have been completed. The solicitor will require these documents also. The assessment can be arranged through your agent.
Local Property Tax
The purchaser’s solicitor will require a printout from your revenue online portal which shows that you have paid your LPT in full for the years 2012 to present.
NPPR – Non-Principal Private Residence Charge
This charge applied to property in Ireland from 2009-2013 inclusive. If the property you are selling is your principal private residence, you will be entitled to a Certificate of Exemption. You must contact the County Council to obtain this certificate. If you are not entitled to an exemption you need to have discharged the NPPR liability for all years on the property at the time the liability fee was due. If the NPPR was not paid but the property was not your principal private residence, the charge will need to be discharged, and the NPPR liability is capped at €7,230,00, and you should contact the County Council in this regard.
Properties in Estates
Usually a management company will be in operation where your property is located in an estate. You should gather all receipts showing that management company fees / service charges / maintenance fees etc. have been paid to date. Details on who to contact in the management company should also be supplied to your solicitor.
Septic tank registration
If there is a septic tank on your property you will need to have this registered with your local County Council. The fee for registration is €50 and you can register online or print an application for registration at www.protectourwater.ie. Your solicitor will require the Certificate of Registration for the septic tank from you for the sale.
Group Water Scheme
If your property is serviced by a Group Water Scheme, gather receipts showing payment and contact details for the scheme management and present to your solicitor.
In addition
- Ensure that all boundaries are checked and are in line with land registry mapping.
- Ensure that certificates of completion relevant to the respective property are correctly signed off by the respective engineer so as to assist ease of sale.
- Ensure that no planning issues exist in relation to the property.
- Ensure that title is clear and available.
- Ensure that the Agent is informed of any leans on the property that might restrict or delay the sale of the property.