What’s a good energy rating really worth to a purchaser?
Q My partner and I are about to buy a home. The houses we have looked at have BER certs that varies widely. We’ve seen A-3 rated new homes and G-rated older homes. How much does a house with a good BER Cert save on heating bills compared to one with a very poor one? A An A1-rated three-bed house should just cost €470 a year to heat, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland.
If the same home were G-rated, your bills would skyrocket to €4,000 a year. That would suggest you could save more than €70,000 over 20 years with an A3rated home compared to a G-rated one.
The rating system assumes homes are fully occupied, with every room heated to between 18 and 21 degrees, depending on usage. You could always get away with paying less by putting on a jumper and turning down the temperature dial.
Yet even so, the BER system is a good guide to how much you can potentially save with an efficiently heated and well insulated home. I have an AVC, which is due to mature in three years’ time. I’ve been told that I will get 25% of the total tax-free on retirement and the remainder will be taxed. Is this correct? And if so, what rate of tax would I pay?
QA If you are a member of a Defined Contribution scheme, you can take benefits in the traditional form, i.e. a retirement lump sum of up to 1½ times final salary and an annuity (pension), or you can choose what is known as an Approved Retirement Fund (ARF).
Subject to conditions, the ARF option allows you to take up to 25% of the value of the pension fund tax-free (up to €200k) and place the remainder into an ARF or have it transferred to you directly (both options being subject to income tax at some point.)
For a full explanation, see the website pensionsauthority.ie. Under the publications section you’ll find a helpful brochure titled My Pension Options. Or call the authority on 1890 65 65 65.
QI qualify for the State contributory pension next year. My wife is not employed, isn’t on social welfare and has only a small amount of savings. We have joint ownership of a holiday home worth €100k-€110k, which is not rented out. Will this exclude us from getting an increased payment? A Half the value of jointlyheld property is assessable. The means test formula for savings and other qualifying assets is as shown in the table above.
An amount of less than €1,000 is always rounded down e.g. €32,689 is taken as €32,000.
A full increase in your pension is payable if your wife’s ‘income’ (using this formula) comes out at €100 or less. Above that, and up to a maximum of €310, a tapered, reducing scale applies.
To help with the sums, you can basically qualify for a maximum rate of increase, if your wife’s total assets are below €58,000 (including her savings). So it seems like she just would qualify for a full increase if her savings were less than €6,000. If the capital exceeds this amount, a reduced rate increase may be payable.
You can check this with your local welfare office when applying for your pension.