# Key Post: letting property for the first time - legal question



## seph (13 Jun 2002)

hi all, i'm letting out my property for first time and have a few 
questions 
1.  is there anywhere i can download a lease agreement or where do i get one ?
2.  is payment made by standing order or direct debit or what is the way to do it?
3.  are refuse charges payed by tenant or landlord?
4.  ditto t.v. licence?
5.  what exactly does "furnished" mean ?
6.  who is responsible for maintenance of garden?

any help or advice is greatly appreciated...........

thanks.


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## Mersey (13 Jun 2002)

*Letting Property*

Seph,

I may be able to help on some of your queries:
1) Try your solicitor - not sure if you can get standard type agreements anywhere else.
2) Generally payment is made by Standing Order or you could call to the house on a weekly/monthly basis to collect the rent in person.  Depends on how much contact you want with your tenants and they want with you.  If there are several people going to live in the property you should agree that one person is responsible for paying the rent to you so that you are not checking up several standing order payments or chasing lots of people if a payment is missed.
3) Depends what way refuse charges are paid - in my area (Fingal) the resident of the property must pay for and attach a label to their bin each week.  In other areas you can pay an annual amount to the council.  I have no experience of having paid refuse charges as a tenant however this may be because they are a relatively recent thing.  Perhaps another landlord would advise....
4) TV Licence should be paid by the tenants.  Generally landlords do not supply televisions for tenants.
5) Furnished means carpets/flooring, curtains/blinds, and usual furniture throughout the house.  Generally pots, pans, cutlery, crockery, glassware is also provided.  You would not be expected to provide TV, Video, bed linen, towels etc..  The more rent you want then the better quality furniture you should put in - the days are gone when you fit out a rental property with rejected and mismatched furniture from the family home.
6) Stitch maintenance of garden into the lease.  But be aware that plants etc. may not be maintained to your standards - tenants will not generally spray your roses for greenfly or prune your shrubs for example.

Good luck
Mersey


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## N0elC (13 Jun 2002)

*Re: letting property*

Hello seph,

1. Lease: Don't know on that one. I usually draw mine up myself. Have you tried Eason's for a standard one? 
2. SO or DD: Standing order each month is quickest and cleanest
3. Council charges: Have just had this debate with my tenants. I've asked a few people and the usual response is that it's the landlord who pays, but I have seen it as being payable by the tenant in a few leases. I suppose you could chance it and see what they say.
4. TV Licence: you shouldn't put a TV in the house, so it will be the tenant's telly, and their responsibility to pay for the licence and cable, etc
5. Furnished: look here . . . . 
6. Responsibility for the garden should be the tenants usually. That needs to be spelt out in the lease. Still, I'd counsel offering to "do some weeding and replanting" once in a while, just to let them know that you're keeping an eye out

That's my tuppence worth,

Noel


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## Dave (28 Jun 2002)

*Insurance when Letting Property*

Hi,
I am letting an apartment for the first time.
Can anyone tell me what kind of insurance i need to arrange.
I pay a block insurance policy for the building, but do i need contentes insurance, public liability insurance or any other insurance for that matter.
Thanks in advance,
Dave


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## Wings Of Chicken 1 (29 Jun 2002)

*Re: Insurance when Letting Property*

<!--EZCODE BOLD START-->* Dave*<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->,

You should arrange to see a reputable Insurance Broker, rather than arranging it yourself.

However, there is lots of useful information within this very forum such as 
and .

Wings


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## Tracy (7 Sep 2002)

*Insurance for rental property*

Seph my rented propertys one furnished one unfurnished tenants pay tv licence I did not provide tv, they also pay refuse collection which is a wheelie bin, I drew up a tenancy agreement wih solicitor and had it written in about garden maintanence had no problems with either property try Bank Of Ireland for ins quote they were doing a good deal in July, as well as building and contents you must take out public liability


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## Ian (9 Sep 2002)

*Letting Agreement*

Hi Seph,
I have a word copy of the standard agreement, I'll forward it if you reply with your e mail, or perhaps a moderator would create a link as this gets requested from time to time.
This is a generic agreement and was sent to my by a management agency I have used, adjust it to your details and post it to your solicitor for review.

Regards,


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## rainyday (10 Sep 2002)

*Re: letting property for the first time - legal questions*

Hi Ian - If you can forward the mail to me at rainyday@askaboutmoney.com, I'll see if I can make it available - I'm assuming it's not copyright & you have permission to share it?


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## David (17 Sep 2002)

*How do you do your Tax Returns*

I let my apartment in August of this year.  
Would anybody be able to tell me what the procedure is for tax returns.
ie.
What date do the returns have to be in by?
Is there a form from Revenue that i need to fill?
Is there anywhere i can get this information from a Revenue site?
Thanks,
David


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## garyo (29 Sep 2002)

*How do you do your tax return*

Hi David,
I'm an amateur at this too but just to let you know you can submit your return to the Rev. with your own PAYE tax return each year- you will find a space on the form under "Rental income". 
I make out an Income and Expenditure list and submit that. Don't forget to keep all receipts for your expenses relating to first let. You don't have to submit these but you should keep them on file.

Hope this helps.


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## Qwerty (30 Sep 2002)

*Re: Letting Agreement*

FYI,

Did a search on the web and found a couple of sites with standard lease agreements.

They are a bit 'american-ised', but once you copy into a Word document, they are easy to manipulate!

The sites are as follows;

www.smartagreements.com/inter/flp58.htm

&

[broken link removed]

Hope this is of use to someone,

Cheers,
Qwerty.

(Don't think there are any copyright issues!!! ?)


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## fitz (25 Jul 2006)

*Re: Key Post: letting property for the first time - legal questio*

Hi

I am renting a house and have included a TV. (It was an additional feature when renting it.) The TV license is up for renewal and my tenant is wondering what the story is i.e. should they pay or I.

My question is if the license wasn't paid would the relevant authorities come after me the owner of house & TV or my tenant who resides there and uses the TV?

I think the answer to this will dictate my course of action.

Cheers
Fitz


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## nt00deep (25 Jul 2006)

*Re: Key Post: letting property for the first time - legal questio*

The licence is for the TV, not for the home. You own the TV. Pay for the licence. When the tenant leaves, you keep the licence. Why would a tenant pay for a licence for your TV and maybe not survive its full term

If you want to charge the tenant for the benefit of free TV unit + licence, that is a separate matter.


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## AJC (25 Jul 2006)

*Re: Key Post: letting property for the first time - legal questio*

*According to An Post:http://www.askaboutmoney.com/*

*Terms and conditions*


Any person in occupancy at an address where a television set is held is legally responsible for the licensing of the television set *regardless of ownership of either the premises or the set itself.*
Under the Wireless Telegraphy Legislation it is a prosecutable offence to be in possession of an unlicensed television set. Fines for a first offence can be up to €635.


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## Howitzer (25 Jul 2006)

*Re: Key Post: letting property for the first time - legal questio*

If the landlord is not registered with Revenue and the PRTB the tenant can claim not to be legally resident in the property, and as such not liable for the tv license. That would be a grey area but one that ropey landlords avoid by paying the license (and paying for NTL themselves, keeping the bills in their name, as this is one route that the license guys use to detect unlicensed properties).


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## fitz (25 Jul 2006)

*Re: Key Post: letting property for the first time - legal questio*



			
				AJC said:
			
		

> *According to An Post:*
> 
> *Terms and conditions*
> 
> ...


 
I think this clarifies the matter. Thanks.


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## michael byrn (26 Sep 2006)

*Re: Letting Agreement*



Ian said:


> Hi Seph,
> I have a word copy of the standard agreement, I'll forward it if you reply with your e mail, or perhaps a moderator would create a link as this gets requested from time to time.
> This is a generic agreement and was sent to my by a management agency I have used, adjust it to your details and post it to your solicitor for review.
> 
> Regards,


Hi Ian,
would be most grateful if you could e mail a copy of the leasing agreement
to me at mickybyrne@gmail.com
Cheers,
Michael.


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## delgirl (26 Sep 2006)

*Re: Letting Agreement*



michael byrn said:


> Hi Ian,
> would be most grateful if you could e mail a copy of the leasing agreement
> to me at mickybyrne@gmail.com
> Cheers,
> Michael.


Ian's offer of a lease goes back to 2002, it would therefore not comply with the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act.

You can download a lease that complies [broken link removed].


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## krinpit (22 Jul 2009)

*Re: How do you do your tax return*

_Krinpit

Don't tag on a new question to a Key Post - start a new one.

Brendan_


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