Renting out apartment

N

Nancy1

Registered User
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24
Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice for renting out my apartment.

I will be letting out my apartment in the coming weeks as I am moving to a new house. I am trying to decide whether to go with using an estate agent or just doing it ourselves.
By using an estate agent, they show the apartment, draw up the lease etc and when the apartment is let,they take the equivalent of one month's rent.

Alternatively, we put it up on daft and show it ourselves. My question is :

What do we need to do in terms of a lease? Would we need a solicitor to draft this up for us? If so, is this a costly exercise?

If I haven't given enough info, will be happy to add more.

Thanks!!
 
I'm pretty sure there are sample leases you can just print off the internet that don't require solicitors etc.
 
You should rent the apt out yourself using daft. Don't bother with letting agents- they're not worth paying a months rent to and in my experience they're arrogant airheads who are only interested in getting money off you and not in your apt or in getting the best tenants.

Pretty sure you can arrange the lease yourself without legal involvement but might be worth it for the first lease to get a solicitor to do one up for you - might cost a bit the first time but you can use it for subsequent letting periods. Make sure you get an electronic version so you can reuse.
 
I'm heading in the same direction as you - buying and thinking of renting by current apartment. How did you get on - any tips???
 
From a tenants point of view - we rented a house a few years ago through a letting agent and found it great, everything was straightforward and anything that needed attention was taken care of straight away. Seemed like a no hassle option for the landlord.
 
In relation to tax issues (e.g. SD clawback, CGT on some portion of eventual resale gain, rental income tax and what can be offset in terms of expenses etc.) there are lots of posts/threds dealing with the relevant issues already. Especially in relation to converting a former PPR to a rental property.
 
Hi Nancy
I was in was the same situation and i went to a few estate agencies but they all wanted to charge me a percentage of my annual rent, which was working out at €700. My friend had used an agency in the past to rent out her apartment and she ended up with very un savory tennants that caused her alot of trouble in the long run. (It turned out the agency never checked their references)

After talking to my friend I decided to rent it outmyself on the net it cost me about €7 to put the ad up myself. The down side was i had to meet every potential tennant and check the references but, at least i knew who was living in my apartment plus I saved myself nearly a months rent.
Trust me it was time well spent and money saved.
 
Listen - in answer to the original question I would say definitely DO NOT use an estate agent.

I don't know where you're apt is but for me I put an ad in daft recently for an apt I have and got 5 calls within a couple of hours.
I arranged for them all to view the apt at the same time and one of them took it there and then.

So - it took about 45 mins. out of my day to meet them and 3 minutes to put the ad up.
An agent would have charged me 5% of my annual fee to do the same thing.
They are not for a second worth the fee they charge.

Also - if the tenants break the lease after a few months the agent don't reimburse you any of their initial fee.

Also - for a lease goto www.topfloor.ie

That's where I print off my leases from.
It's the standard stuff.

P.S. - don't forget to register with the prtb.
 
I personnally have to disagree with most of the posters above. I don't particularly want to spend time vetting tenants and dealing with time wasters or tenants that I definitly wouldn't want to rent to.

I'm in the lucky position that there is alot of demand for my property and I would be contacted personnally(neighbours/neighbours friends etc) when the house is up for rent. I find it useful to be able deflect people by refering them to the agent.

I let my agent know the kind of tenant I'm looking for and I leave them to it.

A good agent should be able to assist/advise throughout the year if you have any issues.

If you are renting for the first time, then I would strongly recommend using a letting agent. If you are unsure about things or seen to be weak, then unfortunately there are people out there who will use this to their advantage. The agent can be a buffer, you can use their contact details on the lease.
They should ensure that everything is done business like at the start which should set the tenacy off on the right footing.

I am assumming that you would be using a reputable(as much as they are!) agency.
 
Hi - I just went through a letting agency to rent my 1st apartment and I'm v. glad I did as the hassle would have been enormous to manage myself. Just make sure you go with a reputable agency who will check references etc. and organise the lease. All I had to do was send him an inventory of stuff (so far touch wood) and they were very quick to rent it.

M
 
FAir enough - they definitely make life easier - the question though for me is are they worth the fee.

As i said in my post above it took me less than an hour all in to vet and get new tenants.

I rent the apt for €18,000 a year.

The agent would have charged me 5% of this which is €900 for putting ion that same hours work.

I think anyone who is prepared to pay someone €900 for less than one hours work is crazy.

The agent would then charge a further 7% to manage the property for the year.
I have a number of apts and rarely get a call from tenants.

That would be 12% in total if i was to go with an agent - that's 6 weeks rent.

YEs - they are handy - not worth anhywhere near the money they charge though.
 
Personally I would not use an agency. Some people though, do not like to vet tenants or are no good at it. The more you do it the better you become at it.
 
To be honest one of the main reasons I used an agency was because I'm on maternity leave and have my hands pretty full here - it would have been enormous hassle for me to vet tenants etc.
However now that it's done once though I would consider doing it myself / get the other half to do it next time depending on circumstances (time is money !).

The agency I used was very good if anyone wants the details I can PM them. It was definitely more than an hour's work as well as the agent will also manage the apartment and as organise to let people in etc. As it's a new apartment there are still a few crinkles to iron out with the builders etc. and it's very handy to have something to do all that for you.

M
 
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