Criminal state of rental accommodation/Landlord practices in this country.

awja

Is anyone else sick and tired of the whole rental accomodation situation in Ireland? Especially in Dublin. I've seen some right scammers, liars, sneaks and crooks, and everywhere I look at the moment it seems there are more. My lease is up soon and I'm looking to move to a decently sized, clean place that doesn't cost an insane amount of money, and isn't an obvious student trap. When you've been renting a few years you almost have a sixth sense when you're looking at a place. Landlord mentions all the ways the place will be cleaned up and fixed by the time you're moving in, paint still smells fresh, you can see the damp under it, the usual. I've lived in places where landlords refused to turn on the heating in the winter! ("included in the rent", the biggest scam going). I have friends living abroad who have actually left the country because of how bad it is.

So this is basically another vent thread for anyone who feels screwed over by the system. But in the interests of being a bit constructive, what scams in particular have people encountered? A very common one seems to be the old trick of buying a crappy ntl subscription, saying "cable t.v., broadband internet" are included in the rent, and bumping it up fifty to a hundred euro. If you happen to be the kind of person who hardly watches TV and could very well do without, try asking the landlord to come down a bit on the rent and cancel the subscrption! You'll be laughed out. Another thing is the ESB/Gas/Bins "included in the rent" scam. All the landlord has to do is make a single call to the ESB/Bórd Gáis/The council and suspend their account, leaving the tenant responsible for paying for those things themselves. Yet nearly every place you'll find on any of the usual sites has everything lumped in the rent, so that the tenant has no way of knowing how much their Gas/ESB/Bins actually cost. Having lived in a house with other people, sharing the bills, I know very well what it costs on average for ESB,Gas or Bins, and it's an awful lot less than what most landlords claim it is. And of course, when you ask for proof, where is the bill? "Oh, I must have lost it! I'll just ring up and get another copy for you"... yeah, right. It's sickening the way landlords feel they have a right to squeeze every last penny out of someone living away from home, trying to support themselves.

Now before I get flamed by the sensible people renting out their apartments/houses/whatever, I will acknowledge that there are some decent souls who are open to being reasonable about things. But you're few and far between, in my experience.

who_ru

this is ireland, a nation of people trying to grab as much as they can for themselves. the notion of society, or collective good is alien here.

the number of amatuer landlords in this country is amazing, with absolutey no clue as to what they ar doing, they only see the euro signs when buying an 'investment property'. the rise of the amatuer landlord can be found in Govt policy, and banking policy.

there is no security of tenure fo the tenant here in comparison to the continent. the laws surrounding the rental market here are an embarrasment.

do not sign up with these landlords, it's the only way to get them out of the market place.

ask every question possible before signing a lease - if you're not fully satisfied - don't sign. remember you are the market, we all are. it's our money the want.

always be polite, if they are not it only makes them look even worse than they are.

Goodluck.

Ricky91t

my previous house had mould on the Walls a leaking ceiling which fell down due to the damp, I was paying 85 a week for it and this year I'm paying the same for a house which is grade A, graded by UCC accommodation office.

I don't even know how the other house got on the ucc accomidation list, it was a serious $hithole!

The_Morrigan

Ricky91t wrote: »

my previous house had mould on the Walls a leaking ceiling which fell down due to the damp, I was paying 85 a week for it and this year I'm paying the same for a house which is grade A, graded by UCC accommodation office.

I don't even know how the other house got on the ucc accomidation list, it was a serious $hithole!

do the colleges review & approve the houses?

I remember in college back in '99 I rented a house in Waterford.
The garage had been converted to a twin room, the master bedroom with ensuite was a twin room, the box room was single occupancy, the two main bedrooms were twin/bunk bed rooms, and the sitting room (which was originally quite large was spilt in two to create another twin room off the kitchen.

So that was 11 people living in the house at the one time - with 9 of them sharing the one bathroom!!

awja

Living outside of a city you're not so bad. But to get a good standard of apartment in Dublin you're looking at the €120-140 a week region at the very least. It's criminal the state of a lot of places going for €80-100. There are multiple letting agencies I've dealt with (Not by choice, I'll add) that weren't letting registered rental properties, and most likely weren't even proper companies. How has it gotten so bad that you have to look at twenty places before you get to one that's just borderline acceptable? There needs to be waaaay stronger regulation of the rental market. Some places are sitting empty, getting mouldy so long you could move in, stay a few months and clear off without anyone knowing!

hamkie2

A few friends and I are just moving into a house near DCU for the college year and we think we've hit the jackpot!The landlord is a gent, very nice polite man and willing to help us when he can, always replies quickly to any queries we have! The house is brilliant, very large, clean, warm, well heated and insulated and all the bills we look after ourself! The only problem we have now is finding someone to take the last room in the house, would leave the rent alot cheaper for everyone!!