Good time to rent?

JohnK

Is there any particularly good or bad time to rent in Ireland? I'm looking around at the moment and I'm wondering if this is a bad time due to all the students who are now looking at college even though I'm not exactly looking at the same price-bracket as students would (I think anyway).

I'm not in any particular rush so would I be better holding off for a couple of weeks or is now as good a time as any?

Also, whats the deal with everywhere looking for a minimum lease of 1 year? I would have thought 6 months would have been the standard but so far all I've seen in the 1 year.

Treehouse72

1 year leases are overwhelmingly the norm in Ireland.

Not sure about good or bad times to rent.

JohnK

Hmm, well the last time I rented was in Australia and everything I saw there was 3-6 months. Suprising its so different here.

fontanalis

JohnK wrote: »

Hmm, well the last time I rented was in Australia and everything I saw there was 3-6 months. Suprising its so different here.

Would that be places geared towards people on the working holiday visa?

JohnK

Nope these were pretty good appartments, well outside the general working holiday price range.

Xiney

If you wait until November/December, Landlords who haven't managed to get full up with students tend to have gotten a bit desperate, both in terms of rent and lease length.

johndaman66

Xiney wrote: »

If you wait until November/December, Landlords who haven't managed to get full up with students tend to have gotten a bit desperate, both in terms of rent and lease length.

If you are working 9 to 5 sort hours, no in fact if you work at all I'd be very apprehensive about moving in with students. I had reason to live in a house with students for a week not too long back...bit of an overlap as in it was my last week in the house and they were moving in. Never again, music blarring until 4 or 5 in the morning and every tom, dick and harry wandering around the house. If I had to have put up with it for much more than a week I would have went barmy. I was a student not too deadly long ago myself either so don't think I'm necessairly very out of touch.

If your into partying and knocking back 15 or 20 bottles of heniken every night of the week and all that jazz it may suit you but if you start work anyway early in the day as in before midday I'd advise against it.

JohnK

Living with students :eek:

No I wouldnt be moving in with anyone, least of all students, so thats not an issue

Its just a place for myself and my home office that I'd be going for.

johndaman66

To answer your original question OP I think it would very much depend on the part of the city (assuming you are seeking accomodation in Cork city judging by your location, of which I could just as easily be wrong also!). If you are seeking accommodation near a college it may be best to hold off a couple of weeks until things settle down a wee bit. In fact I'm sure most courses would be back a couple of weeks at this satge so chances are that the very majority of the students have their accommodation sorted well before now. However if you hold tough for another couple of weeks I'm sure there will be some more vaccancies due to first year students finding course does not suit them and dropping out as many of them do.

I think of your seeking accomodation not too near any college it should not make too much of a difference anyway, the majority of students not driving and hence reside close enough to campus generally.

JohnK

Yeah its Cork I'd be renting in and I've been mainly looking a bit away from the College so you're probably right the students etc shouldn't make that much of a difference.

I'm still a bit iffy on the whole 1 year thing though as frankly theres not a great lot of apartments out there from what I've seen and I'm not entirely sure I'd be happy in any of them for a year. Is that something that landlords/agents are generally willing to negotiate on or would you have to pry a shorter minimum from their cold dead hands?

Cathmandooo

All you can do is ask the various landlords if they're willing to accept a shorter lease or to put a break clause into the lease. It's very standard for them to put a 1 year lease on the advertisement. No one here can tell you if the properties you're looking at have landlords willing to do this. Ring and ask them.

JohnK

Oh I know noone can tell if a specific landlord would be willing to accept shorter minimums I'm just more wondering if its a something that landlords in general are willing to negotiate on or if its more of a no-go area. At least that way when I bring it up I'd have a slightly better idea of how far I could push it or how much wiggle room there might be.

Cathmandooo

If I were you I'd definitely ask for a 6 month lease or a break clause to be put into your lease. Sure there's absolutely no harm in asking

J-blk

JohnK wrote: »

I'm just more wondering if its a something that landlords in general are willing to negotiate on or if its more of a no-go area.

FWIW, I negotiated both a substantial rent reduction and a 6-month break clause for this year's lease renewal. It's my second year here though, so the landlord already knew I was "worth" keeping as a tenant.

Like Cathmandooo said though, no harm in asking - sure enough, during the boom years, my then landlord had no problem looking for rent increases often enough...

JohnK

That sounds promising

And just so I'm sure about the terminology, am I right in saying:
1. The break clause gives you a potential out within the first x months?
2. Then after x months its back to the initial minimum lease period?
3. It works both ways so the landlord could come to me within that period and say get out?

thanks!

Xiney

Sorry - wasn't suggesting renting WITH students, was suggesting renting an apartment that landlords haven't managed to get students into.

September is generally the most expensive month to rent, I have found.

JohnK

Interesting, that might explain a bit of the absolute madness I've seen on some apartments.

I wonder if its also why I'm finding it hard to even get in touch with some agents so you can see a place. Two agents now have had me waiting a few days just to make an appointment. Perhaps they've reached their targets for September and are hoping to push any commission into next month?

J-blk

JohnK wrote: »

And just so I'm sure about the terminology, am I right in saying:
1. The break clause gives you a potential out within the first x months?
2. Then after x months its back to the initial minimum lease period?
3. It works both ways so the landlord could come to me within that period and say get out?

1. Exactly. I signed a new 1 year lease in April. But it has a 6-month break clause which means that at any point after October, I can leave with no penalty (normally, the landlord can keep your deposit or pursue you for the remainder of the rent or both if you just break the lease) - I simply need to give the landlord the standard one month notice period which is specified in the lease.
2. The lease will expire next April. Before that point, I can suggest a part 4 tenancy to the landlord (which suits people in many ways but it also makes your notice periods longer, the longer you stay at one place) or just sign another lease. At that point, I'd negotiate with the landlord again, looking for a reduced rent if appropriate and/or the break clause again. Not going to be signing another 1 year lease with no break clause any time soon...
3. I'm not sure, I assume it does work both ways, but given how much landlords are trying to hang on to good tenants (or whomever in some cases), I don't think they would want to get rid of just like that...

JohnK

Thanks for that. Can the 1 month notice be the last of the 6 months or can you only give it after the 6 months? By that I mean is the landlord guaranteed 6 months rent or 7 months rent if you decided to exercise the clause?

J-blk

JohnK wrote: »

Can the 1 month notice be the last of the 6 months or can you only give it after the 6 months? By that I mean is the landlord guaranteed 6 months rent or 7 months rent if you decided to exercise the clause?

I would imagine it depends on the exact wording - mine is a bit vague, which by the looks of it only guarantees the landlord 6 months rent. If I gave them a month's notice on the 5th month, it should be perfectly acceptable to move out without penalty on the 6th month. If you get a break clause added, you could always clarify this point well in advance with your prospective landlord - just do so before signing anything...