Letting Agent: Any need?

fussyhussey

Hi All

Due to health circumstances a close of mine is having to give up his house and move home. He is hanging onto the house and is looking to rent it. The house is in a dublin commuter belt and should be easily let, however he went to a letting agent first to see about getting it done in one go. He was quoted 7% of the annual rent as a fee, and another €150 for paperwork. I said I assumed that was fair enough if the agent would keep an eye on the house and manage the tenants, but he told me that they wouldn't do that, that he would have to deal directly with the tenants. I then said I supposed if they stayed a couple of years it would work out ok, he said it would only be 4% payment the next year...that seems mad to me.

My friend has done his share of renting and really wants to do everything above board but I'm wondering would it be better to get a solicitor to draw up a lease and register with the prtb and do it himself through daft.

I might be missing a huge chunk of info, so I'd love to hear any ideas
Thanks all and happy new year

The_Conductor

It would appear that other than sourcing the tenant, that the letting agent your relative went to, is not willing to do anything else whatsoever. In cases like that- you'd either go to another agent- or as you suggest- put it up on DAFT and/or myhome.ie and source the tenant yourself.

Normally a landlord would use the letting agent to handle the running of the property- so they don't have to manage the nitty gritty little things. If you have to do absolutely everything other than source the tenant- well, in my opinion- you may as well bite the bullet and advertise and source the tenant as well....... 7% pa for getting a tenant and 4% in year two- unless the agent is actively managing the property- is totally unjustifiable.

Graces7

Try a different agent? Ask around and see if there is a big difference between them?

The one we rented through in Donegal took one month's rent and that was it.

The_Conductor

Graces7 wrote: »

Try a different agent? Ask around and see if there is a big difference between them?

The one we rented through in Donegal took one month's rent and that was it.

Hold on a moment- the letting agent charged you Grace?
Normally they only charge the landlord- not both the landlord and the tenant.......
The landlord is typically charged a lumpsum to take the property on, and then a percentage of the monthly rent. The agent then has to go and find a tenant. I would consider it unusual for a letting agent to charge the tenant a red cent.....

3DataModem

Industry standard is about 6% plus vat to find a tenant, then 6% plus vat maintenance.

The key question to ask is how much do you pay if they need to re-advertise? Some will charge full whack again, some charge the tenant sourcing fee each year even if tenant stays, some charge a reduced amount if tenant stays.

Whether it is good value or not depends on your circumstances. If you pay for each tenant then it is in the agents interest to churn tenants, so I prefer to pay the same fee irrespective of a change in tenant or not - this motivates the agent to find a quality tenant to minimise their own work. I would also advocate paying for maintenence if you are letting a house - a lot can go wrong with a house compared to an apartment.

Get a few quotes. Don't choose base on price alone. Plenty of agents are terrible, and plenty are fantastic.

I am currently paying an agent 12pc all-in on a house. They are doing a good job so far, and they helped kit out the house before i rented it so I didn't mind paying that much. I also have an apartment I rent myself without an agent... but I may hand it over to them at the next tenant change but offer 9-10pc as it's an easier job.

Good luck.

BostonB

Theres a lot of bad letting agents around. I would be wary. Theres different levels of contract, some just find tenants, some do everything including maintenance. You should get a break down of what the agent does and the exact fee for each single thing they do. I'd also ask what happens when theres trouble, with a tenant, and what they do in those situations. Things like that.

Get the tenants to pay you, then you pay the letting agent. Also you hold the deposit. In this way you retain all financial control not the letting agent.

For 7% (which is quite expensive anyway) the tenant and landlord should have absolutely no contact with each other. Shop around your friend should have no bother finding a letting agent for 6% that will look after everything.

Graces7

smccarrick wrote: »

Hold on a moment- the letting agent charged you Grace?
Normally they only charge the landlord- not both the landlord and the tenant.......
The landlord is typically charged a lumpsum to take the property on, and then a percentage of the monthly rent. The agent then has to go and find a tenant. I would consider it unusual for a letting agent to charge the tenant a red cent.....

Ah no; charged the landlord.. sorry!

I have a very poor and often non existent internet connection here so tend to rush through posts.

I was aiming to make the point that not all agencies are the same.

Ciara22

Hi Grace,

You can normally choose from 2 options when going with a Letting Agency. Most agencies do a Let Only service or a Let and Managed Service.

The Let Only service has a once off fee for finding you tenants and drawing up the leases and transferring the utilities, registering with the PRTB etc. They then hand over all details to you once the tenant has moved in and its your responsibility after that.

With a Let and Managed Service, the agency will do all of the above but for an additional monthly fee, will deal with your tenant for all queries and maintenance issues. You need never have to deal with the hassle if you dont want to.

You dont need to go and register with any solicitor at all, and of course you can advertise on daft.ie and myhome.ie yourself if you want to keep costs down. But bear in mind that you will have to carry out all the viewings etc.

The actual letting fee should be around 6-7% and the monthly management fee is usually about 10%.

I would advise choosing a local agency as they will be more readily available to carry out viewings for you.