Questions you can't ask?

Johnny Bitte

Hi all,
About to do my first viewing and just wanted to check was there any questions I m not allowed ask like in a job interview?

If yu have any suggestions please let me know!!


I have a list below of what I m planning to ask:

How many people living with you?
Deposit and first months rent?
Direct debit on the 1st of every month?
Smoker?
What do you work at?
Working close to the property?
How long will you want to rent the property for?

Grass cutting?
Water Softener salt?
How long do you want to rent for?
References?
Reason for moving?
Pets?

Bills:
TV Licence
Airtricity
Oil
Sky (optional)
Broadband (optional)
Bins

spoonface

While the rest are fine as questions, the following 4 I wouldn't be asking, I'd be telling i.e. my policy is no smoking inside the house, I need deposit +1 month rent to begin with and a direct debit given immediately for the 1st of the month indefinitely and no pets allowed. I might also ask for bank references & job references.

Smoker?
Deposit and first months rent?
Direct debit on the 1st of every month?
Pets?

The_Goose135 wrote: »

Hi all,
About to do my first viewing and just wanted to check was there any questions I m not allowed ask like in a job interview?

If yu have any suggestions please let me know!!


I have a list below of what I m planning to ask:

How many people living with you?
Deposit and first months rent?
Direct debit on the 1st of every month?
Smoker?
What do you work at?
Working close to the property?
How long will you want to rent the property for?

Grass cutting?
Water Softener salt?
How long do you want to rent for?
References?
Reason for moving?
Pets?

Bills:
TV Licence
Airtricity
Oil
Sky (optional)
Broadband (optional)
Bins

not even wrong

Asking about any of the stuff on this list is inadvisable:

Gender
Civil status
Family status
Religion
Sexual orientation
Age
Disability
Race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins) or
Membership of the Traveller community.

Victor

Do I get hte impression this is your own home, that you live there?

not even wrong wrote: »

Asking about any of the stuff on this list is inadvisable:

There are certain exemptions to this, including small residences.

amdublin

not even wrong wrote: »

Asking about any of the stuff on this list is inadvisable:

I'd also be careful not to give reasons to people why you are not renting to them.

Eg. Do not say: I'd prefer a single person to a couple and their kid or a mum and her baby because then you are discriminating on the basis of their family status.

If someone rings me to say "I viewed yesterday, can I have the room/apartment" I tend to be vague and say something like, sorry I have five more appointments set up, I am continuing to do viewings so you should probably look to get another place.

Plus, if at the viewing people are pushing you for a decision that you are not comfortable making then just firmly but politely tell them that you have more viewings arranged and that if they are successful you will ring them. That if they do not hear from you they can take it someone else has taken the apartment.

It's not ideal but at least you are not leaving yourself open....

Zamboni

Just bear in mind it is only a viewing.
If you start asking 20 questions you could jeopardise pissing off a decent prospective tenant.

pooch90

amdublin wrote: »

Plus, if at the viewing people are pushing you for a decision that you are not comfortable making then just firmly but politely tell them that you have more viewings arranged and that if they are successful you will ring them. That if they do not hear from you they can take it someone else has taken the apartment.

It's not ideal but at least you are not leaving yourself open....

Personally, I would consider it extremely rude from a prospective tenant point of view if you said "If you don't hear from me it's gone". Would it kill you to actually ring them and let them know?

Who knows, the tenant you pick may change their mind. Then you may need to call one of the others who viewed. It's just manners.

If I received a phone call from LL basically saying " You viewed my house 3 weeks ago. Didn't bother my h*le getting back to you, but do you want it?" I'd tell you where to go regardless of liking the property.

amdublin

pooch90 wrote: »

Personally, I would consider it extremely rude from a prospective tenant point of view if you said "If you don't hear from me it's gone". Would it kill you to actually ring them and let them know?

Who knows, the tenant you pick may change their mind. Then you may need to call one of the others who viewed. It's just manners.

If I received a phone call from LL basically saying " You viewed my house 3 weeks ago. Didn't bother my h*le getting back to you, but do you want it?" I'd tell you where to go regardless of liking the property.

Yeah c'mere I agree with you. It's not ideal but needs must etc.

Last time I did an open viewing for 3 hours on a sat morning with a prospective tenant arriving and viewing every ten minutes. That means I had eighteen tenants to ring back, if I was going to ring back.

I'll be honest with you. There were some that I just knew I would never, even if I was desperate rent to, for a variety of reasons. But I didn't want to say this to them. But yes as well I admit I didn't want to make eighteen phone calls either.

Ultimately, again I agree, it's not ideal but it worked for me on this occasion.

Ps. I rang my number one choice and did actually ring number two and three to say they were unsuccessful thus keeping them in the loop/me in their good books.

Johnny Bitte

Thanks lads, viewers never turned up. Waited an hour for both. Only had the number for 1 and she wont answer the phone.

Fairly pissed off!!

amdublin

Yep be prepared for that!

Would you think of trying the "open viewing" like I described?

I got fed up with people not turning up so at least you have a better chance of getting some viewers....

Johnny Bitte

amdublin wrote: »

Yep be prepared for that!

Would you think of trying the "open viewing" like I described?

I got fed up with people not turning up so at least you have a better chance of getting some viewers....

Thanks, I might give that a shot, but it a small village in Laois so not sure it might work.

How did you advertise it?

subway

The_Goose135 wrote: »

How many people living with you? - reasonable
Deposit and first months rent? - expected, no need to ask
Direct debit on the 1st of every month? - direct debit on day rent is due, no earlier.
Smoker? - reasonable, but have a rule in advance. if you dont mind, dont bother asking
What do you work at? - none of your business
Working close to the property? - none of your business
How long will you want to rent the property for? - if you arent setting out a 12 month term then it makes sense to ask this

Grass cutting? - probably just one for the lease tbh
Water Softener salt? - wtf
How long do you want to rent for? - you already asked that
References? - up to you, its a big turn off for me and i would find another rental
Reason for moving? none of your business
Pets? most landlords either allow pets or dont, no need to ask the tenants opinion

Bills: - this is absolutely no concern of yours
TV Licence
Airtricity
Oil
Sky (optional)
Broadband (optional)
Bins

is it a house rental or a rent-a-room scenario?

if a landlord asked me these questions on a viewing i would just walk back out the door.

only if its rent a room, some of the questions have more relevance, but remember, first impressions count. if you bombard someone with that many questions on a viewing you are going to scare them off.
better that, once they make an offer, you sit down and explain your rules to them. asking questions is unprofessional and puts everything up for debate from the outset. you should have a printed list of rules that they can sign and get a copy of. if they don't like the rules, they can leave.
if you are prepared to "give" on a rule, don't include it in the first place.

the_syco

The_Goose135 wrote: »

Smoker?

Do the [url="http://image34.webshots.com/35/7/1/7/249370107VRBmVD_ph.jpg]gangster handshake[/url] to check for the yellow fingers of a smoker if you're unsure if they're telling the truth. If they say they don't smoke, and they have yellow fingers, it means they're lying to you. As a smoker, I've always said I smoke, but that I smoke outside. Most landlords have no problem with this, and have often provided a ceramic pot to throw the butts into.

The_Goose135 wrote: »

References?
Reason for moving?

These go hand in hand. If the last landlord was a "utter wanker" they should still have a reference from someone, of it could be them that is the "utter wanker". Also, have a bit of banter with them, and you may pick up some words boss. If they have no references boss, and they want to pay cash instead of direct debit boss, then be wary boss :pac:
Oh, and if you're suspicious that you've just rang their mate, get someone else to ring them, but get the address wrong, and see if they still say that they're "grand".