[Wanted] I want to rent a 4-bed in St. Mary's parish in Lucan

willbeuptuesday

Hi guys

I am tired trying to rent a decient 4 bed in the parish of St Marys in Lucan. My story is typical of alot of thirty somethings in Ireland today. I am married with two kids and my current house Is too small and is in negative equity, my eldest is due to start school in September and for child care reasons we want him to go to a St Marys boys school( my wife works nearby and our Childminder who is our only support in Dublin also lives nearby). My current home is on a tracker and having exploered all financial options the only logical one is to rent my own home and rent elsewhere. We are looking to rent for at least 5 years and both have good jobs so we are willing to pay reasonalable rent but not prepared to be ripped off. We would provide security to anyone wishing to rent out their home for a long period and would be the kind of tenants that would take responsibility for painting, gardening, etc. I have researched daft and other web sites but there are currently only 10 houses with 4 beds for rent in Lucan and those which are in the parish of St Marys are not in great shape. I would appreciate any feed back or tips, our preference would be for a house in the beech park area but we are open to other areas too.

Thank you

RATM

If you register with daft.ie you can put a free ad up on their tenant database stating what type of place, location, etc, you are seeking to rent. From there landlords should get in touch to let you know about their properties.

willbeuptuesday

Thanks I never knew you could do that

RATM

It worked pretty well for me the last time I was renting in Dublin- about 5 or 6 different landlords contacted me and I ended up renting off one of them.

If you are looking to sign a 4 or 5 year lease you should be seen by the landlord as a potential gold mine in that you are offering to pay rent for far in excess of a one year lease. Provided you can satisfy him that your income is steady and secure then signing a 5 year lease for him is (in a business sense) a good degree of certainty, something they may not have with tenants who chop and change a lot more frequently.

I think that the above should help you get a 10-12% discount on what is agreed to be local market value for a 4 bed. I'd also be looking at that lease and contracting out of it the bit of legislation that says a landlord can break a lease if the property is going to be used by themselves or a family member. You yourself also need certainty that you are going to be there for 5 years while your kids go to school locally so I think it is a good idea to only sign on the condition that you are there for 5 years (provided you pay rent on time, keep it well etc) and do away with the landlords break clause. When you think about it within the next 5 years the landlords circumstances could change and he might need the property back - where would that leave you with children already settled in their new home and having friends living around them? Better to get rid of that clause the landlord can't take over the property on family grounds so that way you can be certain you'll remain for the full five years.