Landlords: do you know?

generalmental

Landlords do you know that the estate agents you have working for you are a bunch of tossers.

Just recently found out I am gonna be a father for the 1st time so I have decided to move in with the other half and rent a bigger place for my new family as what myself and my partner are renting at the moment are not suitable abodes for a newborn.

Since Friday I have tried to set up viewings for 7 different places all with different estate agents and not one of them have got back to myself or my partner.

Now I don't know how reliable property bee is,but according to property bee most of the properties we have looked at have been vacant on average 2-3 months. I just think this is very bad practice as I reckon you the landlords pay the estate agents and all they do is sit on their behinds and leave the property vacant.

Its just frustrating when we have money and can't even get a viewing.

Manzoor14

Recently moved into a new place there and one guy who was showing us around an apartment was only working part time for an estate agent for a few weeks (so had no loyalty to the estate agent really).

He told us (off the record) that the estate agent views the landlords as the customers and the tenants as a nuisance! There fore they try and set aside as little time as possible for the potential tenants. They know eventually someone will move in and they'll get paid anyway.

hardCopy

I started looking for a place last September. It was February before we even got a viewing.

Everywhere we rang the place was either gone already or they wouldn't show it in the evening.

We ended up taking the first place that would see us.

generalmental

Manzoor14 wrote: »

Recently moved into a new place there and one guy who was showing us around an apartment was only working part time for an estate agent for a few weeks (so had no loyalty to the estate agent really).

He told us (off the record) that the estate agent views the landlords as the customers and the tenants as a nuisance! There fore they try and set aside as little time as possible for the potential tenants. They know eventually someone will move in and they'll get paid anyway.

Fair enough but surely the idea is to get rid of the place asap and get the money in, not leave it sitting there idle. I know if it was my property and I knew there was interest I would not be happy

generalmental

hardCopy wrote: »

I started looking for a place last September. It was February before we even got a viewing.

Everywhere we rang the place was either gone already or they wouldn't show it in the evening.

We ended up taking the first place that would see us.

that cannot happen to myself as she is due in February.
hope you at least got a decent place

djimi

Where abouts are you looking? There will be some plonkers as there will be in any line of business, but overall I have never had any issues with estate agents and getting viewings.

I tend to find the smaller the estate agents the more accomodating they tend to be.

generalmental

djimi wrote: »

Where abouts are you looking? There will be some plonkers as there will be in any line of business, but overall I have never had any issues with estate agents and getting viewings.

I tend to find the smaller the estate agents the more accomodating they tend to be.

To be honest I don't really have a definite area I want to live the only thing is I would like to stay on the southside of Dublin nothing against the northside of Dublin at all just easier for myself and my partner as both families live on southside.

Don't know much about the size of the estate agents but I do recognise one in particular and they seem to have a lot of properties.

any other time i have rented its always been from the landlords themselves and it was an easy process. I just can't get my head round this and I'm a bit worried bout it.

borderlinemeath

South Dublin is experiencing a shortfall of rental properties at the minute, it's one of the few areas where rents are rising fairly substantially due to lack of availability.

OP go onto daft.ie and set up a search alert for the specific property you want in your preferred areas. You'll get email alerts when new properties that match your search are uploaded onto the site by both agents and landlords acting independently. Hopefully this way you might be slightly ahead of the posse and get a few viewings.

generalmental

Update
its now been over 16 different estate agents and not 1 has got back to me.how do these people survive

Milk & Honey

generalmental wrote: »

Update
its now been over 16 different estate agents and not 1 has got back to me.how do these people survive

All they need is one tenant for each property. If they get 50 enquiries, they just call back the few most likely and deal with one of them. They do not want to spend time and money calling people back when they don't have to. E-mail the agent and find out when there is a viewing. They are not going to play telephone tag.

Manzoor14

generalmental wrote: »

Fair enough but surely the idea is to get rid of the place asap and get the money in, not leave it sitting there idle. I know if it was my property and I knew there was interest I would not be happy

I agree, I said that to the guy, he said they know it'll be filled eventually, someone will take it within weeks no matter how many they show it to.

djimi wrote: »

I tend to find the smaller the estate agents the more accomodating they tend to be.

Agree with this as well. There's one large estate agent who I contacted re different 6 properties, only ever got a reply about one, to say it was gone!

generalmental

Milk & Honey wrote: »

All they need is one tenant for each property. If they get 50 enquiries, they just call back the few most likely and deal with one of them. They do not want to spend time and money calling people back when they don't have to. E-mail the agent and find out when there is a viewing. They are not going to play telephone tag.

Yes your right but even when I do email still no response at all.I have the funds to move in and kinda need a place soon as my partner is 7 months pregnant.

Telephone tag.we are ringing them and according to property bee the two especially that we are interested in have been vacant for 2 months.

djimi

Broaden your search area. I have never had any such issues renting in Naas. Its entirely possible that you are just looking in a high demand area.

tara73

generalmental wrote: »

Yes your right but even when I do email still no response at all.I have the funds to move in and kinda need a place soon as my partner is 7 months pregnant.

this is your mistake. do you just e-mail them?

phone them!! persistently!! you have to show a real interest and almost pushyness. if the ea's obviously have that much requests, sure they go with people who phone them, show the biggest effort, are there to talk directly to.
phoning is always more direct, an email is so easily forgotten or not even opened if there's enough interest from calls.

MajorMax

it's my understanding that due to the fact that banks won't lend, people aren't buying, but renting instead

So it's a seller's market where rented property is concerned

goodie2shoes

MajorMax wrote: »

it's my understanding that due to the fact that banks won't lend, people aren't buying, but renting instead

So it's a seller's market where rented property is concerned

renting is dead money.
because of shortage of supply in many Dublin areas landlords are rightly calling the shots, and are being quite fussy about who they let their property to.
personally i will leave my properties vacant rather than rent to undesirables.

keith16

goodie2shoes wrote: »

renting is dead money.
because of shortage of supply in many Dublin areas landlords are rightly calling the shots, and are being quite fussy about who they let their property to.
personally i will leave my properties vacant rather than rent to undesirables.

:rolleyes:

conf101

This may sound insignificant but are you calling or emailing the letting agents?

In my experience I've found that if you email letting agents to try and set up a viewing you're unlikely to have any joy. Best off calling them. With most you'll be able to arrange a viewing in the first phone call. With a few you'll probably have to call back a few times but you still should get a viewing, provided the place hasn't been let already.

But you'd nearly have as much success sending a carrier pigeon to the letting agent than an email in my opinion.

Rasmus

Another thing that can go wrong is if something goes wrong in a landlord's property and the agent doesn't them, the LL is still liable for any damages to the tenant - even though the LL may be none the wiser. I don't think that is fair.

goodie2shoes

from my experience letting agents are about as much use as tits on a bull.
renting is dead money. you're clearing someone else's liabilities.

Rasmus

goodie2shoes wrote: »

from my experience letting agents are about as much use as tits on a bull.
renting is dead money. you're clearing someone else's liabilities.

but what do estate agents have to do with renting being dead money?

goodie2shoes

Rasmus wrote: »

but what do estate agents have to do with renting being dead money?

i never said they did.

renting is effectively paying for someone else's asset/clearing their liability.

keith16

goodie2shoes wrote: »

i never said they did.

renting is effectively paying for someone else's asset/clearing their liability.

Yeah, but you get to live in someone else's asset, becoming a liability.

Spindle

Most estate/letting agents are useless. There are a few real decent professional sorts out there, but not enough.

I have been renting for years and also was in the market for buying. So have had to deal with load of these idiots for both rentals and attempting to purchase a house.

So I feel the need to rant

The amount of times I have been let down for viewings on rentals and houses to buy has been unreal, you would swear they are raking in the cash.

Then when you do get a viewing for a rental place, the state of some of the places and their stupid descriptions/lies (freshly painted, professionally cleaned, low maintenance, modern appliances, recently renovated). I would assume a place that was professionally cleaned, would have no cobwebs on ceilings, dust on the floor, dirt in and on the fridge, mold on the ceiling, mold in the fridge, limescale on the taps, grime on the inside of the windows etc etc. I know they are not going to say this place is dirty, but why lie and say it was cleaned when clearly it was not.

Modern appliances means they were made sometime after the 1970s, and they were taken for free from a skip or bought for 10 euro from the free adverts.

Recently renovated - means that they stuck some second hand furniture into the place, to try and bring it up to the 90's and slapped a bit of paint on the wall, but the curtains/carpet and kitchen still scream 70/80's

Even though it is required by law, when you ask for a BER you are meet with such replies as, "tis a grand place to heat", "it is easy to heat", "ahh sure you don't need one of them", "it is being done tomorrow", "it was done but we don't know the results", etc etc). I know it is only some person with a piece of software that calculates the BER, but at least it gives you an idea of how hard it will be to keep the place warm.

I always feel that as a renter you are treated as a sub-human in Ireland. With landlords stocking the place with crap they are throwing out of their own houses. There is also an attitude that sure anything will do for them, and they treat you like if you are minding their property and feel they can invade you privacy whenever they feel like it. Don't get me started on trying to get repairs done on a rental!!

Having rented in lots of other countries Ireland, rates at the bottom of them all, why can't it be acceptable to be a long term renter in this country and get a place that has little or no furniture, is modern and where you are trusted to keep the property in good condition, with only minimal intrusion for inspections and maintenance.

In the UK there are more landlords (not all of course) that buy older properties then renovate them and make them into decent rentals, over here landlords buy old houses and just rent them straight as they don't want to spend a penny.

/Rant

Best of luck finding a place, just hound them until they reply, when the get p***ed off with you they will do anything to get rid of you. And you will need to do the same to get the deposit back. Make sure you register with the PTRB and also that the landlord is registered with them

And renting isn't dead money, I am not in debt, don't have a millstone of a negative equity house around my neck. If I lose my job I am free to move to where I can get work. The only issue that was driving me to buy a house in Ireland is that as said above renters are treated horribly in lots of cases here and the standard of housing is very very poor, but having said that so is the standard of housing to buy.

nxbyveromdwjpg

Manzoor14 wrote: »

He told us (off the record) that the estate agent views the landlords as the customers and the tenants as a nuisance! There fore they try and set aside as little time as possible for the potential tenants. They know eventually someone will move in and they'll get paid anyway.

He's right the landlords are the customers for them, they are the ones paying them.

It's brutal trying to find a place to rent in South Dublin at the moment, queues out the door.

djimi

goodie2shoes wrote: »

i never said they did.

renting is effectively paying for someone else's asset/clearing their liability.

As opposed to losing moeny on a property of your own?

The phrase "renting is dead money" became obsolete the day house prices started to fall rather than climb. Nowadays most people save money by renting and holding off buying a house for another few years.

jd83

I hate that stupid phrase! Renting is not dead money it depends on the person and their situation.

OP I was the same when looking for an apartment. Ringing estate agents and they saying they would call back, or making a viewing time then turning up and no one there. I got a place eventually but was dealing directly with a landlord. Estate agents are useless. Some of the places I wanted to view are still up on daft?

tara73

jd83 wrote: »

OP I was the same when looking for an apartment. Ringing estate agents and they saying they would call back, or making a viewing time then turning up and no one there.

are you guys give a review about those experiences on the internet?

qype is a very good thing where everybody can log in and recommend/NOT recommend a service/company as it's disgraceful how some agents act and it should be made public.
that's what qype is there for so the least everybody could do is to write it down and warn others from unprofessional offices or for sure the opposite, recommend a good service.

goodie2shoes

tara73 wrote: »

are you guys give a review about those experiences on the internet?

qype is a very good thing where everybody can log in and recommend/NOT recommend a service/company as it's disgraceful how some agents act and it should be made public.
that's what qype is there for so the least everybody could do is to write it down and warn others from unprofessional offices or for sure the opposite, recommend a good service.

i have never dealt with an LA, either as a tenant or a landlord, that I would call professional.
you just have to look at how the LA's office within the EA (most but not all are part of an EA's business) is treated/viewed.
it's generally looked upon or relegated to a secondary role/business, that "proper" EA couldn't be bothered with.
LAs would be viewed as people who could not make it as proper EAs.

Do your own leg work and avoid them like the plague.