Renting from letting agency

freeze4real

Hi All,

I'll soon be renting from a letting agency I'd like to some advice before I proceed.

The lease should be 12months but would like a minimum of 6 months and a rolling period of 1 month.

The advert says fully furnished but when I viewed the apartment there was no TV nor stuff like ironing board and iron. Lol.

As the rent is a bit steep I was thinking of letting the other room out I hope they aren't any rules against this.

If so let's let's say the hypothetical rent is 140 weekly and it's a 2bed apartment ensuite and single room. How should I divide the rent 60/40 or 55/45 ?

Thanks

The_Morrigan

You should read all the information in this link and familiarise yourself with the tenant and landlord rights & obligations.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/

You may ask for an amendment to the lease, but you may need to seek independent legal advice to have the contract amended properly so that it is legally enforceable. However, after six months you gain Part IV rights and the lease can't take away from those. You may want to familiarise yourself with Part IV.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/types_of_tenancy.html

Subletting is typically forbidden by leases, so you will have to ask upfront before you agree to anything if you can sublet one of the rooms out. If you do not have permission to sublet and you do it anyway, it will be a breach of the lease and you can be evicted for that.

Sarn

freeze4real wrote: »

Hi All,

The advert says fully furnished but when I viewed the apartment there was no TV nor stuff like ironing board and iron. Lol.

Fully furnished would not normally include a TV, iron or ironing board. It basically means the furniture, fridge freezer, microwave, washer/dryer. Kettle and toaster may or may not be included.

djimi

Id say its fairly unlikely that you will get the agent to agree to a six month lease, not unless you were to offer more rent or something. I certainly wouldnt be pinning my hopes on it. If the property is in a fairly healthy rental area then they will get a tenant on a 12 month lease if thats what they want.

When it comes to furnishing, there are minimum standards which the property must adhere to (washing machine, fridge, cooker etc; see http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/repairs_maintenance_and_minimum_physical_standards.html), but after that fully furnished basically means what you see when you view. Chances are most properties wont have a TV, or at least not one that is worth writing home about. An iron may or may not be provided.

If you plan on renting out the other room after you move in then you will need to run this by the landlord first and get confirmation in writing that they are okay with this. Most will have the default position of not allowing it, and its fairly likely that it will be expressely forbidden in your lease.

freeze4real

Thanks for the links.

The apartment has recently been put up and no doubt it could be gone preetily gone ASAP.

quietsailor

be very, very careful about renting from an agency. Nearly every agency out there has a bad story associated with their name when googled.

You can even search boards with the agency name and you might get threads. Unfortunately there may be good professional agencies out there but you only hear about the horror stories - that's not to say you don't have to watch out with LandLords either.

I posted in a thread a few months back about renting with an agency, here's what I wrote then;

Make sure you tell the LL/Agent you want the

1. PRTB form available when you sign the lease - it'll give them fair warning that you'll actually report them if they try unfairly keeping any of your deposit.
2. Insist on taking photos yourself and get the LL/agent to either sign the printed copy or else email them to the LL/agent - it creates a paper trail to prove the condition of the items if there is a dispute when you leave.
3. Switch on&off absolutely EVERYTHING in the house, sit/lie down on all beds and couches/chairs - once you sign the lease you are accepting it in the state it is. Don't accept "we'll have that sorted before you move in" as an excuse if there is broken/faulty equipment. Tell them you want to hold back a portion of the rent until it gets fixed. They won't go for that but it would either spur them into fixing the problem or if they refuse you'll know you have dodgy LL/agent and stay away from them.
4. If the agency is trying to say they will be inspecting the house regularly remind them you have un-interrupted use of your house under Irish law, the inspections have to be at a time that suits you and they can't enter the house unaccompanied without your (written) permission

the_syco

quietsailor wrote: »

[*]Switch on&off absolutely EVERYTHING in the house, sit/lie down on all beds and couches/chairs - once you sign the lease you are accepting it in the state it is. Don't accept "we'll have that sorted before you move in" as an excuse if there is broken/faulty equipment. Tell them you want to hold back a portion of the rent until it gets fixed. They won't go for that but it would either spur them into fixing the problem or if they refuse you'll know you have dodgy LL/agent and stay away from them.

Agreed. If it isn't sorted before you give them the deposit, it never shall be.

freeze4real

the_syco wrote: »

Agreed. If it isn't sorted before you give them the deposit, it never shall be.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm having another look at the apartment tomorrow.

Just a question.
If I were to buy these things e.g iron tv etc. is the landlord meant to refund the cost to me either in full or partially.

Ocean Blue

freeze4real wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm having another look at the apartment tomorrow.

Just a question.
If I were to buy these things e.g iron tv etc. is the landlord meant to refund the cost to me either in full or partially.

No, you buy them as your own possessions and take them with you when you leave.

dingding

The issue with the TV I think is to do with the license. If you get the TV you are responsible for the license. If the landlord provides a television then it is the landlords responsibility to pay for the TV license.

djimi

dingding wrote: »

If the landlord provides a television then it is the landlords responsibility to pay for the TV license.

No, its not.

freeze4real

Hi guys.

Another question could I make a request that the house should be re-painted ?

Daith

djimi wrote: »

No, its not.

If you don't want the TV is it up to the landlord to store it?

djimi

freeze4real wrote: »

Hi guys.

Another question could I make a request that the house should be re-painted ?

You can ask. Nothing says they must oblige though

If youre not happy with the state of the property or the way it is decorated when you view then dont agree to move in.

djimi

Daith wrote: »

If you don't want the TV is it up to the landlord to store it?

No I dont think so. If the house is rented as furnished and the landlord has no means of storing the TV then I dont believe that they are obliged to remove it from the property.

Daith

djimi wrote: »

No I dont think so. If the house is rented as furnished and the landlord has no means of storing the TV then I dont believe that they are obliged to remove it from the property.

Yet the tenant is liable for the license even if they don't want a TV?

freeze4real

djimi wrote: »

You can ask. Nothing says they must oblige though

If youre not happy with the state of the property or the way it is decorated when you view then dont agree to move in.

Maybe I'm asking too much but the place is filthy or maybe filthy is a strong word. Come to think about if it's like college accommodation except the ads reads suits professionals.

The Utensils are dirty, I wouldn't use the microwave and kettle. Compared to effete I'm living right now it way better than the apartment.

djimi

freeze4real wrote: »

Maybe I'm asking too much but the place is filthy or maybe filthy is a strong word. Come to think about if it's like college accommodation except the ads reads suits professionals.

The Utensils are dirty, I wouldn't use the microwave and kettle. Compared to effete I'm living right now it way better than the apartment.

If its that dirty then dont rent it. If thats the state that they are prepared to show the place in then can you imagine what it would be like to live and what the landlord would be like to deal with? Move on, find somewhere else.

Also, I really wouldnt use anything like crockery, cutlery, utensils, even things like kettle, toaster and microwave left in the property. You have no idea how old they are and what the previous tenants did with them. None of that stuff is expensive to buy; set aside €100 and buy it all new for yourself when you move in.

The_Morrigan

freeze4real wrote: »

Maybe I'm asking too much but the place is filthy or maybe filthy is a strong word. Come to think about if it's like college accommodation except the ads reads suits professionals.

The Utensils are dirty, I wouldn't use the microwave and kettle. Compared to effete I'm living right now it way better than the apartment.

Don't move in if you don't like the place, it is that simple.

djimi

Daith wrote: »

Yet the tenant is liable for the license even if they don't want a TV?

I could be wrong, but I dont believe that there is any obligation on the landlord to remove any furnishings from the property that were present at viewing.