Do Irish Landlords check the credit history of their prospective tenants?

murphaph

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

To be very blunt and honest about it, from all you've said you may be just better off selling the property if and when the current tenancy ends

This isn't Germany/continental Europe no matter how much you might wish it to be.

That's a pretty defeatist attitude in fairness. The property is in Dublin in a fairly sought after location and turns a good steady profit (I'm not some reluctant landlord with massive negative equity etc. eking out an existence!).

I can take steps to minimise my risk by using the aforementioned tactics and I am not under pressure to let at any cost because the bank are breathing down my neck, like some poor feckers. This discussion is about these steps that can be taken to minimise risk (it has blossomed from a restrictive discussion about credit checks on tenants) to a landlord. That's all. I am not looking for a reason to exit the business at all-it forms a large part of my retirement plan! (I don't trust either my German or Irish state pensions will amount to much and as for my private defined contribution scheme, well, that's in the hands of the gods completely).

I just hope some other landlords reading this thread can see that they do have options open to them to reduce the risks posed by delinquent tenants and that these options are almost all to be executed before a tenancy begins. The rental market is changing in Ireland. People who would otherwise have bought are now renting (willingly or unwillingly) long term. That change will bring other changes, so the rental market at least may become more German after all

drumswan

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

His mistake (IMO) is thinking that he has the right to act like a financial authority (with his list of requirements for prospective tenants) and expecting tenants to cheerfully hand over that sort of personal information to someone who in reality is just another Joe Soap and one they probably won't ever deal with outside of an email or maybe a phone call.

Allow landlord to dip into tenants bank account at will via DD, no problem. Allow tenant to reverse said DD, no way!

Comical.

murphaph

drumswan wrote: »

Allow landlord to dip into tenants bank account at will via DD, no problem. Allow tenant to reverse said DD, no way!

Comical.

You do whatever you feel you need to do to secure you and your family's financial security and I'll do the same for mine.

To be honest guys it sounds like you've all been burned by landlords and you're taking it out on the one landlord that is decent to his tenants and responds quickly to issues that crop up and generally treats the whole thing in the professional manner it deserves.

My current tenants are continentals as my next ones will be too, because they treat the whole thing in a more professional manner themselves. You guys may scoff at my chances of securing an Irish tenant with continental practices but there are plenty of continental tenants in Dublin to choose from as well

_Kaiser_

murphaph wrote: »

You do whatever you feel you need to do to secure you and your family's financial security and I'll do the same for mine.

To be honest guys it sounds like you've all been burned by landlords and you're taking it out on the one landlord that is decent to his tenants and responds quickly to issues that crop up and generally treats the whole thing in the professional manner it deserves.

My current tenants are continentals as my next ones will be too, because they treat the whole thing in a more professional manner themselves. You guys may scoff at my chances of securing an Irish tenant with continental practices but there are plenty of continental tenants in Dublin to choose from as well

Ah well you see that's an entirely different proposition.

But yes with Irish tenants you will find very few who'll happily hand over the level of information you require with NO assurances about YOU. You may be a fantastic landlord, but to me you're just another Joe Soap at the end of a Daft ad/email address that I don't know from Adam.

What assurances do *I* have that you're different? Because you say so? See the point yet? If you can't go into this with a bit of good faith and trust from the start, then neither side will be happy.

Yes I fully agree with you that the avenues for addressing problems IF and when they do arise are ridiculous and badly in need of overhaul to protect tenants AND landlords from bad examples of each other.
But I certainly wouldn't be giving you all my personal information in return for only "your word" and I'd be offended that you're starting off the deal by presuming I'm some sort of problem tenant that you need all this protection from.

I'll just take my money and my BUSINESS elsewhere

gaius c

murphaph wrote: »

Correct. However in my case the property is let via RAS and the local authority retains 20% and furnishes me with an R185 form for my tax return. So far no problems with that.

Why do you need to see the tenant's bank details then?

murphaph

gaius c wrote: »

Why do you need to see the tenant's bank details then?

All this talk is about the next tenancy. The existing tenants are fine and none of this applies to them.

djimi

murphaph wrote: »

All this talk is about the next tenancy. The existing tenants are fine and none of this applies to them.

So why not just rent to RAS again?

murphaph

djimi wrote: »

So why not just rent to RAS again?

I think you might be under the assumption that the council chooses what tenants occupy my property. That is not the agreement I have with them. I have what's called an "in-situ" agreement. It only applies to the current tenants who were in the property before I joined the RAS scheme and will terminate if/when they ever leave. I would never countenance the "traditional" form of RAS where you effectively surrender control of your property to the council to install whomever they like in there. RAS came to me so to speak, I didn't go to it.

djimi

murphaph wrote: »

I think you might be under the assumption that the council chooses what tenants occupy my property. That is not the agreement I have with them. I have what's called an "in-situ" agreement. It only applies to the current tenants who were in the property before I joined the RAS scheme and will terminate if/when they ever leave. I would never countenance the "traditional" form of RAS where you effectively surrender control of your property to the council to install whomever they like in there. RAS came to me so to speak, I didn't go to it.

I thought that the was normal course of events with RAS? That the tenant finds you as they would do with a standard tenancy and they you agree the RAS terms with the council?

murphaph

djimi wrote: »

I thought that the was normal course of events with RAS? That the tenant finds you as they would do with a standard tenancy and they you agree the RAS terms with the council?

Normally under RAS the landlord agrees a period of availability of the property to the council, 10 years being common. The council then retains nomination rights over the tenants that will occupy the property.

I already had these tenants and then they became in need of social welfare assistance to pay their rent. This was originally in the form of Rent Supplement and latterly in the form of a limited RAS contract that is tied to these tenants. if they leave, the council and I part company at the same time and I go back to renting privately.