Tips (deposit wise) for renting an apartment in Dublin

MrZero00

Hi, we are about to rent an apartment in Dublin and the landlord is a private who will show us the house. What is the standard procedure to give him the deposit while avoiding a fraud? Is a bank transfer enough? Should I be suspicious if he asks me cash? I just want to avoid he runs away with our money

Which kind of proof can I ask to him?

Eldarion

MrZero00 wrote: »

Hi, we are about to rent an apartment in Dublin and the landlord is a private who will show us the house. What is the standard procedure to give him the deposit while avoiding a fraud? Is a bank transfer enough? Should I be suspicious if he asks me cash? I just want to avoid he runs away with our money

Which kind of proof can I ask to him?

Bank transfer should suit everyone. No reason not to do it in this day and age.

Zulu

As a LL is always ask for bank transfer. Its safer for everyone involved.

Bateman

Agreed, bank transfer preferable.

Santa Cruz

MrZero00 wrote: »

Hi, we are about to rent an apartment in Dublin and the landlord is a private who will show us the house. What is the standard procedure to give him the deposit while avoiding a fraud? Is a bank transfer enough? Should I be suspicious if he asks me cash? I just want to avoid he runs away with our money

Which kind of proof can I ask to him?

As soon as the Leaving Certificate results are, or even sooner, students will start looking for accommodation and every year there will be someone ripped off.
A bank transfer is best. You can always risk giving 10% in cash to make sure the apartment is held and transfer the rest electronically as son as possible.
Also when you see the landlord arriving get the registered number of his car

Chattastrophe!

I'd never pay in cash. Our current landlord originally tried to insist that they'd collect our rent in cash from the house each month, I refused. Firstly, I don't want them calling around to the house every month. Secondly, I'm not comfortable taking out that amount of cash and having to carry it around and keep it in the house (and besides, it's just hassle - max ATM withdrawal is I think €700 per day, our rent is more than that, so that's two separate trips on two days carrying an awful lot of money.) Thirdly, what's to stop them saying that you'd never paid that month's rent? At least with bank transfer you have a paper trail. I'd also insist on a receipt for the deposit, along with a written lease agreement.

AlanG

Get to see the landlords drivers license or other id along with the insurance for the property or some other document that actually proves they are the owner.

Bateman

Definitely - unless it's someone you know & trust, like a situation where you are renting off a friend, there is no excuse for landlords wanting to collect rent in cash, cowboy stuff to be honest

TheDoc

Paid my last places deposit with cash and my current place arrived for a viewing with cash in the pocket. Especially this time round when we moved start of this year, prices were inflating and it was a jungle trying to get ourselves a suitable place. Found it was a decent tactic to do the whole " I have cash now"

There was two landlords who were telling me they had loads of viewings to do, and when I said I'd pay cash they said it was mine if I wanted. Ended up going with somewhere we absolutely love, and when the landlord said he had loads of viewings but was happy to go with us I informed him I had cash now.

He refused and said he preferred a bank transfer. Was fine by me.

I've always paid my rent via bank transfer per month. If a landlord is asking for a cash collection per month, doesnt take a genius to figure out why. If your comfortable in that situation I'm sure you can take advantage and negotiate a lower rent pricing, but for a deposit while I'd have no issue with cash exchanging hands, I'd have a concern of a monthly collection of cash.

Come to think of it, my last landlord handed me a cheque back for my deposit Gave him the brows, lucky enough he got handed cash the next day for a deposit and we just swopped

rawn

I would be hugely cautious about handing over cash to a stranger. A few weeks ago a friend of my dad went to view an apartment in Ongar. When he got there there was himself and a few others waiting to view. Bloke pulls up in a fancy car, dressed well, says he's the LL and goes up to open the door. Tries key after key but the door won't open. Claims he must have put the wrong key on the bunch and would be back within half an hour with it. He never came back. My dad's friend (and probably others) had cash for a deposit that they were ready to hand over to him if they liked the place. My guess is he was a previous tenant who thought they weren't gonna bother changing the locks after he left, and was trying to scam desperate property viewers out of their deposits before pulling a legger. So I would be hesitant to hand over cash to anyone, no reason why a bank transfer the next day wouldn't suffice.