Renting out a house for first time while living abroad

red_owl99

Hi guys,
I about to settle on a 3 bed house in South Dublin. I'm living abroad currently and hope to move into it in circa 9months time. ( I won't be home during the letting period).

I have no experience of letting and would appreciate any advice.

1. As I'm so far away, I'll need to get an estate agent to handle the letting. Has anyone any advise on what estate agents to use? How much fees do they generally charge?

2. Furnished or Unfurnished - is there any point trying to let an unfurnished house for 9months? Is there much of an unfurnished rental market in Dublin at the moment?

3. Tenant selection - any advice? How do we find our dream tenant and avoid the tenant from hell?


Happy New Year!

The_Conductor

First off- a 9 month rental is quite unusual- and also a little dangerous- as once you go over 6 months- the tenant accrues all manner of rights under the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act.

The market for unfurnished property- is actually growing at an exponential rate in Ireland- there are certain minimum standards specified in the 2004 Act which set out what a rental property contains- but it most certainly does not need to be fully furnished, despite what many people seem to imagine.

If you haven't already purchased the property- and do intend to move into it in 9 months time- I would suggest drawing out the purchase process by a few weeks (prices are no longer going up anyway- so the seller isn't going to be loosing out- providing you are genuine and do intend to follow through on the purchase).

Structure the tenancy- so that it is for 1 day less than 6 months- and non-renewable- spell this out. Also put in exit clauses into the lease- so that if you have a problematic tenant- you can legitimately vacate the tenancy agreement.

How to find a good tenant- unfortunately- there is no rough and ready rules here- some social welfare tenants are wonderful- others a nightmare- some students are perfectly acceptable- others (perhaps a majority) nightmares, some professionals are lovely- others not.

You are looking for someone who will take good care of your property- for a very short period of time (most tenants will assume they will be living long term in the property)- and who will vacate the property promptly- when you require them to do so.

To be perfectly honest with you- given the timescale involved- I'd suggest leaving the property vacant for the period- as the liklihood that you'll encounter a tenant who will overstay their lease- is just too high.

Landlords are facing a deluge of tenants overstaying their tenancies at the moment- most of whom are using the argument/excuse- that they can't find accommodation elsewhere. Threshold are informally telling tenants that this is acceptable (aka they are not officially advocating it- but when tenants ring- they are being told over the phone how to get away with overstaying tenancies- and there is SFA that landlords can do about it.

The process for evicting a tenant who overstays- can take well in excess of a year (after you've exhausted the PRTB tribunal process- which you are obliged to sign up to- you then have to take legal proceedings- as the PRTB cannot legally compel or issue legally binding orders........

Given the time frame you are talking about here- and the high possibility of an over-staying tenant- the safest course of action- is to draw out the purchase process as long as possible- and then leave the property vacant- paying someone to come in once or twice a week to tweak heating etc- to make sure you don't end up with burst pipes etc.

I honestly- could not advise renting out the property for the short term you are suggesting- the propensity for something to go seriously wrong is just too high........

3DataModem

My advice is to find a friend or family member and rent it to them for half (or less) market rate. Second best option; don't rent it at all.

Getting someone out after 9 months may be harder than you think; plus the startup costs of a registered tenancy are just not worth it.

maynooth_rules

If it is the right 9 months then it may be useful for a young teacher who is not from that area and wants to return home in the summer

syklops

red_owl99 wrote: »

Hi guys,
I about to settle on a 3 bed house in South Dublin. I'm living abroad currently and hope to move into it in circa 9months time. ( I won't be home during the letting period).

I have no experience of letting and would appreciate any advice.

1. As I'm so far away, I'll need to get an estate agent to handle the letting. Has anyone any advise on what estate agents to use? How much fees do they generally charge?

2. Furnished or Unfurnished - is there any point trying to let an unfurnished house for 9months? Is there much of an unfurnished rental market in Dublin at the moment?

3. Tenant selection - any advice? How do we find our dream tenant and avoid the tenant from hell?


Happy New Year!

If its worth anything, a friend of mine is looking for an unfurnished apartment/house in South Dublin that is unfurnished. He just moved here from the US, via the Czech Republic and wants to move his furniture here.

The_Conductor

syklops wrote: »

If its worth anything, a friend of mine is looking for an unfurnished apartment/house in South Dublin that is unfurnished. He just moved here from the US, via the Czech Republic and wants to move his furniture here.

For 9 months though? Thats the thing- its really too short term for the type of person you'd really like in the property- and too longterm for someone who might turn into a nightmare........

Why is it imperative that the OP purchase right here, right now?
My reading of their initial post is that they haven't even bought the house yet?

It just seems that someone is putting the cart before the horse to a certain extent here.........

xper

red_owl99 wrote: »

Hi guys,
I about to settle on a 3 bed house in South Dublin. I'm living abroad currently and hope to move into it in circa 9months time. ....

"About to settle"? You mean you haven't bought this house yet? What stage of the sale are you at? You may not be in a position to put this property up for rent for weeks or months.

If you will need this home in nine months time yourself and the vacant period will include the summer, I'd be investigating making it available to tourists. There's a number of agents that provide this sort of short term letting which doesn't fall under tenancy laws. They tend to prefer quality furnished properties and specific areas, of course.

red_owl99

Hi,
I'm going to settle on the house on Wed. I can't / don't want to push out the settlement date. (Its taken a lot to get this far!). I'm going to furnish it and approach estate agents this week.

I'm in a bit of a pickle because I can't afford to not let the house out - its classed as a buy to let mortgage and the interest rate is c1.5% higher than owner occupied rate. I need the rent to cover the repayments while I'm living abroad/when I move back to Ireland and job searching.

I was planning on 9 month lease and then moving into the property. Is there any advantage in going for a 6 month lease less one day rather than a 9 month lease?

I'm hope to get a decent tenant that will move out when the time comes. Agree it's a risk- I'll be sure to put in place a proper legal agreement. It's a risk I have to take.

Does anyone have any experiences of estate agents I can use? What fees etc do they charge?

Thanks all for responses!

Rasmus

I don't think anyone can recommend a business on the forum, so I would suggest shopping around for a real estate agent. However, I would agree with the (3rd?) poster that suggests getting a friend or family member to move in for a cut rate, or simply eat the cost yourself. You say you can't really afford it but you will incur costs by having tenants anyway. It will be very difficult and very risky to get a tenant in for less than six months. I rented my own house out to friends for a good rate and it was such less hassle to do that than get an agent and/or look for tenants.

red_owl99

I contacted a couple of estate agents today - one is offering 5% for letting and 5% for management.

I'm going to try and get someone I know to rent the house - renting it out via estate agent will be plan B.

Also, based on information on boards.ie, I'm looking at big mickeys and homeline furniture to kit the house out.

mistress_gi

If I were you I would buy second hand stuff, furniture breaks and buying new would be a waste of money, not to mention that there is a lot of great stuff out there for a fraction of the price. Oxfam even have a furniture store and can deliver for a small fee - 2 in 1 as you get great prices and you help a worthy charity. Other places adverts, donedeal, gumtree. I've bought wonderfull stuff in all sites!

If you rent 6 months rather than 9 the tenant will have less rights and it would be easier to deal with if needed.

chris85

Don't forget since you are abroad and if not going through an agency the tenant must pay 20% of the rent to Revenue and remaining 80% to you directly.

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

If your landlord lives outside Ireland and you pay your rent through an agent, you do not have to deduct tax from the rent. The landlord’s collection agent must account for the tax in an annual tax return.

However, if you pay the rent directly to the landlord (including into their bank account) whether in Ireland or abroad, you must deduct tax at the standard rate (20% at present) from the gross amount that you pay. This deduction is not your tax relief - it is tax payable to Revenue from your landlord's income.

For example, your landlord lives in Germany and you pay him/her gross rent per month of €1,000. First, work out the amount of tax to be deducted (€1,000 x 20% = €200). Now deduct the tax due from the gross rent you pay (€1,000 - €200 = €800). The net rent to be paid to your landlord is €800 per month. The amount due to Revenue is the €200 per month that you deducted from the gross rent of €1,000.