[Wanted] Urgently required - property in Clondalkin area

danedel

As a matter of desperation I am coming to the adverts community for help. PLEASE READ! !!!

I have been in a rented property for the past two years and unfortunately My landlord has given us notice due to the fact he is coming back to Ireland and needs the house for his family. 

We are a professional couple with 3 children who go to school in Clondalkin so need a 3 bed property in the local area (lucan, Newcastle, saggart, city West, clondalkin etc.). We have 4 weeks before we need to move out and have not been able to find a property.

We have full deposit, landlord reference and my wife's work reference. I am self employed and can provide proof of this. 

This is where the issue is and please read fully before being put off. We are on the council RAS scheme. With this you can sign up to a contract with the council for between 80 & 90 % of the asking price. They pay this direct to you every month for the duration of the contract which can be for 1 - 5 years. You will get this payment into your account regardless of whether the tenant is in the property or not! As a couple we would then pay any shortfall so you do not miss out on any rent. We currently top up by €210 per month and the landlord can confirm this has been done on time each month. 

Due to the inconsistency of a new start up business we need to stay on RAS to guarantee the monthly rent. If the business has a bad month then my wife's wage would not cover everything whereas on RAS it does giving you the landlord better peace of mind. As I have set up a business it will be 5 years before we could buy meaning of you are looking for long term rental security this is a PERFECT OPTION. 

Imagine taking on a tenant responsible for 100% of the rent and they lose their job or relationship breaks down. Potentially these things would lead to the tenant not being able to pay rent or worse still move out where you lose out 100%. With RAS you are guaranteed at least 80% of your rental regardless of whether the tenant is working or not and even if the tenant moves out. 80% is better than nothing renting to the private market, but as it is if you want a long term tenant that is us. We will stay for 5 years and always top up any shortfall which is always doable as it should be no more than €2-300.

If you have a property or know of anyone that does either available now or in the near future please contact me. We have 4 weeks! !!!!!

I am from the UK so have no family for support and my wife's parents only have a 3 bed not ideal for 7 people. Any help would be much appreciated.

danedel

danedel wrote: »

............80% is better than nothing renting to the private market, but as it is if you want a long term tenant that is us. We will stay for 5 years and always top up any shortfall which is always doable as it should be no more than €2-300..................

Comments like that do you no favours

jon1981

There are 16 properties (3 bed houses) apparently available in some of those areas you mentioned on daft.ie. Are they unsuitable for reasons you haven't highlighted?

danedel

Augeo wrote: »

Comments like that do you no favours

Hi Augeo,

Thanks for your thoughts. In a way I viewed this as a positive. We top up the rent when we are in the property so the landlord gets 100% of his asking price, but this is a security for the landlord.

For example, I was speaking with a landlord the other day whos previous tenants left in November and due to the state of the property he has had to do a lot of work before being able to rent out again. He guesses it will be February before the house is ready for moving into. This means he has not had a rent payment since October (a loss of 3 months rent at 100%).

We are not tenants who would leave like that, but what I was saying was if that landlord was with RAS, he would have still been paid for those 3 months at the negotiated fee meaning he would not have been as much out of pocket as what he currently is.

That to me is a bonus not a negative.

danedel

jon1981 wrote: »

There are 16 properties (3 bed houses) apparently available in some of those areas you mentioned on daft.ie. Are they unsuitable for reasons you haven't highlighted?

These properties are all suitable for us and we would take any one of those tomorrow if we could. The issue is landlords views that the RAS is to complicated so dont want the hassle.

In fact it is not, we have been guaranteed that if we find a landlord who will take the RAS they will have all paperwork through within 2 weeks as long as the landlord has the required documents.

We have been to view many properties and landlords just will not talk to us

fussyonion

I was told it'd take a lot longer than that when I was going to sign up to the RAS scheme.

I found a place I liked; the Landlord was willing to go ahead with the scheme, so I informed the council, who then told me they needed to send an inspector to the house to do checks on the state of the house and if things needed to be amended to fit in with their high standards, the Landlord would have to remedy them before they'd consider letting us move in.

It was going to take at least 8 weeks.
It ISN'T a tempting scheme for a lot of Landlords, OP.

Why should they take 80-90% of the rent when they can get the full rent from a professional tenant?

Also, there's the whole Rent Review thing that still happens even on RAS; so if market rents change, the Council will negotiate the rent again with the Landlord.

It's a messy scheme and most don't want to let out their properties under it because there's also the risk of having a tenant who's not what they're looking for.

If you moved out, the Council would have to get another tenant in for the Landlord and the Landlord has no control over who moves in!

handlemaster

Ras is a waste of time for the landlord. in dublin anyhow. the council I have experience of is fingal... take more like 7 months for council to do anything and thats from a landlord with everything in place. 80% of what they take as rent for the area also. the op is better going and paying with rental allowance if its to much move area. lots of cheaper houses /apts around the country. in fact your kids might have a better life in the country side than in clondalkin.

danedel

handlemaster wrote: »

Ras is a waste of time for the landlord. in dublin anyhow. the council I have experience of is fingal... take more like 7 months for council to do anything and thats from a landlord with everything in place. 80% of what they take as rent for the area also. the op is better going and paying with rental allowance if its to much move area. lots of cheaper houses /apts around the country. in fact your kids might have a better life in the country side than in clondalkin.

Unfortunately moving isn't an option with work. We are a professional couple and need to be in Dublin for work. As for time it takes, we have been on RAS for a while and when we first signed up it took a bit longer as we transferred but as long as the house is in good condition they have said they will rush it through. They can get the surveyor out within a week then it's negotiations. The quicker you negotiate the quicker we can get in.

johnnyskeleton

danedel wrote: »

These properties are all suitable for us and we would take any one of those tomorrow if we could. The issue is landlords views that the RAS is to complicated so dont want the hassle.

Unfortunately landlords dont see it like that. When they hear rent allowance they often think:
1. Wont pay the top up
2. Wont care for the property
3. No one to sue if arrears build up
4. Difficult to increase rent etc

Most of these are prejudices and unfair, but on the other hand its their property so they can do what they like with it.

My advice, and i know it may sound sneaky, is turn up for the viewings, get chatting to the landlords/eas and hen explain your rent allowance situation. 4/5 will probably still turn you down, but if you tell them by email/phone they will often discount you straight away. Its a tough slogg but Im afraid it may have to be done.

handlemaster

I wasnt aware you could go on RAS and set up a business. Anyhow landlords arent interested in RAS. Its all been said before . Check out irishlandlord.le.

murphaph

Yeah, I've a house rented out under RAS because I did the family living there a favour when they needed to go on RAS. Won't ever do it again. Council expect you to jump through hoops for them (Fingal is also my experience) only to expect you to take a below market rent.

Best of luck to the OP in finding housing for his family though, they sound like decent people who are just making temporary use of a safety net.

danedel

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Unfortunately landlords dont see it like that. When they hear rent allowance they often think:
1. Wont pay the top up
2. Wont care for the property
3. No one to sue if arrears build up
4. Difficult to increase rent etc

Most of these are prejudices and unfair, but on the other hand its their property so they can do what they like with it.

My advice, and i know it may sound sneaky, is turn up for the viewings, get chatting to the landlords/eas and hen explain your rent allowance situation. 4/5 will probably still turn you down, but if you tell them by email/phone they will often discount you straight away. Its a tough slogg but Im afraid it may have to be done.

I agree with this. This is what we have been doing and so far no luck.

Once again this is not rent allowance it is totally different. We are full time workers who hit on hard times at a point in the past.

Anyway thanks for your thoughts

danedel

handlemaster wrote: »

I wasnt aware you could go on RAS and set up a business. Anyhow landlords arent interested in RAS. Its all been said before . Check out irishlandlord.le.

Hi firstly from your initial comment there is nothing wrong with Clondalkin compared to the country. The kids have a great life and friends. In regards setting up a business this is the negative, wrongly thought idea through a lot of landlords minds that RAS is rent allowance and most people on it are free loaders (Which isn't true either) who can't or won't work . When on RAS you can go out find a job, earn what you want as long as it's declared. We like many a professional family went through difficulties so find ourselves on such a scheme but have worked all our adult lives. ......

danedel

murphaph wrote: »

Yeah, I've a house rented out under RAS because I did the family living there a favour when they needed to go on RAS. Won't ever do it again. Council expect you to jump through hoops for them (Fingal is also my experience) only to expect you to take a below market rent.

Best of luck to the OP in finding housing for his family though, they sound like decent people who are just making temporary use of a safety net.

Thanks for your comment. That's exactly what we are doing. As many a new start up it takes time so this is a safety net for us and any future landlord to ensure full payment.

Mrs OBumble

danedel wrote: »

We top up the rent when we are in the property so the landlord gets 100% of his asking price, but this is a security for the landlord.

I don't know about the rules under RAS.

But certainly under regular rent-allowance, tenant topups are regarded as fraud.

fussyonion

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I don't know about the rules under RAS.

But certainly under regular rent-allowance, tenant topups are regarded as fraud.

Topping up on RAS is also not allowed