People not showing up for viewings - rental property

gabsdot40

I have a flat to rent. I put up the ad on Thursday. I answered 12 emails from interested people and took at least 20 phone calls. I told everyone that there would be a viewing today. One guy texted me 3 times yesterday to check the viewing was still happening.
4 people came, no sign of the texter either

Water John

I'm sure one of the four will take it. Ask any EA that arranges an open day for a sale. Lots of queries, a number turn up. 3/4 really interested bidders actually bid.
Par for the course, I'd say.

yqtwqxqm

Ask for everything by email in future.
Tell them to include references etc and anything else they might want you to know about them.
Then email back the ones you like with a time for viewing the next day.

Ignore the texts.
My brother is on hols at the moment and i was taking care of letting his place for him.
He had put my number in the add.
The amount of texts "Is the place still goin." , "r u goin 2 answr me" was unbelievable.
I changed his ad to email only.
From the emails it was easy to pick out those who were working, non smokers and had their last 3 landlords references available to contact.

All references checked and people picked who were happy with the 3 months rent up front were invited to the viewing for the second day.

Much easier process than doing it by text and phone. And no nosey parkers either. There are usually a good few of them around at viewings wasting everyones time.

gabsdot40

That's really good advice. Thanks.

MarkAnthony

gabsdot40 wrote: »

I have a flat to rent. I put up the ad on Thursday. I answered 12 emails from interested people and took at least 20 phone calls. I told everyone that there would be a viewing today. One guy texted me 3 times yesterday to check the viewing was still happening.
4 people came, no sign of the texter either

This was absolutely my experience as well. While there are an awful lot of time-wasters, I think people queue up a number of properties and if they're offered one they just go for it. Still a bit of common courtesy would be nice.

GreatDefector

yqtwqxqm wrote: »

Ask for everything by email in future.
Tell them to include references etc and anything else they might want you to know about them.
Then email back the ones you like with a time for viewing the next day.

Ignore the texts.
My brother is on hols at the moment and i was taking care of letting his place for him.
He had put my number in the add.
The amount of texts "Is the place still goin." , "r u goin 2 answr me" was unbelievable.
I changed his ad to email only.
From the emails it was easy to pick out those who were working, non smokers and had their last 3 landlords references available to contact.

All references checked and people picked who were happy with the 3 months rent up front were invited to the viewing for the second day.

Much easier process than doing it by text and phone. And no nosey parkers either. There are usually a good few of them around at viewings wasting everyones time.

3 months rent and 3 previous references?

Jaysus.... The market truly is unstable

Gumbo

GreatDefector wrote: »

3 months rent and 3 previous references?

Jaysus.... The market truly is unstable

It's becoming the norm now. First month, last month and one month security.
The landlord is allowing the person into an asset worth many times this amount, seems fair to me.

wirelessdude01

I let rooms in my house and experience the same. People just don't turn up.

In relation to the 3 months rent up front this is coming in from the American market. Starting to see it becoming commonplace in the student rental market as well.

Speedwell

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

I let rooms in my house and experience the same. People just don't turn up.

In relation to the 3 months rent up front this is coming in from the American market. Starting to see it becoming commonplace in the student rental market as well.

Not common in the American market at all, except in really crazy rental areas. Most rental agreements request payment of varying amounts of deposit (half to all refundable, and not to be used for the last month's rent) and the first month's rent in advance. Even "first and last month" is falling out of fashion. Even when I ended a lease term early to move here, there was a clause in my lease allowing me to do so with the agreement of the landlord and payment of a fee. I got a really good written reference from that landlord, as well (I had been in the apartment almost eight years in a market in which it was typical to move every year).

Sad Professor

kceire wrote: »

It's becoming the norm now. First month, last month and one month security.
The landlord is allowing the person into an asset worth many times this amount, seems fair to me.

A property which in the long run the landlord stands to profit from many times over. If they are an overextended BTL landlord that's their problem. Current market conditions may allow landlords to get away with demanding double deposits, but it is not fair and will only increase calls for greater regulation in favour of tenants.

athtrasna

Sad Professor wrote: »

A property which in the long run the landlord stands to profit from many times over. If they are an overextended BTL landlord that's their problem. Current market conditions may allow landlords to get away with demanding double deposits, but it is not fair and will only increase calls for greater regulation in favour of tenants.

And what has this to do with people not showing up for viewings? Please stay on topic

GreatDefector

athtrasna wrote: »

And what has this to do with people not showing up for viewings? Please stay on topic

Maybe people aren't turning up when they hear that property for rent at €1300, the landlord wants €4k before you can move in

Claw Hammer

gabsdot40 wrote: »

I have a flat to rent. I put up the ad on Thursday. I answered 12 emails from interested people and took at least 20 phone calls. I told everyone that there would be a viewing today. One guy texted me 3 times yesterday to check the viewing was still happening.
4 people came, no sign of the texter either

Saturday is not a good day. A lot of people who don't have accommodation go home for the weekend. Others sleep in on Saturday. In an open viewing I wouldn't expect people to say they won't be coming. They know the LL will do a deal with someone else without reference back to them. Those who are on the hunt often find that viewings are happening simultaneously. They pick the one they think is their most likely prospect and leave it at that.

athtrasna

GreatDefector wrote: »

Maybe people aren't turning up when they hear that property for rent at €1300, the landlord wants €4k before you can move in

One would presume rent, deposit etc is explained before an invitation to view is extended, either in the advertisement or the follow up email.

The issue of landlords looking for the equivalent of three months rent has been discussed on at least two other threads this week so once again, this is not the place. Thanks

Mod note Please stick to the op's issue. Off topic posts may be deleted or lead to cards. Thanks

R.D. aka MR.D

When I was looking, I had so many viewings arranged that it was hard to keep track of them all. I may have missed a few. There were also a few that I didn't think to contact when I accepted the place I'm in now because they were open viewings and I assumed that the landlord wouldn't care.

That comes from the fact that it was about 50/50 whether after having put my name down for a place/supplying information, I would be contacted about whether or not I had got the place.

I canceled any actual appointments to view but they were few and far between.

TheDoc

kceire wrote: »

It's becoming the norm now. First month, last month and one month security.
The landlord is allowing the person into an asset worth many times this amount, seems fair to me.

This line of "seems" fair is total nonsense btw. That there is no streamlined process, where landlords can simply make up their requirements on a whim is the total opposite of fair.

You have tenants, both new and existing going into an already ram packed market, having to contend with varying requirements depending on the landlords in question.It's one of the multifactied issues to renting here being a nightmare for many people. The wide berth of requirements is simply put a joke.

In relation to the viewings, I think that is maybe par for the course. Granted I'd always try be proffesional with comms and if I was cancelling give some notice, but I get the impression that people are really panicing when it comes to getting themselves sorted, so they feel time and pressure and organise multi viewings and just turn up ones they really want.

As someone else suggested there, move to e-mail only maybe, where it can be a bit more formal and you can outline requirements in advance to weed away tyre kickers.

From a tenant point of view, I actively avoided open viewings in the past. Went to one few years back, turned into an auction as we just stepped through the front door. Appeared to me to be a horrible way to gouge tenants to over the asking price of rent, so maybe when people realised it was an open viewing they just ditched it? Or if it was just a set time, things happen in peoples lives, might not have suited.

Surely scheduled appointments are a better thing, letting you get more time with the prospective tenant, see if there is a rapport there, and there being more time for communications.

68 lost souls

I had the opposite experience when looking to rent, on 2 occasions with private viewings arranged the letting agent never showed

newacc2015

Or what is even worse is when you rearrange a viewing for someone a few times and then they dont bother to tell you they arent showing up despite waiting 20 mins for them

Irish people give out left, right and centre that Irish Landlords are unprofessional. When in my opinion Irish tenants aren't any better. Most seem to think they were great tenants as their rent was only a few days late every month. Most cant even show up for a viewing.

The problem with the Irish rental market is that people dont see it as a business. It is a bit of a glorified hobby in a lot of peoples eyes. The Government puts a 10% tax increase on Landlords and they pass it onto the customer ie the tenant like every other business and they are seen as greedy. If the price of any other product increases due to taxes like cigarettes, people accept the increase without question as the tobacco company was just passing on the tax.

IMO people dont show up for letting or not bother to tell you, as they dont see it as wasting your time.