Apprehensive about sharing & general advice

firstname

Since moving out from my parents I have always had my own place. My own privacy is something I value, especially if I have a visitor over for dinner etc. I am apprehensive about sharing, things like will the person I share with be messy, will I be messy, will they have an issue how often I have people over, will I have an issue if they have friends over every night etc.? It just seem like an awful amount of sh!t and awkwardness to deal with.

At the same time, if I set myself an upper, upper limit of €900 per month for individual accomodation in Dublin, my options are mainly bedsits and studios, often with single beds etc. I am in my early thirties, I lived in places like that in my early twenties, and I find very daunting and uninspiring the thought of returning to a single room where my kitchen hob is a few feet from my bed, sharing a washing machine and dryer (if there are any) with all the occupants of the other flats in a house etc.

As much as I do not want to share, if I set myself a sharing budget of €750, and look at 2 bedroom apartments within 20 minutes or so of UCD (with two bathrooms) for €1500 - the quality of home I would have is incomparable to the individual dwelling scenario. These are actual real apartments, in purpose built blocks of apartments, rather than a house that has been broken down in to (mostly) grotty flats. Some of these apartments even have room for my rather decent sized desk, and who knows, maybe a weight bench or threadmill!

Just some background on budget etc.: I am a mature student and I intend studying at home after lectures. My part time job is also remote, so I would be working at home when on shift also. My monthly income is ~€2450, though this reduces to €2000 over June, July, and August.

Is sharing the way to go here? Perhaps getting the 2 bed lease myself, then holding interviews so I can find someone I think would be a good fit to share with?

Nomis21

I am from the UK but came over to Ireland alone to work and was in this same position as you are but I was in my 50's, a few years ago in Dublin.

I rented a three bedroom house through an agency and advertised (Free) on daft for housemates. No shortage of takers for the rooms and I got two single girls in their 30's to rent the two rooms, one French, one German. I paid all the bills and added the costs to their rent.

Worked very well the year we were all there and we did things together sometimes like driving around the country and going out together to pubs. All very platonic, but a lot of fun at times. One of my best years living in Ireland.

Should point out if you go down this road that you will have the full costs for a week or two while you look for housemates. You are responsible for anything that happens there and rental agencies don't allow sub-letting (Which is what this is) so you have to say the rental is just for yourself if your salary is enough to cover the cost.

firstname

Firstly, thank you for sharing your experience sharing.

A friend of mine has a lease with a landlord, and he then let's out rooms to others. He is not doing it wrong so I am hoping is is incorrect about some of the information he gave me.

He said to take a lease and sublet rooms is actually illegal, and partly due to this when you do it people can leave at a month's notice.

Is it actually illegal? Do I need to and should I tell the landlord I intend on doing so? I was hoping that if I took on a year lease I could in turn take on someone to take the other room for the same period of time, so I would not have to be worried about not having the rent if they suddenly move out.

Great you were able to get on so well with the people that shared with you. I am not against becoming friends with people who move in, but my reason to have someone else move in would be to help with the rent. I saw a strange sharing advert on Daft recently where someone was looking for someone to share with them who was not against 'having interesting topical conversations' etc. - which I thought was a bit odd!

- Regarding my monthly income I may have miscalculated it, I intend to move some of my work hours to Sundays, but I need to confirm extra pay, so I may actually only have €1900 per month, reducing to €1500 over June, July, and August.

salamanca22

It's not illegal in the sense that you would be breaking the law but it would likely be against your contract with your landlord.

Most leases these days include a no subletting clause, at least that was the case when I was renting not too long ago.

Also, if you were allowed to sublet, the third parties would be licensees rather than tenants. This would mean they have very little right and you could ask them to leave with very short notice. The flip side of this is they could also give you very short notice on when they want to leave.

With your income, it is a very large risk to rent an entire property yourself. You could be weeks or months without a suitable roommate which would mean you would have very little leftover after rent/bills, if anything at all. No landlord would rent an entire unit to be honest in dublin with that income. Landlords like to know that the household income is at least 3x the rent. It is also recommended that you do not spend over 1/3 your income if you would like to have healthy finances with savings and such. I know this is not always possible though.

firstname

Okay, so it sounds like if I were to sublet, it would be best if I make that clear with the landlord beforehand.

I would hope if I did sublet, I would be able to make an arrangement with the licensee that they would give me at least one month's notice before moving out. If they pay a desposit also I would have that for security.

Regarding my income, should I expect to have to show payslips? I have heard the 1/3 of income recommendation before, though in the market that can be very, very difficult, and I just cannot do a bedsit with a single bed again, I really just cannot. Perhaps you are instead recommending I go for a share where someone else already has the lease? Also regarding income, hopefully I can confirm the extra Sunday pay, which would, for most of the year, put one third of my income at ~€820, without the extra pay ~660.

Perhaps someone can also answer this query. I had heard before on Matt Cooper etc., not to bring cash to viewings to attempt to secure deposits because of the scams that are out there, but the last place I rented I had to race to the bank because the landlord wanted cash. Is it still the best advice not to bring cash?

salamanca22

I would not show pay slips to be honest but you have to remember that the climate in dublin right now is one of very great competition. If a landlord has a choice over a tenant that can afford the entire unit without issue and does not need to sublet then why would they take the risk of having a tenant with lower income and requires that they sublet in order to afford the property? I am not trying to be insulting here, it is just the reality right now, unfortunately.

Yes, Honestly, I would recommend trying to find someone who already has a property to share with. Ultimately it will be the same thing and you will not have to worry so much, of course you will be the licensee in the situation which might not be perfect.

When your finances improve or you have a partner which you are willing to live with (Does not have to be a romantic partner, friends will do) or if the renting climate improves then you can think about having your own place.

Unfortunately, that is just how the world is right now. I am living in Canada at the moment, 3 years ago I could have rented a 3 bedroom house for $1000 a month in my area. Now I would be lucky to get a one bedroom apartment for the same money. It's tough =/

Nomis21

Although Agencies and most Landlords won't let you sublet, if you can find people who want to share a property together with you, agencies will accept this if everyone's name goes on the lease and everyone signs it.

Daft.ie have a 'team up section in their sharing section of the website:

http://www.daft.ie/searchteamup.daft

Here you can look for others to share with you.

If you do decide to go it alone and look for people to share with after you take on a lease, you won't be waiting very long before the calls start coming in.

I told the agent I had a wife and children and I wanted 3 bedrooms because we were a family. They weren't really bothered to check up on that, just wanted to see my wage slips.

After I moved in, one of the girls who I was living with was hitching a ride home and she got a lift from a guy who dropped her at the house and it turned out he was our Landlord! He didn't care who was living there because we were looking after the place well and paid the rent on time.