Advice on Estate Agent behaviour (first time renter)

Leelaa22

Sorry in advance, this may be a long post. Thank you if you are reading this.

Is this normal behaviour for an Estate Agent or should we be worried?

I have never directly dealt with Estate Agents (only seeing them in action when my parents moved house 3 times) but from that experience I would have thought they would be professional, courteous and eager to move properties along quickly.
I appreciate Estate Agents as anybody in a job can be busy people, however this behaviour has us concerned.

We arrived at the property in question early, the Estate Agent was 20 minutes late. We tried to contact him but no answer. When he arrived we got out of our car to meet him. He stayed in his car and took a phone call. We waited so long outside for him to meet us that we made to turn around and leave.
He then got out of his car while on the phone walked past us to the front door of the house and opened it then gestured us to go in. We went in and stood in the hallway, he then continued to gesture wildly to the living room. We went in and started to look around the house. After about 10 - 15 minutes he found us. He asked us a lot of questions which we were happy to answer when I asked some basic questions about the house he didn't know the answers.
We also had all of our documentation(which was real personal and detailed) there organised and ready to hand over which we did.
He told us he would give us an answer the following Monday. We received a call a few hours after we left looking for information which was with the info pack we gave him, not wanting to point out that he had made a mistake and overlooked the information we had already given him we told him what he wanted to know (since then a passive aggressive paragraph has been added to the end of the listing for the property online about having certain personal information available right away).
The following Monday came, no word from the Agent. Tuesday we called; more than anything so they would know we were interested and serious about moving. The Agent was not happy we called. Then that Friday night he emailed asking would we like to rent. We said yes right away. After that no word, it took us 6 days to get in contact with him again.
The LL is moving to the UK (also nothing mentioned about the 20% tax to be paid to revenue each month) and we think the Agent will be in charge, we are concerned that if anything breaks or goes wrong will it take a week at a time to get in contact with the agent?
We have a bunch of questions we would like to ask before signing the lease including will the tenancy be registered with rtb.ie right now it isn't although I know they have 30 days to do so after we move in.

Am I over-reacting? Is this how renting through an agency is done nowadays?
Also what is the protocol for doing an inventory?
Do we pay the 1st month and deposit before the lease begins?

Also I would be super grateful for anyone who would like to outline their first time renting process step by step (total novice here)

Thanks
L

Graham

Unfortunately there will always be some agents that view customers as an inconvenience, that becomes even more apparent in a buoyant market.

If you're paying rent to the agent you shouldn't need to worry about 20% to revenue, that's the agents job.

It's not uncommon to have an agent between you and the landlord, it may be the case even when your landlord is local.

You would generally pay the deposit and first months rent at the signing of the lease. Ask about the inventory, different agents/landlords approach it different ways. Take photos when you move in just in case.

I'd forget about the RTB registration for now. It's not your issue, it would be an unusual agent that doesn't do it, you can push for it after you move in if necessary.

Leelaa22

Thank you for your advice I really appreciate it.

Found the perfect place, in the perfect location and good price it all seemed so perfect. the EA has really made me hesitate.

So I shouldn't be looking to run a mile from the agent, it could be a trend?

Good to know the agent looks after the 20%

JimHalpert27

Graham wrote: »

Unfortunately there will always be some agents that view customers as an inconvenience, that becomes even more apparent in a buoyant market.

In your opinion, is this type of agent more common than those that would take their customers seriously, i.e. actually showing them around the house, answering their questions, and responding in a timely manner? Would love to get a sense of what to expect, myself.

Graham

JimHalpert27 wrote: »

In your opinion, is this type of agent more common than those that would take their customers seriously, i.e. actually showing them around the house, answering their questions, and responding in a timely manner? Would love to get a sense of what to expect, myself.

Expect the above then you won't be disappointed if it happens or you'll be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't.

It's also worth going in with realistic expectation of what an agent will/won't know. E.g. they should know if bins are included, they're unlikely to know what day the collection is or who the operators are.