Renting Monday-Friday

WhyTheFace

Hi,

Is it acceptable to only offer a place to rent midweek only?

My friend has recently bought a 2 bed apartment in Dublin City. He would like to live on his own yet needs to pay the mortgage and was thinking of renting it to someone who, for example, has a wife/husband and kids and lives in another county and just needs a place midweek.

Seeing as there is such a shortage he presumes there is probably somebody who would be interested.

The going rate on the room is about 1k a month so he is thinking maybe 700e a month including all bills.

Is he being too greedy, wanting the best of both worlds, or is this a realistic option?

SteelyDanJalapeno

I don't see any problem if that's what both parties want, 70% might be a bit much thou, 50 - 60% might be more fair

L1011

Its extremely common, particularly close to the city centre and close to educational institutions; although it is usually (not always) Sunday night to Thursday night that's the specific 5 preferred nights. Its not just students that want it for educational institutions but academic and admin staff too.

Better Than Christ

It's greedy. €700 a month is a lot of money for a room anyway. It'd be a real kick in the teeth to only be allowed stay there for five nights. When searching on daft.ie, my heart used to sink when I'd see a relatively reasonably priced place, only to realise that it's Mon-Fri.

thomasdylan

WhyTheFace wrote: »

Hi,

Is it acceptable to only offer a place to rent midweek only?

My friend has recently bought a 2 bed apartment in Dublin City. He would like to live on his own yet needs to pay the mortgage and was thinking of renting it to someone who, for example, has a wife/husband and kids and lives in another county and just needs a place midweek.

Seeing as there is such a shortage he presumes there is probably somebody who would be interested.

The going rate on the room is about 1k a month so he is thinking maybe 700e a month including all bills.

Is he being too greedy, wanting the best of both worlds, or is this a realistic option?

I'd be surprised if the going rate on a room in an owner occupied apartment was 1,000e.

timetogo1

thomasdylan wrote: »

I'd be surprised if the going rate on a room in an owner occupied apartment was 1,000e.

This. It might be the going rate for a room for a couple.
Plenty of rooms (on Facebook groups anyway for €500 - €600 for a week). Get him to look on those groups, they're very active. Search for rent in Dublin to find them.

But advertising for a 5 days is not too greedy. Some people would be looking for that.

I rent out to students / cabin crew. Barely see them. If you get the right demographic they're never home anyway.

WhyTheFace

Thanks everybody!

Assetbacked

Hospitals have employees only looking for midweek rooms. Try Facebook groups for nearby hospital workers or make contact with the hospitals themselves to see if they have a forum for such advertisements.

sunshinew

I rent mon-fri. I've been quite lucky and both times I've rented my spare room to married men in their 40s that are working short contracts in Dublin and going home at wkds. It suits them, cheaper than a b&b and they can leave all their stuff there. You'll find with some students, they will say they go home every wkd but might need to stay up the odd time, and then odd time becomes the norm. So you may need to arrange a deal where if they stay the odd wkd there's an extra charge.
However as others have said, as an owner occupier, "going rates" don't count. The lodger has no rights so I decrease my rent accordingly. For example the "going rate" to rent my apt in full is 2,000. (Which is bonkers!). I charge 600 including bills for sun night-fri morn for a double room with sole use of the main bathroom. Place is beside Luas line and near large offices. I do all the cleaning too and provide towels etc.
I don't think it's being greedy... Some people really need this kind of accomodation so it can work for both of you.

Sure I know a few trades who work in the Dublin area Mon-Fri and head away home at the weekend.

700 is steep though.

Samuel T. Cogley

thomasdylan wrote: »

I'd be surprised if the going rate on a room in an owner occupied apartment was 1,000e.

It really is that bad out there in some places.

Irish_peppa

sunshinew wrote: »

I rent mon-fri. I've been quite lucky and both times I've rented my spare room to married men in their 40s that are working short contracts in Dublin and going home at wkds. It suits them, cheaper than a b&b and they can leave all their stuff there. You'll find with some students, they will say they go home every wkd but might need to stay up the odd time, and then odd time becomes the norm. So you may need to arrange a deal where if they stay the odd wkd there's an extra charge.
However as others have said, as an owner occupier, "going rates" don't count. The lodger has no rights so I decrease my rent accordingly. For example the "going rate" to rent my apt in full is 2,000. (Which is bonkers!). I charge 600 including bills for sun night-fri morn for a double room with sole use of the main bathroom. Place is beside Luas line and near large offices. I do all the cleaning too and provide towels etc.
I don't think it's being greedy... Some people really need this kind of accomodation so it can work for both of you.

Sunshine, what sort of discount would you give for owner occupied. i rent a room with the Rent a Room Scheme (owner Occ) I normally match the going rate. I notice last time i rented room very few enquiries . I didnt actually make the connection between the lack of rights with the price. Which maybe i should

The beauty of being an owner occupier is that you are not bound by tenancy legislation. It is your house, your rules. Charge the max you think you can get and see what interest there is, you can always drop the price if you need to. It isn’t being greedy if you are charging what the market will bare.

antix80

SteelyDanJalapeno wrote: »

I don't see any problem if that's what both parties want, 70% might be a bit much thou, 50 - 60% might be more fair

5/7 of a week is 70%..

Op, there's a serious amount of people who go home every weekend. Of course the arrangement will suit someone.

Irish_peppa

antix80 wrote: »

5/7 of a week is 70%..

Op, there's a serious amount of people who go home every weekend. Of course the arrangement will suit someone.

I allways advertise for Mon - Friday in my add it states available all week or Mon - Friday. I usually discount by 25%
Im in West Dublin I never had one email of interest weirdly enough.

Mrs OBumble

Irish_peppa wrote: »

I didnt actually make the connection between the lack of rights with the price. Which maybe i should

Lack of rights is balanced by lack of responsibilities: they're not jointly and severely liable for the whole rent if you leave, they don't have to give any notice if they want to leave, and no messing with Bill's in their name.

antix80

Better Than Christ wrote: »

It's greedy. €700 a month is a lot of money for a room anyway. It'd be a real kick in the teeth to only be allowed stay there for five nights. When searching on daft.ie, my heart used to sink when I'd see a relatively reasonably priced place, only to realise that it's Mon-Fri.

Not sure how your feelings come into it... If a 2 bedroom apartment rents for €2000 a month to rent, one bedroom costs €1000 and a midweek rental costs 70% of that... Ie €700.

The person you're renting from, whether the owner or the person on the lease has more risk than a licensee renting a room and is under no obligation - legal or otherwise- to delight their licensee with reasonably priced, City centre living.

It's common to include at least some bills on midweek rentals so there's an advantage.

Either way, as a licensee you follow the house rules and restrictions of the agreement.

There is a very fair and simple alternative and that is to sign your own €2000 a month lease and rent out a room for €600 incl bills, 7 day rental, parties allowed, guests can stay over, etc. I'm sure those rental terms will attract some real diamonds. So your net costs will be over €1500 (due to bills), but your licensee will pay a fair and reasonable €600 so that their heart doesn't sink.

antix80

Irish_peppa wrote: »

I allways advertise for Mon - Friday in my add it states available all week or Mon - Friday. I usually discount by 25%
Im in West Dublin I never had one email of interest weirdly enough.

You're not in the city centre so there'll be little (or no) demand for a Monday to Friday arrangement. Workers and students who go home the weekend don't want to waste time or money on a daily commute to the city centre.

As you also rent all week, you're probably looking for too much money, or maybe there's something about your ad that's putting people off. I won't speculate

SteelyDanJalapeno

antix80 wrote: »

5/7 of a week is 70%..

Op, there's a serious amount of people who go home every weekend. Of course the arrangement will suit someone.

Weekends are premium, anyone knows that

SteelyDanJalapeno

SteelyDanJalapeno wrote: »

Weekends are premium, anyone knows that

Why would weekends be premium? Being in Dublin mid week is more important to a person working that at weekends so it’s the other way around if anything.

antix80 wrote: »

You're not in the city centre so there'll be little (or no) demand for a Monday to Friday arrangement. Workers and students who go home the weekend don't want to waste time or money on a daily commute to the city centre.

As you also rent all week, you're probably looking for too much money, or maybe there's something about your ad that's putting people off. I won't speculate

Maybe advertise Sunday night to Friday morning is an option too as some people may want to travel back late Sunday night sometimes.

golfball37

Minister Murphy was onto something with his co-living initiative it seems.

Caranica

antix80 wrote: »

You're not in the city centre so there'll be little (or no) demand for a Monday to Friday arrangement. Workers and students who go home the weekend don't want to waste time or money on a daily commute to the city centre

I advertised full week in West Dublin but ended up with someone who goes home almost every weekend so it's the best of both worlds. The rent didn't change but it is on the low side anyway (below 500 and in a great location for industrial estates, hospital, shopping centre and IT). I had over 100 replies within an hour of placing the ad. The fact that they said they wouldn't be around most weekends was a big factor in my choosing them. They're not the perfect lodger but having my space at the weekend means I can excuse that.

jr86

Caranica wrote: »

I advertised full week in West Dublin but ended up with someone who goes home almost every weekend so it's the best of both worlds. The rent didn't change but it is on the low side anyway (below 500 and in a great location for industrial estates, hospital, shopping centre and IT). I had over 100 replies within an hour of placing the ad. The fact that they said they wouldn't be around most weekends was a big factor in my choosing them. They're not the perfect lodger but having my space at the weekend means I can excuse that.

Yeah when I was based in Dublin, whenever we'd advertise a room, me and my main co-tenant would always push for someone from the country (ideally a GAA club player or someone with a partner back home) who was very likely to be gone home every weekend. I wasn't around all that many weekends myself as I loved going back home but at any given weekend I did stay up, there was never more than 1 other tenant in the house (who was often gone out for the day anyway), and I often had the place to myself. Bliss

It might sound bizarre to some, but I'd go as far as saying that one of my top deal-breakers in a housemate would be one that stays up every weekend, and it was actually the same with my main co-tenant luckily . We had a housemate before who was really sound but honestly never went home at all, bar a very odd saturday for a few hours and back up again. Its so hard to cook nice meals in peace, have friends for drinks, watch a match, come home late during the night etc. when there's someone else there, often just getting in your way.

Just be wary OP, people will sell their granny for accomodation in Dublin. Its very easy to say "oh I'll go home every weekend no problem" but you'll soon find that "every weekend" becomes "most weekends" that then becomes "Saturday morning to sunday evening" and so on. As has been outlined, someone married and/or on a short-term contract in Dublin would be the ideal, but failing that someone like a GAA club player or someone working on a farm back home would be sufficient for sure

Better Than Christ

antix80 wrote: »

Not sure how your feelings come into it...

Of course feelings come into it. As does common decency. Far too many landlords don't seem to realise (or care) that they're dealing with humans.

antix80 wrote: »

There is a very fair and simple alternative and that is to sign your own €2000 a month lease and rent out a room for €600 incl bills, 7 day rental, parties allowed, guests can stay over, etc. I'm sure those rental terms will attract some real diamonds. So your net costs will be over €1500 (due to bills), but your licensee will pay a fair and reasonable €600 so that their heart doesn't sink.

Who said anything about parties? Advertising a place for someone to live for seven days a week doesn't seem unreasonable.

Better Than Christ

Better Than Christ wrote: »

Of course feelings come into it. As does common decency. Far too many landlords don't seem to realise (or care) that they're dealing with humans.

Its business transactions, feelings should not come into it. The LL or person renting a room should maximise their income from the transaction that's what they are doing it for after all.

Better Than Christ wrote: »

Who said anything about parties? Advertising a place for someone to live for seven days a week doesn't seem unreasonable.

Its also completey reasonable to advertise a place for 5 days, its the persons home after all and they are entitled to do as they please. If they want the weekends to themselves that is their right and they are fully entitled to rent a room out during the week if they choose to. The thing is that there are lots people who are very happy to only rent during the week and pay a little less as they go home every weekend.

Better Than Christ

Better Than Christ wrote: »

Who said anything about parties? Advertising a place for someone to live for seven days a week doesn't seem unreasonable.

Theres a market for shorter though.

Iv a colleague here who only works in Dublin 3/4 days a week and thats all he rents for.

Mon-Fri accommodation for students has been common for years.

jr86

Topgear on Dave wrote: »

Theres a market for shorter though

Yep, from personal experience anyway most of my own friends from the west based up in Dublin come back west most weekends. They'd have no problem doing it every weekend if they had to

The motorway and the fact they can usually leave earlier Fridays on flexi time, or even work at home/take leave Fridays, makes it a very feasible option anymore