Nightmare Rental Properties (Housing Crisis symptom)

NatashaB16

Has anybody else gotten so incredibly fed up of scrolling through rental properties and only finding bottom of the barrel, absolute hack rentals going for waaaay over their realistic worth?

I’ve been trying to find a place to rent (preferably buy, but as a single person on an average wage there is only the tiniest sliver of hope) for over five years, and so I have ended up living with my parents until last year when a family member moved abroad temporarily, and I have since been renting their house. They’re coming back soon, and so I’m back on Daft, disappointed but not surprised that we’ve such a genuinely horrific market.

“Studio” apartments make up the majority of rentals in the category I can afford (mind you, afford is a strong word as it would be roughly 40 - 50%+ of my pay packet) - it baffles me how many scumbag - for want of a better word - landlords are ok with chucking a bed into a kitchen and calling it a studio, then charging a minimum of €1,000 p/m for it.

I suppose I mostly created this thread for a rant, but I also want to know: what’s the worst value rental you’ve seen recently on the market?

DubCount

If you want cheaper rent for better quality properties, then do the following:

1) Remove all rent controls (this is only driving out cheaper properties out of the market, and giving no incentive to landlords to improve properties)

2) Provide a quick and cheap mechanism for evicting non-paying and anti-social tenants

3) Have a mechanism for landlords to recover unpaid rent and property damage from rogue tenants

4) Stop changing legislation every couple of months

5) Reduce deposit requirements and interest rates on buy2let mortgages

6) Stop referring to landlords as "scumbags" etc.. Cheaper rentals needs more landlords, not less. The bad press the sector gets is one of the things thats driving out landlords and pushing up prices

Amadan Dubh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742085#Comment_118742085

7) If you think FF and FG want rents to fall then think again. Only voting them out of power in favour of a "ban all corporates from owning property" (PBP) type of party will truly see supply pick up as people dump properties left, right and centre and MNCs head for the hills.

DubCount

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742199#Comment_118742199

Ha

People dumping properties is great if you want to buy a house. Its a disaster if you want to rent one. What PBP/SF etc. cant understand is if you want rental prices to fall, you need more rental property and more landlords. You need more corporate landlords, more small landlords, more rental properties from anyone or anything that will supply them. If they are going to build them as well - even better.

The last thing renters needs is more left wing "ideas" unproven anywhere else in the world making a bad situation worse.

Communism doesn't work comrade !!

Caranica

There isn't a magic bullet. If the housing crisis could be easily solved the government of the day would have done it and been elected over and over again. There isn't a simple political solution and no party can legitimately claim there is

combat14

where are all the 100,000+ ukranian women and children refugees going to go..

a new tent city in the centre of ireland...

does the government have a secret supply of houses they havent told us about .....

are they going to use every hotel in the country and wipe out our tourist industry

or will the government change the tax system to incentivise people to take in refugees and fill empty houses quickly or face tax/fine ..

RichardAnd

I've felt little more than a constant sense of doom for the last few years. The state's utterly myopic reaction to Covid was the final nail in the coffin wherein I placed any great hopes for the future here. The situation with housing is not a crisis, because that word implies that this is an accident of circumstance. I reject this. Instead, I opine that this is a combination of utterly staggering levels of incompetency and indifference mingled with genuine malice.

Amadan Dubh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742694#Comment_118742694

It is 100% manufactured. Supply is being restrained and demand is being inflated, all controlled from our government led policies. I completely agree with you.

There is no accident to this situation. For examples;

1. The State supports 1/3 of all rentals in some way.

2. Exodus of small landlords from rental sector and no replacement for them (tax, tough to remove bad tenants etc).

3. Why 4% rent increases are permitted and not simply allowing increases in line with the increases to mortgage rates? Institutional investors lobbied for this which shows the policy is geared for them and not the good of society.

4. If you even look at the FF/FG housebuilding projections for the next decade it matches exactly the expected level of population growth so essentially we will never have an oversupply. Demand will never be met.

Amadan Dubh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742341#Comment_118742341

Oh believe me I know PBP and Shinners won't do anything good for the country but when the tide of society is moving towards majority of the electorate being renters who are unhappy with their rental lot, then we will see some seriously loopy policies get thrown about.

The PBP policy is to actually ban corporates from owning property and they could potentially be in coalition with SF on 3 years here. So long Ireland, Inc. and hello mother Ireland.

J_1980

with the Euro collapse I’d be confident there will be some sort of deficits constraints imposed within the next 2/3y. Otherwise the Euro is history. Sf/pbp will become an impossibility with that.

handlemaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058235843/nightmare-rental-properties-housing-crisis-symptom

First post anti landlord. This is going to be good.

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742373#Comment_118742373

I hear the plan is to make all the people living in council houses who have spare rooms give then to refugees. The state pays for those empty rooms anyway.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118745259#Comment_118745259

Where did you hear that?

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118745435#Comment_118745435

I didnt. Just musing while listening to people on he radio demanding that the government seize landlords properties and owners with with spare rooms to house refugees.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118745487#Comment_118745487

Ah okay. 

To be honest, there is some very dangerous rhetoric getting tossed around.  If the state gets away with the expropriation of private property, there may be some very dark days to come.  

Ham_Sandwich

people calling land lords scumbags I dont get it they have to pay taxes on the rent the recieve AND whatever income they have from there jobs and most are land lords by accident its not an easy thing to be a land lord

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749496#Comment_118749496

Why do people think landlords are mostly accidental? Only some newer landlords due to the property drop over 15 years ago became accidental landlords there is no way they make up the majority of landlords in the market. It would assume that there was very few landlords before this time. I can't see how that can be true

JimmyVik

The ironic thing is that many landlords have actually been subsidizing tenants over the last decade and a half.

Now that they are gone there will be no more subsidized rents. People will be paying top dollar to any landlord brave enough to stay in the market from now on.

Viscount Aggro

Too many landlords broke the first rule of investing...

Never borrow to invest.

Also, this crap about being taxed at 50% + on the rental income...

Incorrect to say this is every private landlord.. It depends what tax bracket they are in.

Mic 1972

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118750362#Comment_118750362

a 35K per year job is enough to put any additional rental income in the highest tax braket

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118750362#Comment_118750362

That saying applies to stocks and derivatives not property. It is actually a fundamental of the property market to borrow in order to acquire and build property. Actually most businesses borrow money at some time to invest in the company.

It may be not 100% that all private landlords pay 50%+ on rental income but the vast majority of private landlords do. Even with a pension and one property you can end up in the higher tax bracket.

redarmyblues

Lookit, the rental market is fecked and all things being equal even the possibility of a SF government will feck it even more, so I am not being smart come back in 25 years because all small landlords are eying an exit.

NatashaB16

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749873#Comment_118749873

Exactly this!

And just to answer other posters, I didn't call all landlords scumbags - I was clearly referring to the ones who massively overcharge tenants 'in line with market value' despite the fact that their mortgage cost is minimal (or nonexistent if the house is owned outright) compared to rent charged, and also despite the fact that the property they are renting out is quite often not fit for purpose, let alone fit for rent at what they're charging. If you can't charge a fair rent due to tax or whatever excuse you have, sell your property!! In most cases, it is actually that simple!

DubCount

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778210#Comment_118778210

Its actually not that simple.

Any landlord selling up (unless the property is purchased by another landlord) takes rental supply out of the market. That makes rent more expensive and standards drop. We have to find a way to make landlording more attractive. Saying "sell up if you dont like it" wont help.

Also, who decides what is "fair rent" anyway?

I'm long enough in the tooth to remember a functioning rental market. If a landlord was providing substandard accommodation, tenants could just go somewhere else. If a landlord was overcharging, tenants could move somewhere cheaper. If prices went up, more landlords entered the market and prices went down. We need to get there again - its the only way to empower tenants. The best way to ensure tenant rights is giving the power to say "if I dont like it, I can move".

NatashaB16

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118779807#Comment_118779807

I understand there are people with properties tied up etc and these properties can't be sold, but my bottom line is that if you can't charge a fair rent (which is defined as generally 30% of someone's net income) then you shouldn't be a landlord, and instead should sell your property as you could currently get quite a lot more money than it is worth.

That would be the ideal, empowered tenants, but it would require much more supply and a stricter regulation of properties available to let.

chicorytip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778210#Comment_118778210

It depends. Take for example a two bedroom apartment located in a city centre complex renting for €1300 per month. The landlord pays fifty per cent of that to the government. Then you have management fees which can be enormous - as much as €2000 per annum. Add in insurance, property tax and maintenance costs and the profit margin would not be great even where a mortgage has been discharged.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778210#Comment_118778210

Why can't a private individual maximise their profit? Does that only apply to big business and tradesmen?

If something doesn't pass minimum standards report it. You are suggesting the majority of rentals are not fit for purpose when clearly that is not the situation.

Are landlords meant to ask tenant's their income and set the rent for that person? The set it to the market rate and the tenant decides if they can afford it and not the responsibility of the landlord in any shape or form. Landlords are not a secret social service that provides subsidised housing.

Why don't you make shops sell good cheaper if the own their property as opposed to rent? Why single out landlords as the businesses that should not make a profit you don't like?

I really don't think you understand the sacrifices that most landlords make in order to buy the properties. Take 2 neighbours on the exact same salaries and mortgages and identical family size.

Neighbour A has 2 cars goes on holiday twice a year and wears the latest fashion,

Neighbour B only has one car but it is cheaper than either the neighbours cars and they don't replace it every 2 years like the neighbour. They go on holiday once every 2 years. They buy a property to rent out and do all the repair and decoration themselves.

You come along and say neighbour B should have their property devalued and/or restricted in what the return they get on it because... they simply have it according to you. Does that really seem fair to you?

NatashaB16

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118780766#Comment_118780766

That’s as may be, but profiting from people trying to find reasonable accommodation in a housing crisis shouldn’t be accepted imho.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118782457#Comment_118782457

Again, people are entitled to do whatever they want, but in the middle of a housing crisis, nobody should be profiting from people trying to put a roof over their head. Look at daft and put in the parameters of what someone on say €40k should be able to comfortably afford (30% net pay, I am not great at maths by any means so let’s say €775 p/month) and you can’t even get a studio in Dublin, let alone the surrounding areas.

How about instead of treating property like a commodity, we treat it as a basic need and stop accommodating people who buy houses and apartments to rent out to other people, hence reducing supply from the market automatically?

J_1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118796037#Comment_118796037

Someone has to pay for the ridiculous welfare state in this country. Dole spongers all have their own place….

corporates and rich people are highly mobile, so the middle income earner has to pay for it via lower living standards. 775 easily gets you a room share.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118796037#Comment_118796037

How would a private person fund a non profit rental business. What would be the point.

DubCount

775 Euro per month. Thats 9,300 p.a.. Interest Rates on a Buy2Let Mortgage are about 5.25% APR. For the rent just to cover mortgage interest (not a profit or even the costs of agents, RTB, Insurance, Repairs, Accountants, void periods...etc), you'd need to be paying less than 177k to buy the property. Even to break even, you'd need to be paying less than 124k (7.5% yield). See what you can buy in Dublin for less than 124k.

I cant believe I'm reading more posts about "property is a right not a business". If you want property as a right, let the state provide it. Investors set out to make money, not provide a social service. Just be prepared to pay eye-watering levels of tax to pay for the state providing this "right".

Why is Food not a right in the same way? Why not turn up to your local Dunnes Stores and when you get to the checkout say - "I believe I should be paying no more than 10% of my weekly wage on food. Here is 65 Euro for my trolley full of food which is 10% of my weekly wage. I dont care that it costs you more than that to provide the food to me - that is my view of a fair price". How come Dunnes Stores and Tesco can charge what they like for food and everyone is fine with whatever profit they make, but a Landlord tries to make a profit and they should be condemned to hell.