Letting agents in Dublin

Fran666

Has anyone used/heard good reviews about letting agents in Dublin, in terms of filtering out exactly what you're looking for in a rental?

I'm thinking of hiring one to cut through all the crap that's (mis or otherwise) advertised.

Would appreciate some info. as I've never used one before.

PCPhoto

I can certainly NOT recommend one !!!

from a renters perspective I found one in particular absolute rubbish..... moved out of my place of the last 2yrs recently and following a chat with the landlord - there was a chance that we would have stayed - if the agent had lowered the rent to the price we asked. (he had told the agent how low he would go - which matched what we wanted but they refused to go near his price and negotiate with us ...so we left)

I wont name them - but the lack of response from them was disgraceful - they were emailed on several occassions and never replied, phone calls were made and email replies promised - but never sent.

Personally - if I was in your position I would deal with the person directly .... if you get the right people and are a genuine nice landlord you wont have any problems.

(TIP: when viewing with new tenants bring a digital camera, photograph everything and give the tenants a copy on CD so when they move out - they know roughly what standard they need to bring it up to)

athtrasna

As a landlord, we paid an agent 1 months rent and ended up having more trouble from the agent than the tenant. We used a big name Dublin agent and wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

DIY sounds like a lot of hassle but save your money and sanity and go it alone, honestly, it's worth it!

J-blk

As a renter, I have to agree with a lot of the comments PCPhoto made - I was looking at apartments a couple of months ago and even in the current climate, most letting agents can't even be ar**d to return calls, etc. Or they impose stupid restrictions like demanding references just to view a place (not actually rent it, etc). There were times where I kinda felt sorry for landlords as places were staying empty for 2 months plus and I felt the agent had a lot to do with that...

John-Holmes

I could nearly guess the name of the letting agent that is being referred to here. The bitch took out deposits over a tiny stain on the carpet in one of the bed rooms! 1550 to clean a carpet is a joke. I would not advise any one to go near them. If possible I would deal directly with a landlord.

Nabs

Hi,

Can you please provide details of name of agent you used? I'm looking to get a letting agent to manage my place and I'm getting very scared by the sound of the comments made so far. Has anybody got any good experience with agent?

meglome

I spent two months looking for an apartment (just being very particular about it, renters market an all that) and 90% of the people I dealt with were terrible.

meglome

John-Holmes wrote: »

I could nearly guess the name of the letting agent that is being referred to here. The bitch took out deposits over a tiny stain on the carpet in one of the bed rooms! 1550 to clean a carpet is a joke. I would not advise any one to go near them. If possible I would deal directly with a landlord.

I'm in the PRTB myself trying to recover my deposit of €1200, although I don't really know why the landlady kept it. Maybe she felt she deserved the money more than we did.

Bobby_Kennedy

I'll be looking for a place in Dublin soon to rent. How much would it cost typically to pay a letting agent to find a place to rent? Is there some formula based on the size of the place, etc. etc.?

bangersandmash

Bobby_Kennedy wrote: »

I'll be looking for a place in Dublin soon to rent. How much would it cost typically to pay a letting agent to find a place to rent? Is there some formula based on the size of the place, etc. etc.?

You could save yourself some money and simply just go to www.daft.ie

carolinespring

I always used Pembroke-mcDonnel and cloul not rate them more. Gerard was wonderful to deal with. Bernie in the office was always very helpful.

hobochris

There is a certain letting agent in Rathfarnham with a double barreled business name that I would avoid like that plague.

Didn't return emails or phone calls, We had many problems which were not dealt with such as damp, water pump problems, washing machine not working.. fobbed off every time.

Then surprised when we handed in our notice. :rolleyes:

Agent J

Would avoid agents at all costs.

Deal directly with the landlord has always worked out better for me.

Ciara22

Hi, I work for a letting agency in Dublin. Letting agencies provide a service for landlords, not tenants looking for accommodation. If youre looking for a place to rent, the best place is daft.ie.

Also, letting agencies are recommended if, as a landlord, you just dont have the time to conduct viewings and basically tend to the tenants needs 24 hours a day. For example, our company has a huge network of maintenance contractors who we can despatch at a moments notice for repairs etc.

athtrasna

Ciara22 wrote: »

Hi, I work for a letting agency in Dublin. Letting agencies provide a service for landlords, not tenants looking for accommodation. If youre looking for a place to rent, the best place is daft.ie.

Also, letting agencies are recommended if, as a landlord, you just dont have the time to conduct viewings and basically tend to the tenants needs 24 hours a day. For example, our company has a huge network of maintenance contractors who we can despatch at a moments notice for repairs etc.

Thanks for the honesty in revealing your affiliations. However, your company must be the exception to the rule. Our letting agents only provided a service to themselves...nightmare...expensive nightmare at that!

taz70

Ciara22 wrote: »

Hi, I work for a letting agency in Dublin. Letting agencies provide a service for landlords, not tenants looking for accommodation. If youre looking for a place to rent, the best place is daft.ie.

Also, letting agencies are recommended if, as a landlord, you just dont have the time to conduct viewings and basically tend to the tenants needs 24 hours a day. For example, our company has a huge network of maintenance contractors who we can despatch at a moments notice for repairs etc.

Oh, I'm sorry, but this is just hysterical!! Would providing a service for landlords not perhaps include finding tenants to rent their empty properties? And would not finding tenants require one to return phone calls, meet with prospective tenants, and show the properties around? And if tenants came to you (saving you the effort of having to find them) and asked what available properties you have, would it also not be a service to your landlords to inform them of available accommodation? It surely can't be that much of a stretch to think of your role as one of broker between two parties?

I guess "tending to tenants 24 hours a day" only happens once they magically appear in the landlord's apartment.

So, yes, you're right - with an attitude like this, the best place to find accommodation really is daft.ie .... with many fingers crossed that we don't happen upon your agency! Perhaps you'd like to tell us the name to save you the trouble of our clearly irritating business!

Funny, funny, funny......

OP - I wouldn't be waiting for agents to help you find accommodation - there are certainly buyer's advocates for people wanting to purchase property - perhaps there is a market niche for someone to set up a business being a renter's advocate. It's definitely a service I'd pay for! Hmmmm.... maybe I need to start this! :rolleyes:

Ciara22

Taz, Im glad you find it amusing. However, I wasnt being smart, letting agencies are hired by the landlord to let their properties. Of course it involves finding suitable tenants but ultimately, the landlord is paying for the service, not the prospective tenant. If tenants contact the agency, we give details of our suitable vacant properties, we would never tell them to call someone or look somewhere else! All we can do is advise on the properties we have to let, we would not go searching the market and different agencies for a suitable property for them. Its just not a service that letting agencies provide.

And yes we do provide a management service for tenants whilst they are in the property. Again, this service is paid for by the landlord, not the tenant. However, our aim is to keep both tenant and landlord happy as it is in our interest to keep a tenant in the property.

Im sorry you have such a negative view of management agencies, and I can understand why. The job consists of taking complaints for most of the day, its extremely rare that a tenant will call to give good news! Its still not acceptable for agents not to call tenants back and I can see why you are frustrated by this.

shaun87

Stay away from <SNIP> have one of their agents coming to inspect the apartment before I move out tomorrow and dare he/she try to get smart with me after all I have put up with in the past year. Deal direct with landlords all the way.

The_Morrigan

shaun87 do not resurrect a zombie thread to bad mouth a company.

shaun87 wrote: »

Stay away from <SNIP>. have one of their agents coming to inspect the apartment before I move out tomorrow and dare he/she try to get smart with me after all I have put up with in the past year. Deal direct with landlords all the way.