Is it safe to rent an house with no PSR Licence Number

Filebre

Dear all,

I'm moving to Dublin and found out that it is very dificult to rent a decent house. I found one but it has no PSR licence number. Is it safe to trust someone in that condition? Or should I rent through a real state agency?

Thanks in advance,

Filipa

djimi

Is the house being let through an agency or a private landlord? Only an agency would need a PSR number.

Filebre

Thanks for the quick replay

A private landlord.

But if someting goes wrong is there a lot of risks to rent to a private landlord?

MouseTail

No more or less than one with an Agency.

djimi

There are good and bad private landlords and there are good and bad agencies. Renting through an agency does not necessarily guarantee that you will not have any issues; its not a very tightly regulated industry, and there are a lot of people with a fancy office playing letting agent without having the first clue what they are doing.

Mrs OBumble

What is a PSR license? What difference does it make?

Filebre

Someone told me that the tenant needs to register the house in the Property Services Regulatory Authority so we can register ourselves in the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Is that correct? Is that how it works?

Filebre

I know it is a gamble but I really want to minimize the risks

djimi

Filebre wrote: »

Someone told me that the tenant needs to register the house in the Property Services Regulatory Authority so we can register ourselves in the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Is that correct? Is that how it works?

No. When you move in your landlord should register the tenancy with the PRTB. In reality it makes little difference to you either way; you can still make full use of the PRTB whether the tenancy is registered or not.

An agency having a PSR license means that they are registered with the Property Services Regulatory Authority. I dont think it means a whole lot in reality; like I said its not a very tightly regulated industry.

Filebre

Thanks for all the explanations. They were very helpful.
All the best

Diane Selwyn

You would be best not to commit to a lease in Dublin before you have actually physically toured a property - photographs on daft don't tend to show drafts/paper thin walls/painted over damp/mould etc. You don't have to go through an agency as some private landlords are actually preferable to deal with but on no circumstances should you send money to someone claiming to own a property in Dublin and be living in another country unless you have already met them/viewed the property. It is the landlord/agent's responsibility to register the tenancy with PRTB - they won't take a registration from a tenant.