Why won't Galway Property Management let us see the lease before making a deposit?

Cresskit

Let me preface this by saying that my husband and I are foreign nationals, so we're not particularly familiar with how rental stuff usally works here. We've been renting in Galway for the past year from a private landlord, but we are currently looking to move elsewhere in the city.

There's a place we really like that's being managed by Galway Property Management, which I assume to be a reputable company. We'd like to take the rental, except for the fact that the company has some rules that seem very odd (and potentially concerning) to us. I'm looking for opinions/advice or weigh-ins from anyone else who has had dealings with GPM.

GPM is asking for an initial holding deposit of 1/2 month of rent before they check our paperwork (current landlord reference, employer letter, etc.). Once the paperwork has been submitted and approved, GPM has renters sign the lease. Fine--except that when we asked if we could see a copy of the lease BEFORE making an initial deposit on the property, we were told no.

Why on earth can we not see the terms of the legal document that they want us to sign prior to putting down hundreds of euro as a deposit? This seems crazy (and perhaps even questionably legal) to us--though, admittedly, we're coming at this from a non-Irish perspective. How are we to know what they might ask us to agree to in writing once we're already in for several hundred euro?

El_Dangeroso

That's very odd, I'd refuse if it were me.

The lease is not going to contain anything top-secret, there's no reason why they shouldn't show it to you.

_Kaiser_

Another question is what happens to the "holding deposit" if they decide you're not good enough.

I'd probably keep looking myself - if that's the nonsense they're at now, what will they be like when you need them to fix something?

snubbleste

http://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?query=%22galway+property+management%22

TeaBagMania

Sounds suspicious, Id walk away from that deal

Sun in Capri

It is crazy and you are right to be concerned. If it was me I would not proceed with this. From my experience you usually sign a lease and in conjunctin with that pay over the deposit and one month's rent. Handing over a substantial amount of money without seeing what it says in the lease is looking for trouble. Also, what if the paperwork is not approved? How quickly would you get back this money/ would you get back this money?

Cresskit

Thanks for weighing in, all. Glad to hear that this isn't standard around here. I guess it means we'll probably keep looking and avoid dealings with this company.

pog it

Yep yep yep and yep. Stay clear of this, it's a massive warning sign. In all of my 10 years of renting I have always dealt with private landlords and never had a single problem or complaint about this way of doing business. I rarely had to complain about a property, I always paid my rent on time, and whenever there was an issue, guess what, it got resolved!

Cut to the past 12 months and after dealing with two estate agents, these people seem to have no interest in fixing things like a broken and open post box outside an apartment block; hot water boiler/immersion not worth bothering to repair; updating gate lock with new phone number so that I can actually use residents' carpark? Nope;fixing a door that was broken before I moved in.... etc. ? Nope, 5 months on, no action.

The list goes on and lesson learned! Stick with the private landlords whenever possible. They seem to have a few extra quid in their pockets and happy to spend it on necessary repairs if they arise

the_syco

pog it wrote: »

The list goes on and lesson learned! Stick with the private landlords whenever possible. They seem to have a few extra quid in their pockets and happy to spend it on necessary repairs if they arise

Not so much. Some of the private landlords have no money to fix anything, so if you're moving into a house, and something is broken, if it's not fixed before you move in, it never will be!