What do you look for in New tenants?

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davo10 wrote: »

Garda check is out.

"Who" is a good answer, if the tenant was a dead beat, the LL would remember him/her.

For most, including myself, the three months is not a deposit. It is first months rent, last months rent plus the equivalent of one month deposit. The "4K" is not sitting in the LL's bank account, it is used to pay two months rent during your tenancy. If it was three months deposit, you would actually have to pay four months including first months rent on signing lease, I haven't heard of that but anything is possible these days.

Op, new list of tribunal cases published on website, always check to see if applicants for your property are on site, if they are, don't take the risk.

Personally if I got "who?" I would be thinking maybe they never stayed there at all so would move on to the next applicant.
I remember all of the tenants I ever had. Good and bad. I only give written refs after people have actually moved out and handed back the keys and everything is in order. I'm always sorry to lose a good tenant and will always give them a written reference and my contact details. If it's a bad tenant they will get a reference that doesn't says whole lot. It will be easily interpreted by any other landlord reading it. And if their new landlord rings me before they have left my property I will give them the best reference I can, to get rid of them. I'll make them out to be a saint. Once they are gone though I will tell the truth to anyone else who ever rings me about them.

_Dara_

wordofwarning wrote: »

It is 2017, there is no interests being offered on deposits in most banks. I am sure a landlord will be fair and give the tenant the 0.1% that they will earn with it on deposit in BOI...

The money can also be invested, as was already said. Would the landlord compensate for that? Of course not. Just because someone has plenty of savings doesn’t mean they are happier to hand over a chunk of them to a landlord. Good savers are more likely to be monetarily shrewd and might be more likely to see the opportunity cost of doing so.

pilly

Goat the dote wrote: »

I might have to leave the family home with my son and our dog and this really worries me. I'd be a HAP tenant, and would not take the piss but it seems to be so hard to get someone who will accept both HAP and a dog. It's a non shedding housetrained dog.
One lady I text just responded that the property was gone, yet renewed it on daft less than a week later

Are you looking in Dublin or outside Dublin? I found it a lot easier with the dog outside Dublin. Tbh I never found one place in Dublin that would accept a dog.

CaoimheSquee

So basically, unless you have about 10k savings, a completely clear credit history, in contact with pretty much all of your old landlords, haven't moved jobs much, don't have any pets, don't have children or plan to ...... you don't deserve to rent a home in this country? And god forbid if you are a potential HAP tenant! No wonder so many are homeless! What has happened to us?

LirW

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

So basically, unless you have about 10k savings, a completely clear credit history, in contact with pretty much all of your old landlords, haven't moved jobs much, don't have any pets, don't have children or plan to ...... you don't deserve to rent a home in this country? And god forbid if you are a potential HAP tenant! No wonder so many are homeless! What has happened to us?

I agree with you but it's unfortunately a case of demand and supply. As long as you have hundreds of people showing up to viewings there won't be a change really.
With the current climate it's somewhat understandable that also the landlord wants to get the easiest and most reliable tenant in. A working childless couple are out of the house the whole day, have a double income so when one loses work there's still another source of money.
It's a sad state of affairs.

Pkiernan

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

So basically, unless you have about 10k savings, a completely clear credit history, in contact with pretty much all of your old landlords, haven't moved jobs much, don't have any pets, don't have children or plan to ...... you don't deserve to rent a home in this country? And god forbid if you are a potential HAP tenant! No wonder so many are homeless! What has happened to us?

Will you pay to compensate landlords who have their property destroyed by tenants?
Don't give the standard wishy washy leftie reply that it's a cost of doing business.
It's criminal damage.

Don't want to rent? No problem. Buy your own house.

Renting rooms separately to young (preferably single) professionals would be my preference.

- Much less risk of no rent as even if one stops paying then you still have the others paying (and they will likely drive out the non-paying tenant far faster than the RTB would).
- More rent, in general you can charge peopple more for each room individually than you would get for the house as a whole
- Far less chance of over-holding as people don't make a house share their "home" and tent to wait maybe a year or so (possibly more, possibly less) and then move on. A family with kids in school etc are far more likely to
get tied to an area and thus the house so will be much harder to get rid of.
- Less wear and tear - young professionals will be at work all day, out in the evenings and often head home at weekends thus far less damage and wear also far less chance of getting a pet behind the LLs back and there wont
be any kids.
- Easier for the LL to keeps tabs on the property, more excuse for calling around as people move in and out
- Less chance of getting stuck with a bad tenant.
- etc etc.

LirW

Where exactly did she say that?
Fact is that the rental market is broken, and everyone is affected by it: landlords as well as tenants. It gets to a point where companies struggle to make Dublin attractive to foreign workforce. Not because it's expensive but there's nothing and frm a certain income level on people won't be happy with renting a lousy studio for horrendous money because that's all they can find.
But it's not the place to discuss why.
I understand that it's increasingly frustrating for tenants to see the arm-chancing of some landlords and plenty of families that face eviction will be in a real predicament to find something to rent somewhere. Many people can't manage to save for a deposit but hey, let them eat cake, right?

On the other hand to tackle this crisis the landlords now have a hard time to evict a bad tenant and can watch their property being trashed to pieces. So whoever stays in the business has to take all the precautions that they aren't faced with a massive bill or mortgage arrears in the end. Because Landlords rights are bad.
It puts both sides into a bad position really. And the points of both sides are more than valid and while the market now is unfair to anyone who isn't the perfect tenant on paper, as long as there aren't major changes made the landlord has take the most care who they choose as tenant.

davo10

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

So basically, unless you have about 10k savings, a completely clear credit history, in contact with pretty much all of your old landlords, haven't moved jobs much, don't have any pets, don't have children or plan to ...... you don't deserve to rent a home in this country? And god forbid if you are a potential HAP tenant! No wonder so many are homeless! What has happened to us?

Bring in legislation which allows property owners to evict tenants who stop paying rent/trash the place more easily and faster, pay HAP in advance and guarantee payment in full even if the tenant stops paying their portion, stop the government interfering in a private market, and then there might be less checks required.

As for pets, no changes would ever entice me to rent to a tenant with pets. I don't care who good their references are or how much they offer.

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CaoimheSquee wrote: »

So basically, unless you have about 10k savings, a completely clear credit history, in contact with pretty much all of your old landlords, haven't moved jobs much, don't have any pets, don't have children or plan to ...... you don't deserve to rent a home in this country? And god forbid if you are a potential HAP tenant! No wonder so many are homeless! What has happened to us?

Not necessarily. It's just a way to order a list of preferred tenants. A landlord may not have all of their desired attributes filled, but they will rank applicants in order of preference.

CaoimheSquee

Pkiernan wrote: »

Will you pay to compensate landlords who have their property destroyed by tenants?
Don't give the standard wishy washy leftie reply that it's a cost of doing business.
It's criminal damage.

Don't want to rent? No problem. Buy your own house.

LOL

davo10

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

LOL

This is why checks are so important, if you have no understanding of the implications of having errant tenants, how can you understand the need for LLs to try and reduce the risks of letting to bad tenants.

CaoimheSquee

Apologies, I laughed at the lefty "insult" just because someone was being compassionate and thoughtful of those less fortunate. The defensive nature of the post was very amusing to me.

And of course I understand implications of bad tenants! But does less fortunate = bad people?

If it matters, I am actually someone who has rented for many many years and I actually DO have landlord refs from years back that give the best of references because I am and have been an excellent tenant. I have a very good job and again great work references. I am one part of a professional couple with a good combined wage with no kids. I have a great relationship with my current landlord who live in the same estate and know exactly what state their property is in at all times. I respect their property and them as people and it works both ways. That goes for any property I have ever rented. I have to say I have never encountered landlords making such demands as some of the lads above and I have always dealt with pretty reasonable human beings.

davo10

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

Apologies, I laughed at the lefty "insult" just because someone was being compassionate and thoughtful of those less fortunate. The defensive nature of the post was very amusing to me.

And of course I understand implications of bad tenants! But does less fortunate = bad people?

If it matters, I am actually someone who has rented for many many years and I actually DO have landlord refs from years back that give the best of references because I am and have been an excellent tenant. I have a very good job and again great work references. I am one part of a professional couple with a good combined wage with no kids. I have a great relationship with my current landlord who live in the same estate and know exactly what state their property is in at all times. I respect their property and them as people and it works both ways. That goes for any property I have ever rented. I have to say I have never encountered landlords making such demands as some of the lads above and I have always dealt with pretty reasonable human beings.

There is a poster on here whose default advice is, "open a dispute with the RTB" irrespective of the merits of their grievance. Threshold advises people to overhold even if their termination/eviction is legal and merited. It is now more difficult than ever to remove a bad tenant, so, the next time you move, chances are you will be asked for all the above. Considering what you have posted, you will be at the top of the list for any landlord.

CaoimheSquee

davo10 wrote: »

There is a poster on here whose default advice is, "open a dispute with the RTB" irrespective of the merits of their grievance. Threshold advises people to overhold even if their termination/eviction is legal and merited. It is now more difficult than ever to remove a bad tenant, so, the next time you move, chances are you will be asked for all the above. Considering what you have posted, you will be at the top of the list for any landlord.

No I won't going by what I have read here, as I won't have 3 months rent to hand them in one go (about 5k - and would be reluctant even if I did!), I will never and have never handed over 6 months of bank statements and am likely to start having kids in the next few years.
So that's just my tough luck really I suppose! The streets it is!

Sorry, I am being facetious of course, but just trying to highlight how bloody awful the state of things is.

People only really ring Threshold when in crisis. Obviously you should NEVER withhold and that is terrible advice but things are getting pretty desperate out there.

davo10

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

No I won't going by what I have read here, as I won't have 3 months rent to hand them in one go (about 5k - and would be reluctant even if I did!), I will never and have never handed over 6 months of bank statements and am likely to start having kids in the next few years.
So that's just my tough luck really I suppose! The streets it is!

Sorry, I am being facetious of course, but just trying to highlight how bloody awful the state of things is.

People only really ring Threshold when in crisis. Obviously you should NEVER withhold and that is terrible advice but things are getting pretty desperate out there.

I agree the bank statements goes too far. In relation to the 3 months, I suspect more and more LLs will go this route, I certainly have had people say "no" to that, but most say yes, and on occasion I have been offered even more.

Things are desperate out there, due to shortages, but that is not the property owners fault. There is another thread on here outlining recent RTB cases, it can take anything up to a year to get a tenant out, that could be over 20k of lost rental/mortgage repayments. LLs desperately need good, reliable tenants, plus some security against damage, non payment of rent. If you can't afford to pay 3months, you may not be in a position to pay rent if you are on sick leave or lose your job.

This is precisely why many, including myself on one property from next month, are turning to Airbnb.

LirW

In many countries it's normal to pay 3 months rent as deposit. But the rent is significantly cheaper there. When you rent for 650 euros 3 months deposit is entirely different to a deposit of 1500E in rent.
The situation is so bad that there's no real winner here. People who can't afford it anymore or simply can't find anything have to move back home and are called names for that from society. A lot of people only can afford rooms or that's the only thing they can find. And there's no way in hell a working professional from abroad who's on 50k is going to move to a share. Therefore people either won't come or move from AirBnB to AirBnB, which is incredibly expensive.
And there are the landlords that are exposed to next to no protection and are forced to treat anyone who's not the perfect tenant (working professional) as a 3rd choice, because they have 80 other applicants that, on paper, mean less trouble.

The situation is bad for everyone and I don't think that playing the blame game here is right. Somehow the interference of the state managed to make it pretty bad for every side there. Ireland at the moment isn't even close to having a somewhat healthy rental market and that leaves the people in sh1t that would need a rental market.

CaoimheSquee

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

No I won't going by what I have read here, as I won't have 3 months rent to hand them in one go (about 5k - and would be reluctant even if I did!), I will never and have never handed over 6 months of bank statements and am likely to start having kids in the next few years.
So that's just my tough luck really I suppose! The streets it is!

I don't mean this as a dig but if you and your wife are in very good jobs how have you not built up savings, are you not saving a deposit to buy your own place? Having kids and no savings would be a major red flag for me if I was renting a place to you as kids cost money, often the household is down to one income for sometime (or long term) etc etc so there is a very real risk of non-payment of rent. You may be the best tenant ever and never be late or behind with rent but a LL doesn't know you and will have to do a general risk assessment on your situation and there are red flags.

dr.fuzzenstein

Is there a way find out if a landlord is genuine?
If I am asked to hand over 3 months deposit plus one month rent as well as sensitive financial and employment data, I would like to know if the landlord is registered, can make data protection assurances, has adequate secure storage and or means of confidential disposal and if that quite handsome sum of money will be stored in a dedicated bank account or stuffed in a pocket and used for a holiday, car, etc...
Because for every dodgy tenant there is certainly a dodgy seat of the pants landlord who leaves papers lying around, maybe down the pub and who is on the financial edge, so the tenent has to know if the LL is kosher as well.

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dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Is there a way find out if a landlord is genuine?
If I am asked to hand over 3 months deposit plus one month rent as well as sensitive financial and employment data, I would like to know if the landlord is registered, can make data protection assurances, has adequate secure storage and or means of confidential disposal and if that quite handsome sum of money will be stored in a dedicated bank account or stuffed in a pocket and used for a holiday, car, etc...
Because for every dodgy tenant there is certainly a dodgy seat of the pants landlord who leaves papers lying around, maybe down the pub and who is on the financial edge, so the tenent has to know if the LL is kosher as well.

If you have any suspicions at all walk away.

Graham

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Is there a way find out if a landlord is genuine?
If I am asked to hand over 3 months deposit plus one month rent as well as sensitive financial and employment data, I would like to know if the landlord is registered, can make data protection assurances, has adequate secure storage and or means of confidential disposal and if that quite handsome sum of money will be stored in a dedicated bank account or stuffed in a pocket and used for a holiday, car, etc...
Because for every dodgy tenant there is certainly a dodgy seat of the pants landlord who leaves papers lying around, maybe down the pub and who is on the financial edge, so the tenent has to know if the LL is kosher as well.

You could certainly ask any potential landlord for any/all of those assurances.

It's probably safe to assume the answers would be largely irrelevant to you, particularly in the current market

CaoimheSquee

Ismael Thankful Clip wrote: »

I don't mean this as a dig but if you and your wife are in very good jobs how have you not built up savings, are you not saving a deposit to buy your own place? Having kids and no savings would be a major red flag for me if I was renting a place to you as kids cost money, often the household is down to one income for sometime (or long term) etc etc so there is a very real risk of non-payment of rent. You may be the best tenant ever and never be late or behind with rent but a LL doesn't know you and will have to do a general risk assessment on your situation and there are red flags.

I am female. Why do I have to buy my own place? There is no way I would handover thousands of my savings to a place where the risk of me ever getting it back (DEPOSIT) is absolutely massive.

HUGE risks with being a tenant too.

But my point here is that I am actually one of the better off ones here and yet still MILES from being in any way the "ideal tenant". Which makes me really feel for all the normal folk and less fortunate folk out there trying to find a roof over their head and scratching my head trying to figure out what is the solution.

davo10

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Is there a way find out if a landlord is genuine?
If I am asked to hand over 3 months deposit plus one month rent as well as sensitive financial and employment data, I would like to know if the landlord is registered, can make data protection assurances, has adequate secure storage and or means of confidential disposal and if that quite handsome sum of money will be stored in a dedicated bank account or stuffed in a pocket and used for a holiday, car, etc...
Because for every dodgy tenant there is certainly a dodgy seat of the pants landlord who leaves papers lying around, maybe down the pub and who is on the financial edge, so the tenent has to know if the LL is kosher as well.

In relation to the deposit, the LL may have possession of this, but you can get it back through the RTB. On the other hand, you have possession of an asset of far greater value, the the owner has little if any chance of recovering any unpaid rent/damage, even with an RTB ruling.

Do LL's keep bank statements? I wouldn't have thought so. Auctioneers on the other hand would have to comply with data protection legislation.

You can check the RTB register to see if the LL has registered the tenancy.

Graham

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

Which makes me really feel for all the normal folk and less fortunate folk out there trying to find a roof over their head and scratching my head trying to figure out what is the solution.

+1

I see friends who would be great tenants struggling to find affordable accommodation and on the very odd occasion something suitable does come up they're in a line with a couple of dozen other people.

Pkiernan

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

Apologies, I laughed at the lefty "insult" just because someone was being compassionate and thoughtful of those less fortunate. The defensive nature of the post was very amusing to me.

And of course I understand implications of bad tenants! But does less fortunate = bad people?

I.

Why don't you offer to be a guarantor to prospective tenants. That would be very nice of you.
Everyone would win. Tenants get a home, landlord gets compensated if his place is trashed, and you get to feel good about life.

What could possibly go wrong?

the_pen_turner

CaoimheSquee wrote: »

I am female. Why do I have to buy my own place? There is no way I would handover thousands of my savings to a place where the risk of me ever getting it back (DEPOSIT) is absolutely massive.

HUGE risks with being a tenant too.

But my point here is that I am actually one of the better off ones here and yet still MILES from being in any way the "ideal tenant". Which makes me really feel for all the normal folk and less fortunate folk out there trying to find a roof over their head and scratching my head trying to figure out what is the solution.

the difference there is that all the laws are tilted in your favour. the rtb will side with you and you can force the money back. the ll cannot.
tenant has too many rights

Snoopy1

People are being very vindictive here especially the landlords towards tennants who may not have a lot of savings, but are well able to pay the rent, but prehaps dont tick all these very strict boxes, or are not willing to handover such a large amount of money.
Op dont judge a book by its cover, they could still be a disaster even if they check the boxes, and your ruling out a lot of possibly very good tenants

Topgear on Dave

Snoopy1 wrote: »

People are being very vindictive here especially the landlords towards tennants who may not have a lot of savings, but are well able to pay the rent, but prehaps dont tick all these very strict boxes, or are not willing to handover such a large amount of money.
Op dont judge a book by its cover, they could still be a disaster even if they check the boxes, and your ruling out a lot of possibly very good tenants

Landlords are being harsh but have a look at the thread on the RTB reports etc.

If they want to get a problem tenant out it is very difficult so they are making every effort not to let a bad tenant in.

The whole system is screwed.

CaoimheSquee

Pkiernan wrote: »

Why don't you offer to be a guarantor to prospective tenants. That would be very nice of you.
Everyone would win. Tenants get a home, landlord gets compensated if his place is trashed, and you get to feel good about life.

What could possibly go wrong?

Again, thanks for the laughter. You really are a bitter fellow!

CaoimheSquee

the_pen_turner wrote: »

the difference there is that all the laws are tilted in your favour. the rtb will side with you and you can force the money back. the ll cannot.
tenant has too many rights

I would dispute that very much so, but understand there are some absolute horror stories out there.
As a tenant these days most pay pver the odds for a shoebox they can be turfed out at at any point through repossession or the landlord choosing to sell at any time. The tenants that stay on are either a)got nowehere else to go and doing it out of desperation or b) horrible people, which I would argue is a minority. And these type of people have existed. It is absolute logic that landlords such be protected from such tenants. That has never been my argument or dispute.

I think the odds are stacked against both sides and it's turned into a total mess. On the one side you have ever increasing homelessness and HAP tenants finding it harder and harder to find a home, and therefore a gathering huge emotion from that end toward landlords. Then the other side are the folks like Pkiernan who from bad experiences and reports have become completely filled with contempt for the less fortunate and riddled with vulgar opinions of them.

Neither is right or expressing their anger in the right direction, in the majority!