Irish Times wants to hear your story if you are a "small landlord"

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said the Government will examine what “we can do to reduce the speed at which landlords are leaving the sector”. “More and more landlords have decided that it’s easier to sell their property than to continue to rent it,” said Varadkar. But what’s the reality on the ground? The Irish Times invites owners of rental properties to share their experiences for an upcoming story, using the form in this article. Thank-you for your contribution.

The Irish Times has printed small landlords' responses:

Read that this morning. Some mental responses in it.

...and a lot of them!!

The most positive thing in the article is a landlord pointing out he gets a net yield of 2.5%!

Obviously, net income after tax works out at about half this, and I’d estimate the current net rental return at about 2.5 per cent. Our property still represents an excellent investment asset, with regular income and a strong likelihood of continued capital appreciation over the medium to long term.

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That is a great article.

I love the one about the tenant asking for a replacement for stuff that they broke themselves.

A number of tenants seemed to stop paying rent "because the RTB told them to stop paying rent during Covid"

Last year I had a tenant refuse to pay rent for 15 months, citing the Residential Tenancies Board’s instructions, as posted out to all rental properties, to cease paying during Covid.

This had nothing to do with the RTB, had it?

This is quite lazy reporting as obviously they will get mostly the horror stories and none, or very few, positive ones.

So it's great for stirring up the public á la Joe Duffy and selling newspapers/clickbait but not of very much use to anyone trying to understand the over all picture

Some terrible stories alright, the sad thing is though, this was all brought about because of a desperate knee jerk reaction to some horrendous Landlords.

It has, and still is being handled very badly by the same Authorities.

jpd said:

This is quite lazy reporting as obviously they will get mostly the horror stories and none, or very few, positive ones.

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Hi jpd

I think you misread the article.

This was about the landlords' experience and not the tenants' experience.

As you rightly point out, we only ever hear of the tenants' horror stories and never hear of the 90% positive stories by tenants.

Brendan

Brendan Burgess said:

That is a great article.

I love the one about the tenant asking for a replacement for stuff that they broke themselves.

A number of tenants seemed to stop paying rent "because the RTB told them to stop paying rent during Covid"

Last year I had a tenant refuse to pay rent for 15 months, citing the Residential Tenancies Board’s instructions, as posted out to all rental properties, to cease paying during Covid.

This had nothing to do with the RTB, had it?

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There were protections put in place for those that lost their jobs and were at risk of loosing their homes. There was a freeze on evictions and rent increases during the crisis. The tenant filled in a form and sent to to RTB informing RTB of their situation. Some tenants read it wrong and I think they believed they did not have to pay their rent at all. Rent allowance was available but some did not apply. Tenants were advised to contact MABS for help.

In summary, the following takes effect from the 2nd of August 2020:
'

• Ending a tenancy, using the usual five reasons except for rent arrears, is now permitted. This is as long as the normal rules regarding providing the correct amount of notice period and issuing a Notice of Termination are adhered to.'

No, I read the full article and agree that some landlords have had terrible tenants and want to leave the business

But I felt the premise was that this explained the exodus and something should be done to stop it.
There are still a vast number of small landlords in business - not enough admittedly, but there are not enough owner-occupied units either

Have you seen the recent quarterly figures for tenants given notice to quit? Three times the number last year!!! And with interest rate rises, I would imagine it's only going to get worse over the next 12 months .

I was a landlord in the recent past.

I made a tidy sum each month.

Sold the houses and made a lovely profit.

Tenants were great.

Overall, a rewarding experience for me.

This is a very powerful article, which I believe may have a strong influence regarding those considering selling and those considering buying a rental property in Ireland.
The damage done by government over the last decade or so regarding interference in the rental market is undeniable. They have only themselves to blame for this mess. This upcoming budget may be seen as critical by some landlords, but personally I think it’s too late to reduce the rate of landlords exiting, let alone stop or reverse the direction.
I also doubt any TD has the balls to stand up and really change policy sufficiently to turn things around. It would be political suicide. Also any changes in policy that benefit the landlord will have to be balanced with those that benefit the tenant…. of course it goes without saying that usually any changes in policy that benefit the tenant SCREW the landlord…. so back to square one again really

ArthurMcB said:

I was a landlord in the recent past.

I made a tidy sum each month.

Sold the houses and made a lovely profit.

Tenants were great.

Overall, a rewarding experience for me.

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Same here Landlord and Arthur B.I am a small landlord.This seems to be a forum for "Whingers dreams come true".If you use a bit of C,S.[common sense ] then you will be rewarded big time for your pension as i have.[In my humble opinion etc.

Some of those landlord experiences sound dreadful. A few of them sound like they did not know what they were getting themselves into. Not sure what to make of the €12k shower though!!

DK123 said:

Same here Landlord and Arthur B.I am a small landlord.This seems to be a forum for "Whingers dreams come true".If you use a bit of C,S.[common sense ] then you will be rewarded big time for your pension as i have.[In my humble opinion etc.

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Everyone on the titanic thought it was all going great until it wasn't.

Of the landlords I know who have had serious problems and those that haven't is mostly down to dumb luck.

arbitron said:

Some of those landlord experiences sound dreadful. A few of them sound like they did not know what they were getting themselves into. Not sure what to make of the €12k shower though!!

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I assume they meant the entire bathroom or en-suite being redone.

landlord said:

This is a very powerful article, which I believe may have a strong influence regarding those considering selling and those considering buying a rental property in Ireland.
The damage done by government over the last decade or so regarding interference in the rental market is undeniable. They have only themselves to blame for this mess. This upcoming budget may be seen as critical by some landlords, but personally I think it’s too late to reduce the rate of landlords exiting, let alone stop or reverse the direction.
I also doubt any TD has the balls to stand up and really change policy sufficiently to turn things around. It would be political suicide. Also any changes in policy that benefit the landlord will have to be balanced with those that benefit the tenant…. of course it goes without saying that usually any changes in policy that benefit the tenant SCREW the landlord…. so back to square one again really

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With the upcoming budget they could turn around and say landlords have to sell with tenants in situ. Frightening prospect.

landlord said:

This is a very powerful article, which I believe may have a strong influence regarding those considering selling and those considering buying a rental property in Ireland.
The damage done by government over the last decade or so regarding interference in the rental market is undeniable. They have only themselves to blame for this mess. This upcoming budget may be seen as critical by some landlords, but personally I think it’s too late to reduce the rate of landlords exiting, let alone stop or reverse the direction.
I also doubt any TD has the balls to stand up and really change policy sufficiently to turn things around. It would be political suicide. Also any changes in policy that benefit the landlord will have to be balanced with those that benefit the tenant…. of course it goes without saying that usually any changes in policy that benefit the tenant SCREW the landlord…. so back to square one again really

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If you think its been bad for the past 11 years, just wait till you see what happens if SF get into power.

I thought the article over focused on scare stories, and selectively picked the worst horror stories. It read like a bunch of people complaining that what they thought was a "get rich quick scheme" turned out not to be. Reality is, being a landlord is a business. It has to be approached on a business like basis. And so people leave the business, because it isn't working for them.
Things that get missed though are - few new landlords entering the business (except for a cohort of institutions offering corporate lets aimed at the very top of the market), a lack of supply of housing in general, and high property prices/harsh lending criteria keeping a significant chunk of high earning tenants out of home buying. Measures are there to assist FTBs and tenants seeking "cost rental" but the scale is far too small to really impact the current rental market. We rightly complain this should bring more state intervention, but when it happens there are howls of rage if mixed developments are proposed because a certain segment of the left would prefer no new homes get built if state aided building is not 100% social housing - which means even the state cannot intervene.
So here we are!

AlbacoreA said:

I assume they meant the entire bathroom or en-suite being redone.

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They specifically said they "added an extra shower" and it cost 12k.
My mother just had a quote to entirely rip out her existing 1980s bathroom and refit entirely and the quote came to around 10k.