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

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.

Personally I wouldn't take them literally.

I know I comprehensively refurbished a en-suite last year at around 8k. The company told me it would be 12k at the moment and with a 6-8 month waiting list couldn't estimate the cost at that time because prices of materials were rising all the time. Then the shortage of labour etc. A lot of people are choosing to refurb or extend instead of moving. Which feeds into the price rises.

Bathrooms in rentals have a hard life.
 
Personally I wouldn't take them literally.

I know I comprehensively refurbished a en-suite last year at around 8k. The company told me it would be 12k at the moment and with a 6-8 month waiting list couldn't estimate the cost at that time because prices of materials were rising all the time. Then the shortage of labour etc. A lot of people are choosing to refurb or extend instead of moving. Which feeds into the price rises.

Bathrooms in rentals have a hard life.
Personally I wouldn't take them literally.

I know I comprehensively refurbished a en-suite last year at around 8k. The company told me it would be 12k at the moment and with a 6-8 month waiting list couldn't estimate the cost at that time because prices of materials were rising all the time. Then the shortage of labour etc. A lot of people are choosing to refurb or extend instead of moving. Which feeds into the price rises.

Bathrooms in rentals have a hard life.
Refurbishing an en suite is replacing your bathroom. Yes that will cost 8k or more. My parents just got a quote for under 10k for a large bathroom to be completely renovated and the work starts in November. There is no way simply adding in a shower, when a shower enclosure costs 900, plumbling is 90 euro per hour, and a power shower is 360 euro, cost more than 12k.
 
So you are going to take it literally, as just a shower.

The figure they said strongly suggests they didn't just replace the shower. Which is far more likely then they replaced just the shower and paid 12k for it.
 
With the upcoming budget they could turn around and say landlords have to sell with tenants in situ. Frightening prospect.
I think a change like that would require primary legislation which generally takes a bit of time to work it's way through the system. Outside of a pandemic some of this legislation had taken over a year to move through the process.
 
So you are going to take it literally, as just a shower.

The figure they said strongly suggests they didn't just replace the shower. Which is far more likely then they replaced just the shower and paid 12k for it.
Who knows. Are we supposed to take any or all of the anecdotes literally.
 
Who knows. Are we supposed to take any or all of the anecdotes literally.

I would suggest if it's the media, and an emotive subject where the people involved might have limited expertise and knowledge of the business they are in. It would be prudent to be cautious about accepting everything at face value.

People here have already pointed out basic errors in the some of the stories. Which is not unexpected with accidental businesses.
 
I would suggest if it's the media, and an emotive subject where the people involved might have limited expertise and knowledge of the business they are in. It would be prudent to be cautious about accepting everything at face value.

People here have already pointed out basic errors in the some of the stories. Which is not unexpected with accidental businesses.
But ultimatey this is what it is. An emotive one sided piece of populist and lazy journalism.

No doubt there lots of horror stories but im sure there also plenty of silent, satisfied landlords.

Its still true to say that the rtb is biased towards tenants and the tax regime on landlords is punitive and these things should be addressed.
 
But ultimatey this is what it is. An emotive one sided piece of populist and lazy journalism.

No doubt there lots of horror stories but im sure there also plenty of silent, satisfied landlords.

Its still true to say that the rtb is biased towards tenants and the tax regime on landlords is punitive and these things should be addressed.

All true.

The Irish Times resorted to tabloid journalism here. When an investigative piece with solid analysis is what was needed.

In the Irish Times defence they perhaps went the tabloid route after realizing the RTB stats around issues for landlords are sorely lacking. The RTB paint an overly optimistic picture completely at odds with what's happening on the ground. Historic rental supply crisis, soaring rents, and the suppliers leaving the market in massive numbers.

Considering the amount of data they do present and quality deep analysis they do of the market. That omission stands out. They paint the picture of landlords leaving as a natural products of an aging landlord demographic and investment maturing in a landscape of high returns. I don't remember seeing much if any negative problems for landlords at all. Perhaps I'm missing it. Seems odd to me.
 
Don't all rental agreements have a clause about doing any unauthorised repairs?

Nothing like finding amateur rewiring of an entire property or badly painting everything black, including every bit of varnished wood.
 
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