Letting an apartment - lots of questions!

[Dinarius]

We are about to let our Dublin 6 one bed apartment. I have a few questions...

1. I have been advised to ask for both an employer's and a banker's reference. Is this OK/enough?

2. I have been advised to ask for a month's rent in advance and two month's deposit, instead of the normal one month. The reason I was given is that when the tenant's decide to move out they will stop the standing order and allow the month's deposit to act as the final month's rent. Then, when they're gone and you assess the damage (if any), you will have no security to claim against. Makes sense to me, but is it normal practice to ask for three months rent, in total, in advance?

3. We'd like non-smokers. OK to insist on this? I presume so.

4. In terms of advertising, where can I get the most bangs for my buck? The daft.ie site seems good value, but will it get me tenants?

5. I did a search on daft.ie for D.6/ 1 bed/ apartments and got about 50 hits. None was under €900 p/m. I'd be happy with a good tenant at €875. It's a very nice apartment. How competitive is this market?

6. Rental allowance.....I notice that many ads say no to this. What are the drawbacks with such tenants, if any?

Anything else I should consider?

Many thanks.

D.

 

[gauloise]

Don't forget to register with the dept of the environment as a landlord..there are heavy penalties if you are found out!

 

[Dinarius]

Thanks for that. Didn't know about it.

Anything else I've overlooked?

D.

 

[delgirl]

1. I have been advised to ask for both an employer's and a banker's reference. Is this OK/enough?

If you can also get one from previous landlord, that would also be useful. Although none of the above are any sort of guarantee.

2. I have been advised to ask for a month's rent in advance and two month's deposit, instead of the normal one month. The reason I was given is that when the tenant's decide to move out they will stop the standing order and allow the month's deposit to act as the final month's rent. Then, when they're gone and you assess the damage (if any), you will have no security to claim against. Makes sense to me, but is it normal practice to ask for three months rent, in total, in advance?

I ask for 1 month's rent as deposit - if you can get two, that's great. I don't think everyone would be in a position to pay 3 month's rent upfront.

3. We'd like non-smokers. OK to insist on this? I presume so.

You can ask and they might tell you that they don't smoke, but will do so anyway when they move in - you can never really be sure that what they say is 100% correct. If they're smokers, and you're adamant you don't want smokers, you should be able to smell it!

4. In terms of advertising, where can I get the most bangs for my buck? The daft.ie site seems good value, but will it get me tenants?

I let one house through Daft.ie, your first ad is free, and the other via the local newspaper. I understand that the Evening Herald is a good paper to advertise in for the Dublin area.

5. I did a search on daft.ie for D.6/ 1 bed/ apartments and got about 50 hits. None was under €900 p/m. I'd be happy with a good tenant at €875. It's a very nice apartment. How competitive is this market?

Sorry, can't help you with this one.

6. Rental allowance.....I notice that many ads say no to this. What are the drawbacks with such tenants, if any?

I don't have any rent allowance tenants myself, but some of my friends do and have no problems with them at all. I would, however, advise you to have them sign a waiver BEFORE they move in so that the rent can be paid direct to you by the Health Board.

Anything else I should consider?

As gauloise said, you need to register with the PRTB - you can download the registration form from their website.

Also read revenue's [broken link removed] Guide to rental income before you start renting and perhaps get some tax advice if you feel you need it.

Good luck!