Has your rent gone up spectacularly?
Dublin City Councillor Patrick Costello writes:
I was contacted by someone appealing a 37% rent increase. Do your readers have success or failure stories to help guide them?
Anyone?
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Everything. As It Happens.
Went up by 10% last year, 9% this year. Seems to go up by the (relatively arbitrary) amount of 100 quid year on year at this stage.
(When I enquired why I got told that it was due to market rates going up…..which the agent then quoted at “7.5%” …despite mine going up by…9….was also given some condescending snark about “entitlement”)
Our rent went up by €50 which seems decent. However in order to do so we basically had to agree that we wouldn’t ask the landlord to fix several things in the house that would cost him a fair bit.
I really wish we could get affordable 1 bed apartments (not where you can open the fridge from your bed) which would allow more people to move out and free up 2/3 beds .
That’s a bullshit deal Cean. Your landlord is obliged to keep the place in good order under normal usage (as in you don’t party and wreck the place and destroy the appliances).
I rent out a house in Dubiln city centre and I have kept the rent at the same level the last four years because it covers the mortgage, tax and maintenance. The tenants are decent and pay on time every time.
You can’t just jack up rent out of pure greed and then not service the place properly. That’s just pure c***tery.
He was looking for an increase in €200. No actually, he asked us how much we were willing to pay before he gave a figure. Market rate, property tax yadda yadda.
Not alot we could do about bar move.
Mr T you are my hero
Fair play Councillor, a bit late to this aren’t you, but better late than never.
With a near 90% of Dublin Councillors including the Mayor being Shinners, wouldn’t you think they’d have done something on this a lot sooner…. guess that band wagon wasn’t as big as the Irish Water band wagon…..
What do you expect them to do? The powers of councillors are pretty limited – they can’t arbitrarily build more houses when their budget is decreasing, and I sincerely doubt they have the right to impose rent freezes (although I’m open to correction on that).
Coucillors are supposed to listen to the concerns of people in their area. Hold meetings, attend them, run them. My point is that no councillors do this for the average ‘renter’ (council housing aside), they normally just ignore them for the most part and so they rarely touch this issue.
All of the above, said to me by a councillor.
What they can do, they can apply pressure, raise the concern… like they are supposed to.
Read more here – http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/what-do-councillors-do-all-day-1.1789818
From about half way down, start at… “Councillors have a legislative and policy role and a representative role, says Dr Aodh Quinlivan of the department of government at Univeristy College Cork…”!
Their representative role would have to do with rent hikes, just like the councillor who posted on here to Broadsheet did.
I hope you are clearer on what they can do now.
+1
They can kick and scream and put it on the government agenda.
They can also increase provisions for homelessness instead of cutting property tax…
There are 63 councillors in Dublin City and 16 of those are Sinn Fein. So your maths is way off there Clampers.
Ha, ‘success stories’? Renting in Dublin? Good one
Air BnB your room out at weekends and rollover your way to Monday.
Does that mean you have to go back to mammy in the sticks for a couple of days? At least you’ll get your socks darned and collars starched, I suppose.
lol
Landlords can increase rents to the market rate; if there are similar properties in the area renting in or around the +37% figure, there is not much that can be done about it unfortunately.
While it is admirable that the Councillor is helping their constituent, it is worrying that (i) he is not familiar with this information already, and (ii) he is consulting a (lite) news website, rather than Threshold or the PTRB.
“Landlords can increase rents to the market rate”. Who defines the market rate?
The market, e.g. what people are prepared to pay.
the ‘market’ also comprises the providers of rented accommodations. if all the landlords jack up the rent, then the ‘market rent’ increases.
kelly needs to give the prtb far more teeth in this matter – landlords should not be able to issue a notice to quit on the grounds that a landlord hikes up rent prices outside of an agreed rate. it’s set at around 10% but this is on average 4-5% above inflation and the costs of wear and tear on the property.
People have no choice, they need somewhere to live so have to pay.
Estate agents are pressurizing landlords to increase rents on their properties even when the landlord wants to keep it the same or increase a small bit.
Estate Agents are scum. When I bought my house, I made their life hell with details because I just know they treat buyers like crap all the time.
What an incredible statement Mr. T. Estate agents work for the landlords or house seller and their job is to get the best rent/price possible for their client having taken their instruction. To make a statement that all estate agents are scum and that you are all knowing; of how every agent treats every potential buyer reveals something about you that is not very credible.
My estate agent tried this last year. Claimed the landlord was pressurising them in to raising the rent. We got the phone number for the landlord and when I called him, he was completely baffled as he had told the estate agent that the rent was fine.
Once I called the estate agent back with this info, they quickly sent us a revised lease.
I got the opposite once, the estate agent told me, after I took the place, that he probably could have easily got €100 pm month more but the landlord set the rate and he was happy because it made it easier to find tenants. It was a weird thing to say after signing a lease.
I live with me ma.. She raised the rent from €200 to €250 a month.
10% each year for the past 2 years.
So 20% increase since 2012.
21% actually. (100 * 1.1) * 1.1 = 1.21
That’s not how percentages work.
The 2013 figure would already be 110% of the 2012
The 2014 would be 110% of the 2013.
So the 2014 figure is 121% of the 2012.
My rent went up by €50 last year and €150 this year!!
Irish landlords…..scum of the earth
Neighbours of mine got a letter from estate agent saying their rent was to be increased by 25% – from 1200 to 1500 per month. We got together with them and did up a letter to the estate agents asking them to reconsider and to decrease the increase. And the letter asked the estate agents to pass on the request to the landlords. They got a reply agreeing to 1300 per month this Jan next year. It was a decent result.
We know the landlords – they lived there for a few years before moving – so I’m guessing it was they who told the estate agents to reduce the increase. The letter outlined family circumstances, number of kids, happiness with the area and neighbours and how terrible it would be to have to leave – that kind of thing. It wasn’t begging but factual.
I guess my neighbours are “lucky” with the landlords they have.
Correction: TILL Jan next year.
I live in city centre and with my partner pay € 1000 for our 1 bed apartment. Thankfully not a bedset.
A decent price I feel for my location and the fact I do not require
We look after the apartment. It’s always clean and treat it like our home.
Rent paid every month on the day (even before if it’s bank holiday) and all bills paid by direct debit.
We’re ideal tenants and any landlord that has us should count themselves lucky.
If they attempt to put our rent up I will gladly walk and let them deal with the lottery of some they could be renting to.
People need to value themselves and stand up to these landlords. Especially if they are model tenants.
It’s pretty bad out there for renters in Dublin but what do you expect when NAMA are keeping apartments off the market. There’s 500 in Tallaght Cross alone.
Elysian in Cork is still largely empty too.
But NAMA are also tasked with getting as much of the bailout money back as possible… Therefore rock and hard place…
Also the non-performing loans they did take on wouldn’t likely involve well-rented apartments in Dublin CC, moreso abandoned estates in Laois.
Was renting in rathmines until recently. DNG were our agents and I found hardball was the only tactic. When the landlord raised the rent id say, that’s out of our budget so I’ll give you my 4 weeks notice. Got a call back an hour later to say the rent would be left as it was. It saves them (agent) a lot of work. Work they were not very good at-probably the least competent bunch of people I’ve ever dealt with.
Cant imagine it would be too hard to find a new tenant in 4 weeks for the increased rent in Rathmines. You got lucky there.
No, it would take about 5 minutes but for the ‘busy’ agent it would mean inspections, viewings, a few transactions with ourselves and new tenants all for an extra €100 a month.
I tried that. We’ve been really good tenants for 4 years, rent paid on time, keep the place clean, repair broken things, made the garden look a lot better. I wrote an email to my landlord stating that the rent hike was ridiculous and I made a counter offer to split the difference (tried to appeal to their human side) as I had to find a new housemate too. They rejected my counter offer and told me that the new rent was the going rate for the area (Dublin 6). Like it or lump it. I’ll say it again. Irish landlords, scum of the earth.
Oh, and landlords everywhere else are charitable organisations. I’m sick of people who have evidently never lived outside of ireland pretending its different everywhere else.
Get over yourself.
No but they are incredibly greedy in Ireland. And I actually have lived abroad, where did you find this evidence that I haven’t? I’ve lived in the US and Spain, I’ve never had the sort of despicable greed from foreign landlords that I’ve experienced with Irish landlords. You know that kind of greed and profiteering contributed to the property boom and bust right?
Get a brain!
Other countries have controls in place, that’s the difference.
The Scandinavian system is the best I’ve encountered personally. You pay an initial (reasonably small) lump sum and then pay a nominal rent each month. And as long as you’re not a nuisance tenant, the place is yours for as long as you want.
Unfortunately, our corrupt little country is run by politicians, many of whom are also landlords..
Landlords in the USA have always been fine to me. Professional outfit, not gougers who chanced their arm at a second house without having a clue.
I’ve always been lucky with landlords/ladies that I’ve had but it’s always been the estate agents that have made renting becoming increasingly less appealing. Have had the misfortune of dealing with dng in two properties (rathmines & phibsboro) and would now refuse a property if it was being handled by them (completely unprofessional with unannounced viewings when the house was being sold, would become difficult to get hold of whenever issues arose, dragging their heals on deposit returns). People say that it’s cos they are working for the landlord, not the tenant, but fobbing the tenant off on certain issues can lead to problems becoming persistent in the house. I would love to say that it was just them, but we have a thoroughly disinterested estate agent from a different company that is not returning calls on an issue which will lead to structural issues on the house.
I bought my property in 2008 it was well above the “real” value as everyone keeps telling me, oh and the negative equity…… Seems I actually got a got a great deal my mortgage is cheap fupp compared to rents in my block. The average 1 bed is now going for €950.
You were lucky by the sounds of it, buying in 2008…. :)
Yep i got in just as the poo hit the fan. I’d never get a mortgage now.
Any rooms to rent when I move home?! haha
Where I am living we moved in four months ago and the rent was 1200 a month, we got 50 Euro knocked off as there was mould all over the place. We got a dehumidifier which we use not as much now as its sunny out and we leave windows open when we are there
Side note on rent increases. I had a pal whose landlord didnt put the rent up in three years and then whoosh from 900 a month to 1200…appeal it in writing
Was renting 2 bed in Grand Canal Dock (80 sq m, so bigger than average) from Jan 2011 til May 2015, what we paid and increases
2011: 1300
2012: 1300
2013: 1375 (wanted 1400 originally) – 5.7%
2014: 1450 (wanted 1475 originally) – 5.5%
2015: 1600 (did not accept any reduction) – 10.3%
I think that’s in line with the market, but it was still a bit cr*p to be told no reduction from a 10.3% increase. Subsequently, landlord looked for a quick sale this Feb (8 weeks after we signed new lease which was a bit sh*t for our plans) – he knocked 100 off rent and gave us 3 months’ notice. Sold for €425K at Easter. Since moved into a gaff in Rathgar and paying €625 for a double. Waiting to see that rise in May 2016……
In line with the market is a joke in a country where the market is fupped. Your landlord is a greedy pig.
When rents were dropping, a few years back, my tenant (who’s a good guy and a model tenant) was on to me every few months looking for reductions and saying he’d have to move somewhere cheaper. I dropped rent from 1650 to 1150 in about 18 months. Now it’s been going back up by 100 a year, to 1400 currently. The tenant, same guy, accepts this as (very good) market value. I’m an accidental landlord who barely covers the cost of the property.
There wasn’t too many tears shed across the country when rents were plunging. Two sides to most stories.
That is because 1600 I imagine is absolute ridiclous
How is €1,650 for a big, bright, three bed apartment, in a nice area ‘ridiculous’. I cover property tax, management fees, refuse etc. etc, not to mention the eye watering mortgage, repairs, expenses.
€550 each to pay for your monthly accommodation? Seriously, do you all just want to live for free? You’re living in the wrong decade under the wrong political system I’m afraid.
Ridiculous comment… doesn’t take into account the shortages and lack of controls on rents.
So, a big landlord has five homes on one street and jacks em all up, the market rate goes up for everyone.
Market rates in a fupped up rental market are just an excuse for landlords to charge more…. and continually jack up rates so long as they find desperate people to take them during the worst shortage ever.
It has nothing to do with, like your situation, covering yourself, but everything to do with squeezing people for as much money as possible. Rents are supposed to be affordable for a better society, not set at ‘as much as I can get’.
That’s hardly landlords’ fault, though – they are running a business, they want to make as much profit as possible. It’s up to the Govt/CoCo to increase supply.
Of course it is, but why talk sense when you can have continual pops at landlords and generally carry on like a cry-ba?
Last year, I was living in a 2-bedroom place in the IFSC (standard place, not recently refurbished). I’d been there about 2 years; my housemate about 6 years. The rent was 1000euro/month, and hadn’t gone up in ages – I think it had gone down a year or two before I moved in – which we knew was a good deal for the area. We had a rolling lease and were hardly ever in contact with the landlord (rent always paid on time etc).
But then – BAM – a letting agency took over management of the property and we were sent a rather intimidating letter that our rent was increasing to 1700euro/month to bring it in line with market rent in the area. We played hardball for a bit (strongly worded letters, PRTB and Threshold enquiries etc) but they wouldn’t budge and we ultimately decided that it suited us anyways to move – many people would not have that option though.
It’s a very stressful and time-consuming experience having to deal with letting agents, and more support for people to manage these situations would be a great thing.
Berlin as rent controls on public and private rent.
It’s entirely possible but successive Irish governments are run by greedy fat men who owned buildings full of run down bedsits and then their children who become property developers and simply built more rubbish like all those boxes along the quays.
The policial will does not exist to introduce civilized rent rules.
Agreed!
My rent for a 1 bed in Smithfield went up by 27% recently but its still cheaper then the actual going rate for the area. The original rent was a bargain because we were model tenants and didn’t have any contact with the landlord for 3 years. It still went up in the end but he’ll have to fork out to fix little things we were happy to let slide because of how little we were paying.
Typical Groupthink!
This is what happens when you talk down the economy and stop building!
Only Bertie can save us now!!!!!!!!!
In 2014 rent went up by 200 euro. From 1000 to 1200 for a 1bed apt. This year, by another 100 eiro. Landlord refused to budge (NAMA owned by the way).
2012-2013 €1600 for a 4 bed in west Dublin. Apartment sold by NAMA so we were evicted.
2013-2014 €1800 for a 4 bed in west Dublin. Told by the estate agents that the townhouse was being sold, so we were evicted again. Property was not sold, it was rented out again at €2,200 per month.
2014-2015 €1600 for a 3 bed in tallaght. Property sold by nama after 6 months.
Still paying €1600 for a 3 bed in another part of west Dublin.
Thanks for the comments, that’s my house
Unfortunately from my research I don’t have a leg to stand on. Threshold told me I could appeal, however this proscess could take up to 6 months, then the landlord could appeal the appeal which could drag on for a year and if the landlord wins the rent will be backdated, leaving us in trouble. The price of 2600 was actually the negotiated price believe it or not, he started at 2800 from 1900. The estate agent seemed happy enough that we’re moving out, because he’ll get 2800. This greed makes me sick, but it seems there is nothing we can do. Thanks again, I hope this becomes an election issue, I can afford the water charges and fundamentally I agree that there should be water charges, but this is hard to stomach.
My rent went up by from 1300 to 1450 for a two bed in Kilmainham recently.
Have been there 7 years now, always pay rent on time etc etc so bit shocked at size of increase.
Turns out the apartment complex has just been bought by some US asset management company and they are quickly playing the blood sucking capitalist pig role to a T.
My Landlord has told me “expect a substantial hike in rent or that we will sell” I pay €1200, she had it valued by a letting agent at €2000 ( all my furniture etc) place hasn’t been painted in 5 years, 3 gas leaks in last 3 years and they will not do the recommended investigations to stop further leaks. Have lived in place for 10 years. Rent has been late on occasion but has been on time or early (sometimes by months, I’m self employed / feast or famine cashflow) more than its been late. No security of tenure, can’t say boo about any repairs. Shocking control landlord has. She won’t give me a reference and what new Landlord would take a tenant (with a well trained dog) without one….off to play the lotto
Just the 20% hike for me.
Hate lining these peoples pockets…..(I’m not talking about ‘accidental landlords’ here, just the usual suspects).