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Landlord Costs – Costs of Renting out a Property

landlord-costs

 Landlord Costs

Landlords, just like tenants, face a number of costs when renting out their property. If using a property management agency to rent the property, there will be letting, management and services charges. Companies will usually offer a discounted rate for a letting and management package. Shopping around is always a good idea and choosing an agency that use good letting agency software is a super starting point.

Landlord costs in Ireland: Non-Principal Private Residence Tax

Also referred to as the second property tax (NPPR), this is a charge of €200 on any residence that is not your primary living one, i.e. if you live in Dublin but own a property in Kildare, then you must pay tax on the Kildare property but not the Dublin home. It must be paid within two months of March 31st (liability date), although there is a month’s grace period. After that a late fee of €20 per month is charged. Applications and payments can be made online at www.nppr.ie.

 Landlord costs in Ireland: The Household Charge

 The Household Charge came into effect on January 1st of this year. It’s a precursor to the full property tax agreed as one of the terms of the EU/IMF bailout and will be used to pay for local services such as libraries, fire brigade services, street cleaning etc. that had been paid by the Exchequer up until now. All residential property owners must pay €100 for each property they own. This does not just mean the physical building, but the number of residential units e.g. a building split into 3 bedsits will require 3 lots of the charge. As with the NPPR, payment must be paid before March 31st or penalties of 10%, 20% or 30% will be charged. Payments can be made through and more information found at www.householdcharge.ie and can be paid in total or in installments.

 Landlord costs in Ireland:Income Tax

Rental income is subject to tax, just like any other income. There are some expenses that can reduce your income tax liability such as management fees, insurance premiums, accountants’ fees for preparing rental accounts and cost of repairs. Details on calculating and paying this tax can be found on www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it70.html. Consulting an accountant on tax returns available is advised as it can be a complicated process.

Landlord costs in Ireland:PRTB Registration

All residential properties must be registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, as must all changes in tenancies and tenants who have been renting for over 4 years must be re-registered. To register, an application form must be completed (found online at www.prtb.ie or through a letting agency) and a fee of €90 has to be paid. If the registration is made after one month of the tenancy has passed, a late fee of €180 will be charged. Be sure to check the website for further details.

Landlord costs in Ireland:Water Charges

While not upon us yet, Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd has confirmed that water charges will be introduced from 2014. Details about how much the charge will be and payment methods etc. are unclear at the moment.

With all of these costs to face, do you still want to be a landlord in Ireland? Can you think of ways to improve a landlord’s prospects?

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email info@rentview.com

Twitter@Andreas_Riha

Ph+353 1 4498157

 

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Cost of Renting – 5 costs of renting for Tenants

 
 cost-of-renting

Cost of Renting –  for Tenants

Cost of Renting #1 – Rent

All tenants have to remember that the rent isn’t the only cost they’ll be facing when they move. The average rental in Dublin, for example, is approximately €950, but as with every other non-rental household there are a number of costs to be covered.

Cost of Renting #2 – Deposit

Most, if not all landlords will look for a deposit before tenants move in. This is usually one month’s rent and may be used to cover repair costs, unpaid rent or utilities at the end of the tenancy. The general rule for all other costs is the user pays, although it is always worth clarifying with the landlord first. These costs include the following:

Cost of Renting #3  – Electricity/Gas

Rates vary between the Electric Ireland (operating as part of the ESB Group), Airtricity and Bord Gáis and may be affected by government policy. Information on the rates can be found on their websites www.esb.ie , www.airtricity.com.ie and www.bordgais.ie . The letting agent can now no longer switch a tenant from one service provider to the another, unless in certain circumstances.

Cost of Renting #4 – TV: 

A TV license (at the time of writing) costs €160. A tenant may query why he or she has to pay this instead of the landlord. The answer can be found on the TV license section of the An Post website (www.anpost.ie). ‘Any person in occupancy at an address where a television set is held is legally responsible for the licensing of the television set regardless of ownership of either the premises or the set itself.’  Similarly, any TV subscriptions to UPC, Sky or any other internet, phone or television company must be paid by the tenant. Costs will vary depending on the package sought. For those who think they can avoid this cost by not having a TV, a proposal exists to launch a broadcasting charge for all households, regardless of whether they have a TV or not.  It covers those who watch programmes on non-traditional media e.g. laptops. The proposal is in the early stages so it’s unclear if it will be passed.

Cost of Renting #5 – Waste:

This applies if the property rented is a house. Recent changes have seen Dublin City Council pass control of waste collection services to Greyhound, a private company. As most readers will know, this changeover has not been a smooth one and there’s much confusion about collection dates and fees. Charges on waste depend on the colour of the bin and size. Our advice is to keep up to date with the situation and discuss with the landlord whether to remain with Greyhound or to switch to another private company.

All of these costs require careful consideration before renting a property. Is it worth renting?

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How to advertise property for rent

advertise-property-for-rent

Image credit ThisparticularGreg

How to advertise property for rent

An interesting and effective advertisement will have two components – pictures and a description.

1. Advertise property for rent using images

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so you better make sure those pictures are up to Shakespeare and Tolkien standards! Obviously, there should be at least one picture of each room, and these pictures should be of a good size and quality. We recommend taking more than one photo of each room to capture the necessary detail, but be sure there’s no clutter and everything is clean before you start. This is especially true for kitchens and bathrooms as these rooms can be deal makers or breakers. Let your creative side shine and experiment with lighting and angles to show the rooms at their best. Photograph the exterior too, preferably on a clear day when the light hits it best. If you really want to impress, make a video too. A simple virtual tour of the property using a digital camera or even a phone brings the property to life. See Why Use YouTube for marketing

advertise-property-for-rent

Image credit Andrew Mason

2. Advertise property for rent using good property description

Keep the description short but detailed and without deceptive language. Most people are quite savvy these days and will see through descriptions like ‘cosy kitchen’ and find the real meaning of small, possibly cramped. Just be realistic. Follow the rules of correct grammar and spelling when advertising a property to rent. Don’t forget to proofread the description before you post it! As for what to include in the description, imagine you’re writing it for a first-time renter who doesn’t know what to expect and is unfamiliar with the area the property is in. Place the most attractive points at the beginning and end, as most people read these but scan the middle. Include the following information:

 

  • Location
  • Rent
  • Lease length
  • How many rooms/bathrooms and their approximate size
  • Furnished/Unfurnished
  • Appliances e.g. washer/dryer
  • Storage
  • Internet
  • Security measures
  • Policy on children, pets and rent allowance
  • Proximity to amenities
  • Special features
  • Letting agent contact information

Combining photographs with a detailed description will ensure your advert is both eye-catching and effective when you advertise property to rent.

By Andreas Riha

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Property Viewing – Top 3 Tips

Property Viewing

In social interactions, whether it is a job interview or just meeting new people, we have a desire to give a good first impression. The reasons for this are many, but quite often lead to engaging in some sort of impression management to influence perceptions. The same can be applied to running a successful property viewing. Influencing a situation (in this case, the appearance/functioning of the property) in the right way can be enough to ensure a deal and a new tenant. Follow these guidelines and that important good first impression will be made at your property viewing!

property-showing

Image Credit – Nosha

#1 Get the basics right

Fixing and cleaning: the bread and butter of managing the property. Property agents can be a good source of information on problems. Are there any major structural issues? Broken roof slates, draughts from windows and doors? Get them fixed, as not only will they improve the appearance of the property, they could also help with the heating bills. Are all fixtures, fittings and appliances in good condition? This means no leaking taps, showers, no burnt-out light bulbs, fully functioning smoke alarm, strong locks and security measures etc. If the walls are looking a bit dull, re-paint them to make them look new.

#2 Cleaning the property

Next, clean the property inside and out. It may seem obvious, but the emphasis here is on thoroughness. Set aside enough time to do a proper job. A couple of hours running around with a vacuum-cleaner and some bathroom sprays are not enough. Take each room in turn and dust, vacuum, sweep and spray everything. Carpets should be washed, as should windows to prevent/remove mould. All appliances need to be cleaned and be free from unpleasant odours. If the property has a garden; cut the grass, de-weed it and plant some low maintenance flowers if possible. A small bit of detail can turn a property into a home!

property-viewing-clean

Image Credit Maartin Takens

#3 Take It to the Next Level

Set the right tone for the showing. Remove all clutter. The lived-in look may emphasise the homely aspect of a property, but it is not appropriate for a showing. For a longer and more relaxed showing have some lit, scented candles or incense in a couple of rooms. Not only will this help everyone involved relax, but it can remove any last minute or unexpected odours. A little soft music can also play with perceptions, but keep it appropriate. Finally, ensure there’s enough lighting. Even if the showing is during the day, increase the lighting levels.

by 

Andreas Riha

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Here is a short overview on how a letting agency can set up a Google ad campaign directing visitors to your website. The visitors we aim for here in the video are Landlords who are looking for letting or property management agents in the area the rented property is based. 

Through Google ad words you can set up a direct marketing campaign with a limited budget. You can set an ad campaign up from as little as €2 per day. Each adword costs different, so for example an adword/term such as “Property manager Dublin” may cost as much as €2.50 to appear on the top listings of the search term. You can set a maximum spend on an adword/term where it will limit the cost per each one or all of your words/terms. If another company have a higher budget they will appear above your own ad. The lower your bid the lower your ad will appear, the ads will also appear on the right hand side of the search term. 

You only pay for a click through, so for instance if your keyword / term appears 50 times in a day but only gets 1 visitor through to your site well then you only pay for 1 visitor. You can track all your keyword / term search results in your adword dashboard. 

You can also set the landing page of the visitor to your site. So for example if you are aiming your ad at attracting new landlords to your site well then its best to land them on your services page. You can copy and paste the url from the page you would like your landlords to land on from the url bar and insert it in your ad when setting this up. 

Its always best to track your costs and results of marketing and with Google adwords you can do that exactly. Think clever and spend clever 😉

I hope this video helps, but if you have any questions please feel free to connect with me.

Email; andreas@rentview.com

Twitter feed; @Andreas_Riha

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Siliconrepublic start up of the week write up.

Rentview app aims to disrupt rental marketplace

04.12.2011

Our tech start-up of the week is Rentview, a rent and property management cloud-based platform for estate and letting agencies to manage, build and retain their rental portfolios. It is also aiming to help tenants manage their monthly rental payments more efficiently.

Rentview was set up in Dublin in early 2010 and went into Beta with 10 agencies in July to test features and get feedback.

The duo behind Rentview are Andreas Riha and Colin Napper, both previous owners of a letting agency in Dublin.

“We learnt all the problems associated with having a lettings and management portfolio. We saw an opportunity to streamline the process by automating the estate and letting agent’s job as much as possible,” they told Siliconrepublic.com yesterday.

So how did the business get up and running? Firstly, Napper entered the DIT Hothouse programme in October 2010. He said he gained valuable knowledge about launching a business in the internet space.

“We applied much of that learning to developing our minimum viable product. We entered an agreement with our developers who developed the Rentview app as they loved the concept and we boot-strapped getting it off the ground with money from ourselves and personal loans.”

The Rentview team itself comprises Napper, who is CEO, Riha, director of sales and marketing, Kurt Funai, senior developer, and Cormac Nugent, marketing.

Helping hand

But have there been any entities that have helped Rentview along the way?

“We found the DIT Hothouse programme to be very beneficial and they provided incubation office space for free, which allowed us to develop the Rentview app. We also got an innovation voucher that facilitated DCU to help us with market research. And we are currently engaged with Enterprise Ireland with regard to launching Rentview for the UK market,” explained Riha yesterday.

Dublin Beta

Recently, Rentview showcased its app at Dublin Beta.

“We met some very cool people, most of them tech heads who were tenants and we explained the benefits of tenants using Rentview. All of them saw the value of being on Rentview from a tenant’s perspective,” explained Napper.

“At Dublin Beta, there was a People’s Choice award. Through this, attendees got €3,000 in the value of poker chips as investment chips to give out to the start-up they liked. We came third out of 14 start-ups,” explained Riha.

But where is Rentview at right now in terms of its commercialisation strategy?

“The Rentview current product is ready for the Irish market and we are putting together a marketing campaign for January 2012. We want to ramp up sales to agencies in Ireland. Our plan is to develop the product for the UK market, which is 10 times bigger and the rental industry is more regulated there. So the UK is out next market target,” said Napper.

So what, exactly, is the advantage of people using this cloud-based product, rather than going down the traditional property-letting or renting route?

Riha explained that a Rentview customer is an agency which subscribes to Rentview via a software-as-a-service (SAAS) model. In turn, he said such an agency will get many benefits, including saving time, automating paperwork, streamlining processes and giving better customer service to landlords and tenants.

Lately, we have been hearing a lot in property circles that it is a renter’s marketplace right now, with the balance having shifted from being a landlords’ paradise.

Napper points to how the ESRI encouraged young people to rent this week.

“The supply of property in July 2009 in Dublin was 8,300 and is currently at 3,700. Rents are rising again because of lack of supply in some areas and landlords are getting hit with more taxes and regulations.

“Good tenants are a valuable commodity in the rental market and we plan on developing a renters’ referencing or accredited system for tenants who pay on time and leave properties in good condition. This minimises the risk for the agency and landlord and makes the job of an agency easier,” he said.

Advice for self-starters

And finally, what advice would Napper and Riha give to other people thinking of venturing out on their own?

They recommend reading The Lean Startup by Eric Ries before developing a new product.

“When we had the idea for Rentview it was way more detailed than what we currently have and would have cost us three times more to develop but we were advised to build the ‘minimum viable product’. Secondly, if you can get on a platform like the DIT Hothouse programme, or the NDRC LaunchPad/Inventorium, these people have great insight into new ventures. And, lastly, get out and and talk to people. Don’t be afraid. It’s only an idea you have and there are many of them,” added Riha and Napper.

Carmel Doyle | 

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