Meathwoman's Diary: Finding a home, it’s enough to drive you rental
When talking to people about my recent search for a rental property, I usually tell them that I could write a book about my experiences.
Such a tome would be a bleak, albeit eye opening cautionary tale of our times. Instead I shall compile the “highlights” in this 500 word column.
Oh, how naive and quaint my little old soul was at the beginning of my search, in full hope of snaring a particular type of house in a certain location. I applied for the first property with hope and joy and the delusion that I would surely secure a viewing if not be all out successful in being chosen as the tenant. Instead I got radio silence, disappointment and a dose of reality, a theme that was to follow for a long nine months in what eventually became a demoralising state of affairs.
Viewings I did get varied from conscientious estate agents with a ‘no reference, no view’ policy to rogue landlords who all but gave me a snag list of the jobs they expected me to gleefully undertake as the new tenant.
On one occasion I felt that I had been mistaken for a building site foreman as I was ushered in and shown the rooms where new carpets were required before being taken outside and pointed in the direction of the exterior that needed “a lick of paint”. Instead I was confronted with a property that a plastering expert would do well to restore. And it wasn't the landlord that was going to foot the bill for this renovation, it was me!
The landlord of my dreams also informed me that he because he lived abroad, he would not “be at the end of a phone” and that any appliances that needed repair or replace were my responsibility. What a charmer!
Has the rental market become some kind of bad parody dating site where potential suitors apply a no effort made, take it or leave it mentality. Gone is the chase, the wooing a prospective tenant with promises of freshly painted walls and stylish decor and in its place, be grateful I'm even considering you attitude? And the art of playing hard to get will result in you becoming the latest homeless statistic.
Politicians once boasted about Ireland's impressive property potential during the ill-fated Celtic Tiger but the 'romance' in the housing market has well and truly run its course.
To add insult to injury, renters are also put in a position of sending their employment, personal and financial information to often anonymous landlord profiles on property websites. And when rent prices for basic three and four bed houses in some areas run up to an eye-watering €2,800 p/m you know the whole system is broken. What is more infuriating is how this is being allowed by the government and the stats are even more dire with now over 9,500 adults and 4,027 children in emergency accommodation in January.
I was lucky enough in the end to secure a home but those seeking rental accommodation are in extremely difficult situations and vulnerable to exploitation. I know that I only witnessed a fraction of the dark side of what is happening out there.