There is serious competition for plush, well fitted-out apartments like this one - but a serious shortage of middle-range properties at affordable prices. Rents have risen more than 70 per cent since the first Bacon report in 1998
The squeamish should be warned: flathunting can seriously damage your illusions. Reports of hideous hovels with shocking rents should not go unheeded. Unless you are willing to pay £1,000-plus a month and prepared to gazump your way to that pristine two-bed apartment, your future home could be more grot than great. Decent middle-priced apartments are the hardest to find in the overheated rental market. There are very few two-bed flats available below £850 a month and good one-bedroom units are reaching £700. It's a dog-eat-dog, stock-starved rental market out there and those without the stomach or the budget for it are often forced to live in substandard accommodation.
There is no shortage of horror stories from those on the rental trail. Sean Keogh, a 24-year old sofware developer, e-mailed Apartment Living because he wanted to "highlight the injustices penetrating the private rental sector and driving tenants to want to lynch landlords on the streets". One of the lucky ones, he eventually found "a nice place" in Camden Lock, Ringsend, but not before witnessing some disturbing scenes of greedy landlordism.
His quest took him to a dank, musty-smelling two-bed basement flat with "withered old furniture, no kitchen, just a counter stuck in the `living room' with a rusty old cooker and a small fridge behind it, two small bedrooms with two tiny single beds in each and no other furniture save for a couple of shelves and bedside table".
The estate agent told him it was £800 a month and suitable for four people. "He actually hadn't seen the property before showing it to us and was obviously quite embarrassed by the state of the place. No doubt some poor students or refugees will be forced to live there and my heart goes out to them."
Another property he viewed was a three-bedroom terrace in Dublin 8 behind Clanbrassil Street with an asking price of £1,100. The interior "was in very poor condition and looked like it was furnished from a skip. I had viewed a three-bedroom cottage in Donnybrook complete with leather couches the day before, so you can understand my disgust at this place. Of course I couldn't get the place in Donnybrook due to the landlord having a choice of about 30 people to offer the place to."
Anti-investor measures imposed by the Government postBacon has meant that crowds descend on any half-presentable place that comes on the market and often the property will go to the highest bidder. "Some landlords think they can get away with anything in today's market," says Keogh. "It's also a pity that some estate agents don't conduct their business in a more professional manner by not taking some properties on to their books." Rents have risen by more than 70 per cent since the first Bacon Report in 1998 and are averaging £700 per month for a one-bedroom apartment and £950 for a two-bedroom. This year, good two-beds are expected to average £1,180.
Landlords like the idea of the "corporate let", says Sara Wallace of Colliers Corporate Relocations, but it can sometimes be an excuse for them to whack up the rent by £200 to £300. "Sometimes the price goes up but the landlord leaves the grotty chocolate brown carpet and the 1970s wallpaper."
Substandard accommodation can come in all sorts of guises. The decor could be okay, but the appliances and fittings may not work to the correct standard. "You can find a brand new house with a leaking radiator or you turn on the shower and dirty water comes out," says Wallace.
And drab decor is not always unacceptable. "Families are more likely to go with older apartments which are maybe a little dated but are bigger and may come with parking, and they are happy to dicky it up." The basics should be provided - beds, a wardrobe, a couch, a chair, a coffee table, a kitchen table, an ironing board and a vacuum cleaner. Some landlords provide crockery and cutlery, but it's not expected by most agents. Linen is rarely included.
If you're willing to pay £1,200 to £1,500 per month, you can get a plush city centre apartment kitted out with everything down to the towels and pillows. But you won't necessarily get a parking space for this price. Finding an apartment at the higher end of the market is not a problem, says Gemma Hipson of Hipson Properties, it's the middle and lower-income worker who is now feeling the bite.
"There is a huge gap in the market for middle-range properties renting for between £650 and £850. It's a scandalous state of affairs. There is nothing decent below £800 for a two-bedroom and people on cheaper rents are staying put, so there is very little supply coming on the market. It has become a huge problem west of Dublin, where ordinary workers in some of the large multinational companies are having to go as far as Mullingar and Navan to get affordable rents. Some are having to go back to student days, sharing with a number of people to make it more affordable."
"Intel are bringing in staff from South Africa, India and Scotland and putting them up in B & Bs and hotels for three months." says Triona O'Riordan from E A Coonan & Sons in Maynooth. When the three months are up, many find it difficult to get accommodation. "Some have children in school in the area and want to stay but buying a place is not an option, because they are on contracts." Threshold has noticed a new element among its clients - young professionals being forced to live in substandard accommodation or who are being subjected to 15 to 20 per cent rent increases at the end of their leases.
"Five years ago the rental sector was a medium term measure for most young professionals and then they would go on to home ownership," says Kieran Murphy, director of Threshold. "They are now having to spend longer there and are facing annual substantial rent increases."
emorgan@irish-times.ie
