Landlords need letting and management agents more than ever
Cork property agents say more and more landlords are realising they need professional help.
With tenants’ rights increasing and becoming more firmly established in our evolving society on a weekly basis, the world of the landlord has become an ever more complex one. Operating as a landlord and looking after one’s property and one’s tenant is an area that demands more and more expertise. This makes it all the more vital that one uses the services of an experienced and up-to-date management/letting agency.
“It’s so complicated now,” says Mark Rose of Rose Properties in Cork City. “Even before, some property owners would have gone, ‘I’ll look after things myself — I’ve time and I’m well able to do it’ but simply advertising a property and dealing with the response has, of itself, become such a challenging task, almost everybody much prefers to have a professional agent deal with it.”
On top of that, the day to-day and week-to-week management of the property is one that requires a broad range of knowledge and experience combined with sharp up-to-the-minute familiarity with the latest legislation in a fast-changing legal landscape. For the average property owner, it’s normally a step too far.
“All of that is driving more and more people to use agents,” says Mark.
“To be honest, the best thing would be to have more properties… It can be disheartening to see objections being raised to new housing developments or judicial reviews or any delays to getting more houses built. There are thousands of apartments tangled up in judicial review, where people have objected to planning permission. I’d love to see more supply and rents come down a bit — not because of legislation artificially bringing rents down, but because of an increased supply of housing… Maybe we’ll see more supply next year. I really hope so.”
But that is where the experienced hand of block management is so vital in watching out for the various pitfalls and tribulations associated with ensuring the smooth running of new buildings. It’s all about seeing these challenges from a distance and putting in place the systems and the funds to deal with problems before they arise.
“With most of the new developments that are being built, the majority are either social housing or for Clúid (affordable housing),” says Binesh Tholath, Managing Director of the Absolute Property Group. “The private estates, then, consists mostly of houses.”
Incentives (such as the Government fronting up to €120k per apartment) and schemes are in the pipeline but Binesh feels that it will be another while before the results of such actions will see new blocks and complexes appear on the ground.
The Government have been saying for some time that they’re committed to getting more people living in the city centre. The hope is that with the elements falling into place, that day is going to come over the coming year
