Tenants Guide

Tips for Tenants Renting in Dublin

Renting in Dublin can be sometimes difficult, expensive and a lengthy task for many. At Owen Reilly, we have been helping tenants find their perfect home since 2008 and here are our top 10 tips for helping you to find your new home.

  1. Get to know the neighbourhoods.
    Dublin offers its residents huge choice with wonderful places to lives, unique and worth considering. If you want to have everything right on your doorstep then the city centre and Dublin 2 means everything is reached and within walking distance. City suburbs are plentiful with many trendy north and south side options such as Drumcondra, Portobello and Ranelagh. There can be significant cost differences depending on where you choose to live so consider multiple areas first. At Owen Reilly, we know our neighbourhoods and are always happy to share our expert local knowledge.
  2. Set yourself a realistic budget.
    We all know renting in Dublin does not come cheap so set yourself a budget you can afford and don’t forget to consider your monthly bills as another unavoidable cost. You don’t want to be overstretched and enjoy what Dublin has to offer its residents.
  3. Save time.
    Use technology to find your new home. From VR walkthrough tours through to loading documents on online platforms. We have matched people perfectly with property and helped them make a home for themselves in Dublin, many of whom did entirely remotely saving huge time. This streamlined process means that even international tenants can simply grab a taxi from Dublin airport and arrive right to their new home.
  4. Get data-driven advice.
    Our advice to our clients is always underpinned by transactional data and direct experience in properties and areas. We understand what tenants need and know what the trends are, and we also know what our tenants want.
  5. Be organised.
    Have your references ready to go and provide detail! Without valid reference checks moving into your new home is ultimately delayed. It is best to have your employer and former landlord references arranged in advance if possible and it is also worth having character references too which will strengthen your chances of success.
  6. Consider what you are paying for.
    Have you ever thought that you might be paying more for the extras and can you afford them? A concierge service, car parking, an onsite gym, a water view for example. Ask yourself is your new home good value for you? Do you value these luxuries in your apartment block and are they an important decision-making factor for you?
  7. Don’t forget the deposit.
    A security deposit is always required up front and is normally one month’s rent which can be a significant amount of money. This is fully refunded once the property is given back in an agreeable condition after the duration of the lease.
  8. Be part of a community.
    Consider developments that offer you more than just a home, a shared community with events that help connect residents and build friendships. Happy residents in a development who make friends are more likely to stay on a longer-term basis.
  9. Treat your new place like your home.
    Landlords want good tenants and they want to be able to create a nice living space that tenants treat like and are proud to call home. Always check with your letting agent or landlord if you want to do anything in the property.
  10. Be on good terms with the letting agent.
    Things can go wrong and will need to be fixed, so you want to be happy to contact your agent to get the issue resolved. They also want nothing more than to have a good working relationship and to be there to help when things go wrong.

At Owen Reilly, we understand that tenants should have good interior design, fast WIFI, a hassle-free application process, good storage, a pet-friendly policy, where issues are dealt with quickly and importantly that there are flexible terms available because sometimes life changes and that’s ok.