MARGARET IS typical of the young cubs who four years ago found themselves in the enviable position of being able to afford a second home.

An unexpected financial windfall, which took care of the deposit, combined with a low interest rate climate, made investing in another property quite affordable for this business executive, especially given the high rental income available then in urban areas throughout Dublin.

It was also a landlords’ market with tenants competing for accommodation and before long, the rent began to surpass the mortgage involved. Triumphantly, she invested in another more expensive apartment closer to the city centre with collateral from her first investment which had increased in value substantially.

Margaret ran the gamut of the letting game, “going it alone” initially, then employing and eventually sacking her subsequent letting agent and recently re-employing another agency to provide a full property maintenance service.

Finding her first tenant was easy. Her decorator picked up an inquiry posted in the lobby of the apartment development, such was the demand at the time. Margaret copied a lease from a friend, checked out the references and everything went swimmingly.

That is until she realised that the non-national living there wanted her landlord to be her best friend, mother, father, priest and handyman.

“I became a kind of mentor and my mobile was constantly beeping with the most ridiculous queries and requests from being locked in the en suite (I was in Portugal) to a tiny leak in the toilet (I was in Wexford).

“When I ventured into the investment market the second time I was adamant I was not going to be a ‘friend’ of that tenant. It had also taken up much more time than I had anticipated. Two years ago I hired an agent to let the property for 5 per cent of the annual rent and as far as I am concerned, all that was done was was advertise my property on DAFT and interview potential tenants. “The agent took the deposit, organised a lease and told me to look after the PRTB paperwork, revenue paperwork and legal paperwork. Worse still, I discovered that because the agent did not have the management contract, my mobile and name was given to the new tenant. So I was back to square one. The service was not brilliant and I ended up with having another two ‘best friends’.”

This unit became vacant recently and Margaret went for an all-in service with management included. This cost between 5 per cent and 8 per cent of the property’s annual rental income. But the market is different now, tenants hold the reins of power and rents are dropping like a stone in some areas. “Some agents have not woken up to this and need to be more innovative and work harder,” Margaret maintains.

“I asked mine to put ads in the work places along the transport route, write to human resources departments in nearby offices, find out immigrant trends and requirements. I also need to know how tenants are vetted and insist the agent complies with the paperwork.

“I check periodically to see if they have called to the apartment, fulfilled PRTB obligations and revenue documents. It is also important that they try to save me money on maintenance costs by keeping a check on costs and ‘real’ replacement or renewal.

Strenuously denying she is sexist, Margaret maintains women agents are preferable for her because they gave greater comfort to this landlady, and are more intuitive when it comes to selecting tenants.