I'm curious to know why ............ | ExpatWoman.com
 

I'm curious to know why ............

163
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 July 2011 - 13:51

I'm curious to know why is it the tenant who has to pay the commision to the agent and not like the rest of the world where it is the landlord - or at least a divided cost. Here we are once again looking for a new rental and dealing with complete eijits - who do absolutely nothng for you - apart from the odd ones who tries to rip you off even more!!

In all seriousness why is it like this - Maybe we could lobby for a change in the law (not that i even think there is a law) for it to be more fair and it would maybe stop the old trend of landlords throwing people out to up the rent!! If they also had to pay out each time a new tenant came in - I think that would soon stop (although not as common now and hopefully will never revert back to it).

10
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 18 July 2011 - 14:28
we moved into a new property (private landlord) in DSO last September. We asked if we could pay in 12 cheques, LL was astounded at first but agreed with not a lot of negotiation. He pays his mortgage monthly so why is it such a strange idea to pay rent monthly. He also knocked 10,000 AED off the rent for the first year, if we agreed to spend that on getting the garden landscaped. He admitted that he was worried about the property being empty and just wanted someone paying rent. We achieved this by by-passing the useless agent who's only input was to tell us the location of the villa and that the back door was open. Always try and talk to the owner direct. Before this we lived in AR and also paid monthly.
8
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 18 July 2011 - 12:58
i agreed with lynn
8
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 18 July 2011 - 12:58
i agreed with lynn
993
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EW GURU
Latest post on 18 July 2011 - 11:58
The 1 cheque thing does surprise me a bit, some agents claim everyone pays 1 or 2 cheques, which is a lie as the average nowadays is 4 cheques. I am surprised though by the number of landlords who want 80 or 100 k in 1, and if they are very kind, in 2 cheques. When you ask for 4 cheques, the reaction is as if you are asking to stay for 3 months free ! Some agents would literally screech" no way, impossible, the landlord wants 1 cheque or else the apt will be empty" the moment they would hear "4 che..." from my mouth
163
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 18 July 2011 - 11:10
Perhaps Princess - still extemely frustrating though
1953
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 July 2011 - 14:17
The tennant would pay regardless of who is actually charged. All symantics.
1861
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 July 2011 - 14:04
I think it all harks back to boom time when a/ we all apparently had "mug" tattoo'd on our foreheads and b/ the tenants were the underdog. Poor Landlords... why should they have to pay out anything?! It's just dent the enormous profits they were making! I really did think that when the market crashed, tenants would have a bit more power than they do and would enforce it. the shoe was on the other foot (and still is really) and what with oversupply, LLs should be desperate to get tenants in. And yet, they aren't... or don't seem to be. This, I guess is because Dubai is particular in that a lot of LLs are/were cash buyers, so do not actually need the rental income to pay off a mortgage. In the rest of the world, most LLs have mortgages, so getting maximum occupancy is really important. But yes, there are so many things that are just weird here and shouldn't really be allowed to happen: - small number of cheques. What's wrong with paying monthly?! - "unearnt" rent not being held in a separate, safe account once the big fat cheque has been cashed. - commission - deposit cheque not being held in a separate, safe account. - tenant penalised if LL doesn't pay maintenance charges
 
 

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