‘My Landlord’s Agent Wants To Charge Me €30 For A Reference Letter’

If you’ve been looking for a place to live lately, and you’ve been finding yourself gazumped by obstacle after obstacle in your hunt, this may make your blood boil.

A user on the Rent in Dublin Facebook page has posted something that points to a fairly alarming new development: landlords and agencies charging tenants for references.

Here’s the comment:

Link.

On the one hand, you can say that landlords and agencies are professionals who, like solicitors, are entitled to charge for such letters.

In reality, though, adding an extra cost to the equation – at a time when prices are going up, and the entire market favours the property-owners anyhow – is seriously bad form.

Obviously this is only one reported case. But let’s hope this doesn’t become a new norm.

Have you ever been asked to pay for a reference? Email us on [email protected]