Your property queries answered
Neighbours are forcing us to drop our price
Q Our house has been on the market since last October. Interest was very poor but it has started to pick up with six viewings in the past two weeks. My problem is that our neighbour's house - identical 1990s semis, across the street - came on the market last week.
Ours is priced at €475,000 (and we were very, very realistic about agreeing to that price, we had wanted to price it higher) but their agent has priced theirs at €460,000.
Surely no one is going to be bothered even looking at our house. We now feel forced to drop our price even though the agent is adamant we needn't just yet. I am really confused.
A It's likely that what your agent is relying on is the natural curiosity of buyers. Whoever seriously looks at the house across the road is almost certain to make an appointment to see yours so in an (optimistic!) sense your neighbours are luring buyers to your street and it's up to you to wow them once you get them in the door.
Is your house a bit "tired" after being on the market since October? Is a major spring clean, paint-touch up etc required? No two houses are ever the same - for a start your back gardens have different orientations. Is yours better? If so, your agent should be selling this point hard.
This is the time of the year when sellers really have to do a bit of work in the garden to accentuate its attractiveness. However, that being said, there is no doubt that buyers are going to look at the two prices and, all things being fairly equal - number of rooms, size of garden, decorative order - are going to bargain you hard on the price.
That doesn't mean you necessarily will end up selling for €460,000 but it does mean that the "price on the road" has been notionally lowered - and it is notional, you don't know if your neighbours are prepared to sell at that price. It could be a strategy from their agent to get people in the door. Take heart that viewings have picked up, that means that offers are sure to follow, and it's up to your agent to negotiate the best price for you.
They say I have to take down my satellite dish
Q Since Christmas I have received two letters from the management company in the apartment scheme in which I live advising me to take down my satellite dish.
I find this deeply intrusive and in fact if they want to be picky about it (and the management agent told me they do - it is not my dish as it was on the apartment when I bought it.
They have threatened to remove it - at my expense - if I don't. I have never heard of this before.
A It is very common . It's pretty much the norm for managed developments (of apartments or townhouses) to have clauses written into the lease prohibiting satellite dishes. Some developments are more up to speed than others when it comes to enforcing the rules - just look around any urban apartment block - but others are very vigilant, it really depends on how keen the management company is to enforce these rules.
When you bought the apartment one of the many pieces of paper you signed was the lease where you agreed to this rule about the satellite dish. There was probably a further line stating that the dish could be taken down at your expense if you persisted in ignoring requests to take it down.
Anyone who buys an apartment must educate themselves as to the terms of the lease they are signing . It can include all sorts of details that they might not agree with, from banning wooden floors to dictating the colour of the your hall door.
Your questions
Send your queries to Property questions, The Irish Times, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or email propertyquestions@irish-times.ie. Unfortunately it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.
