Rents for homes at the top end of the market can go as high as £10,000 a month - and there is a demand for them. All the main agencies have properties to rent above the £3,000 mark and standards are high with refurbishments virtually de rigueur in between tenancies.

The latest style is what you get when you rent this kind of property - and that means you'll be waking up to whatever is in vogue in terms of colour and fabric. Indeed, investors are increasingly employing interior designers to give their top-of-the-range homes the once over, says Joan Fogarty, of Lisneys residential letting division.

"These houses are very well presented. They are usually unfurnished but the decor is top quality and the kitchen is extremely well-equipped."

Now on the books is a six- bedroom home on Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge. This house, sold recently for over £2 million, is now for rent at about £8,500 and is described as suitable for official entertaining, which means it is being pitched at the diplomatic or corporate market.

Landlords must be prepared to bide their time, however. Houses at this level don't move all that fast, which is why even the Ailesbury Road rent is negotiable. "They take time to rent out," says Joan Fogarty, "but they tend to be let on two-year leases".

There are a lot more properties at this level available than previously. "A lot of people are buying the houses for investment purposes. They feel they have good appreciation value and it's not often they come up for sale after all."

Also on Lisney's books is a semi-detached home on Raglan Road being let fully-furnished for £5,500 a month. It has five bedrooms, spacious reception rooms, gardens and off-street parking.

Hamilton Osborne King also has a property to let on Ailesbury Road. This seven-bedroom house is on the books at £7,000 a month fully furnished. Eithne Wall, of HOK, says there is a steady demand for such properties. "Since Christmas there has been a lot of enquiries at the higher end of the market. It's mainly from the corporate sector with managing directors and financial controllers of companies coming in from abroad," she says.

The agency has six-bedroom homes on both Merrion Road, in Ballsbridge, and King Edward Road, in Bray, available at a rent of £4,000 a month, as well as a Vesey Place home in Monkstown for £3,500 a month. But it's not every day someone walks in the door wanting to rent a home for £3,000 or £4,000. According to Kathrina Cahill, of Home Locators: "Homes renting for over £3,000 stay on the books for a while. There is a certain demand for them but it is easier to let at, say, £2,000plus."

The market is corporate and almost entirely from abroad. Embassies take an interest too and it's a market that seems to be growing.

Ironically, changes at the lower end of the rental market are having some impact on the luxury house market. In the wake of more stringent local authority regulations relating to fire precautions, landlords can no longer take the risk.

"A lot of the older houses that were in 10 bedsits are being transformed into executive-style houses," says Kathrina Cahill. "And there are families who have children grown up opting to go into a small apartment and renting out the family home."

Home Locators has a four-bedroom house off Lower Churchtown Road, in Dublin 14, to let for £3,000 a month.

The demand for houses at the top end of the market also varies somewhat with the season, says Amanda Davies, of Christies. There can be a lull in the earlier part of the year. "It often has a lot to do with the school year. If someone from abroad is starting a job in March, he will wait until the end of August for a family to join him and it's only then he will want to start renting the larger property."

Sometimes, people coming from abroad even choose the school first and then look for a house in the area, she adds. The market for houses to rent often arises from Irish families relocating abroad, or from inherited property, she says.

Properties on Christies' books include a five-bedroom home in Highfield Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6, renting at £3,000 a month. There's another five-bed in Eagle Valley, in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, for £3,500, while the company has a house in St Kevin's Park, Dartry, Dublin 6, coming up for £5,000. Mind you, if you want to go as far as Newtownmountkennedy, in Wicklow, there is a large six-bedroom home - with apartment and gate lodge - to rent at £10,000. Duplex apartments also command high rents. Christies has a three-bedroom property to rent in Dunloe Hall at £4,500, while a similar one on Simmonscourt Road, Dublin 4, is for rent at £3,000 a month.

Carina Warner of Hooke & MacDonald says the company doesn't usually deal with the actual tenant when handling houses at this end of the market. "We are not usually approached by the client but by a home location agency employed to find the property for them," she says. "Houses with high rents over £3,000 are normally let in the name of the company or embassy," she says. On the books just now is a fivebedroom house in Avoca Park, Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, for rent at £3,000. And for just a tenner less, a five-bedroom house is to let in Eagle Valley, in Enniskerry.