Set up several narrow email alerts rather than one broad search, because Daft emails you matching properties the moment they’re posted. Have your documents ready before you enquire. Send a short, specific message the same hour. Then verify the landlord and the listing before you transfer any money.
That’s the whole method. The rest of this page is the detail, because each of those four steps has a way to do it badly.
Table of Contents
Why refreshing the site doesn’t work
The market is the reason. Ireland’s rental supply is tight, and good listings are gone within hours.
The Daft.ie Rental Price Report for the first quarter of 2026 recorded a 4.4% rise in market rents between December and March, reported as the largest quarterly jump in a series going back to 2002. The average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment passed €2,100 a month. Availability stayed painfully low.
When a listing appears, you’re not competing to be the best applicant. You’re competing to be an early one. Checking the site at lunchtime and again after work is how you lose.
The core insight: the site is where you browse. Email alerts are where you actually win. Daft’s own help centre describes the alert service as intercepting matching properties before they reach the website.
Step 1: Build alerts that work, not one that doesn’t
Most people set up a single alert covering a whole county with a generous price ceiling. It floods your inbox, you start ignoring it, and you miss the one you wanted.
Do the opposite. Build three to five narrow alerts, each one a place you’d genuinely live, at a price you can genuinely pay.
Here’s the exact click path, from Daft’s guidance on saved searches and email alerts:
On desktop or mobile web
- Run the search you want, with all filters applied.
- Click the heart to save it to your Saved Searches.
- Go to MyDaft, then Saved Searches.
- Click Alerts and tick “Send me alerts on this search”.
On the iOS or Android app
- Run your search.
- Tap the heart in the left-hand corner to save it.
- Set your notification preference to Email.
- Tap save search.
To switch an alert off later, go back to MyDaft, Saved Searches, Alerts, and untick the box.
How to split your alerts. Don’t do “Dublin, 2 bed, under €2,500”. Do this instead:
- One alert per cluster of areas you’d actually commute from
- One alert at your real ceiling, one slightly below it
- Separate alerts for different bedroom counts if you’re flexible
- A separate alert in the Sharing section if a room would do
Filter on the things that will make you say no anyway: minimum bedrooms, BER if heating bills matter to you, furnished or unfurnished, pet-friendly. Every filter you skip is an email you’ll have to read and delete.
Pro tip: put your alert emails in a folder with a phone notification on it. The alert only helps if you see it within the hour. If your inbox is chaotic, use a dedicated email address just for the house hunt.
Step 2: Have your paperwork ready before you send anything
You cannot assemble references after a listing goes live. By the time you have them, twenty other people have viewed.
Get these into one folder on your phone now:
- Photo ID (passport or Irish Residence Permit card)
- Proof of your right to live and work here, if you’re not an EU or EEA citizen
- Employment reference or a letter from your employer confirming your role and salary
- Your last three payslips
- Three to six months of bank statements
- A previous landlord reference, with contact details
- Your PPS number
If you’ve just arrived in Ireland, you won’t have an Irish landlord reference or Irish payslips. Say so plainly in your message and offer what you do have: a reference from your landlord abroad, your employment contract, and evidence of savings. Landlords are far more likely to work with a gap you’ve named than one they discover later.
Step 3: Write an enquiry that gets a reply
Most enquiries say “Hi, is this still available?” That message tells the advertiser nothing and gets ignored.
Send this instead, filled in and edited to fit:
Hi [name],
I’d like to view [address or listing title], advertised at €[rent] per month. I’m available to view at any time this week including evenings.
I’m [your name], [age/occupation], working as a [job title] at [employer] on a [permanent/contract] basis since [month, year]. My net monthly income is €[amount]. I’d be renting [alone / with my partner / with one housemate], and we’re non-smokers.
I can provide photo ID, three payslips, six months of bank statements, an employment reference and a landlord reference immediately. I’m in a position to sign and pay the deposit and first month’s rent this week.
Thanks,
[Name] | [Phone]
Three reasons it works. It answers the questions the advertiser was going to ask. It signals you’re organised. And it gives them a phone number so they can skip the email chain entirely.
Daft notes that some adverts have an enquiry box on the right of the advert, and where that box isn’t shown, the advertiser wants a phone call instead. Its guidance on searching for property says the number appears when you click the “show number” box. If a phone number is offered, ring it. A call beats an email every time.
Keep replies inside the site. Daft’s safety guidance is explicit that you should never respond directly to an email address written into the description or the photographs of an ad.
Step 4: Read the listing against the actual rules
This is the part no property blog covers, and it matters most if you’re new to Ireland.
| What you see on the listing | What the rule actually is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “Professionals only”, “no HAP”, “Irish only”, “no children” | Discrimination in accommodation is prohibited under the Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2015 across ten protected grounds, including race, family status and housing assistance | Report the ad to Daft. You can also make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission |
| “€1,800 deposit plus two months’ rent in advance” | You cannot be asked for upfront payments of more than 2 months’ rent in total, meaning one month’s deposit and one month in advance | Push back and cite the rule. Walk away if they insist |
| “Rent reviewed annually” | Since 1 March 2026, Rent Pressure Zones have been replaced by a national system of rent control covering all private and student-specific tenancies | Ask in writing what the current rent is and when it was last set |
| “12-month lease” | Tenancies created from 1 March 2026 become tenancies of minimum duration lasting 6 years, renewing in 6-year cycles | Confirm your start date in writing, because it decides which rules you get |
| Landlord “based abroad”, keys posted to you | A long-distance landlord is one of Daft’s listed red flags for fraud | Do not send money. View in person or send someone you trust |
Daft’s property advertisement equality guidelines list the trigger words that make an ad discriminatory, and the race ground explicitly covers nationality and ethnic origin. The two-month cap comes from the Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act 2021 and applies to every tenancy created since 9 August 2021, as set out in Citizens Information’s guidance on looking for a flat or house to rent. The March 2026 changes are summarised by the RTB’s page on the new rental laws.
Step 5: Verify before you pay a cent
Daft doesn’t handle money between users, and it says so. Every euro you send is your own risk.
Read Daft’s safety guidance in full before your first viewing. The short version:
- Never transfer funds by Western Union, Moneybookers or similar services
- Never enter your login details anywhere other than daft.ie
- Never reply to an email address embedded in the ad text or images
- Check the address in the messages matches the address on the advert. A mismatch is a documented red flag
- Be wary of sob stories explaining why the landlord can’t meet you
- Typos and clumsy grammar throughout a listing are a common fraud signal
Two scams show up repeatedly. In the meet-and-greet scam you view the property, hand over cash for keys, and the keys don’t work. In the email deposit scam you never meet anyone, you pay a deposit for keys that never arrive, and the ID you sent gets reused for other fraud.
Before you transfer anything:
- View it in person. If you’re applying from abroad, send a friend, or pay for a viewing service. Never pay for a home nobody you trust has stood inside.
- Check the RTB public register. Landlords must register a tenancy within one month of the start date, and you can view the public register to check the property.
- Pay by traceable bank transfer, never cash, and get a written receipt naming the property.
- Get the lease before you pay, not after.
Daft now runs identity verification powered by Stripe, where users upload a government ID and take a live selfie. It helps, but it isn’t a guarantee about any individual listing. Do your own checks anyway.
If something looks wrong, click “Report Ad” beneath the photographs on the listing. If you’ve already lost money, report it to your local Garda station.
Common misunderstandings
“The rent on Daft is negotiable.” Rarely, in this market. What is negotiable is the start date, the lease length and whether furniture stays.
“A higher offer will get me the place.” Offering above the advertised rent can cause problems for the landlord under the rent control rules, and plenty won’t accept it. Reliability wins more often than money.
“I’ll sort references after I’m approved.” You won’t be approved without them.
“Daft has everything.” It has the most, not all. Also check MyHome.ie, Rent.ie, local estate agent websites directly, university accommodation offices, and employer relocation schemes. Some landlords never advertise at all.
Frequently asked questions
Is Daft.ie free for renters?
Yes. Searching, saving searches and setting up email alerts cost nothing. Advertisers pay to list. There’s no premium tier that gets you seen first as a tenant.
How do I get Daft alerts faster?
Use email alerts rather than checking the site, keep each alert narrow, and set a phone notification on the folder those emails land in. Daft sends matching properties as soon as they’re posted, so the delay is usually on your end, not theirs.
How much deposit will I be asked for?
Normally one month’s rent, plus one month’s rent in advance. You can’t be required to pay more than two months’ rent upfront in total, unless you’re in a student-specific tenancy and choose to opt out of that restriction.
Can a landlord refuse me because I’m not Irish?
No. Race, which covers nationality and ethnic origin, is one of the ten protected grounds under the Equal Status Acts. An advert indicating that intention breaches the law, and the advertiser and the agent can both be liable.
Should I use the Sharing section?
If you’re arriving alone, yes. Rooms move faster and cost less. Note that a room in someone’s home under the rent-a-room arrangement doesn’t give you the same tenancy protections as a self-contained let, so read what you’re signing.
Your next steps
- Tonight: create your Daft account and build three narrow alerts with email switched on.
- This week: put ID, payslips, bank statements and references into one folder on your phone.
- Before you enquire: save the message template above into your notes app so you can send it in 90 seconds.
- Before you pay: view in person, check the RTB register, and pay only by traceable transfer.
- After you move in: claim what you’re owed. There’s a €1,000 Rent Tax Credit available each year to 2028.
