To avoid unnecessary depression, don't open your landlord's mail, one Family Money reader warns. Ms B.R. hardly ever receives post addressed to her landlord and opened a letter of his by mistake last week. "It was from his building society and at the bottom of the page I saw how much he pays on the mortgage for the apartment - £124 [€158] per month."

Ms B.R. and her partner are paying £625 per month in rent for the "small, dark, characterless apartment" in Dublin city centre.

"We lived in Germany for several years and enjoyed decent tenants' rights so we find the rack-rents here pretty hard to take."