New lease and the Part 4 Tenancy agreement - help requested

Bamboozled

I've tried a search but I'm finding it impossible to use this search system as it throws up all sorts. I've had a look through the pages before and havent seen anything, so I'm sorry if I'm dumb and it has been answered previously.
If it has, can someone point me in the right direction please?

The question i need advice on:
We've lived in an apartment for a year an a half. We signed a 1 yr lease. At the end of that lease we informed the letting agency that we were availing of the new thing - the part 4 thing, where you are allowed to stay in the place you are renting for up to 4 years if you have been there 6 months.

I refused to sign a contract for a further 6 months (which was presented at the end of June and would last until July. We never got offered it in January when the original lease was up.) until I had found out more about this and whether a lease needed to be signed or not, after informing them we were availing of that Part 4 thing. My fiancé signed, as he knew less than me and it was only for one month anyway. I never found the answer to my question so i'm asking here now too.

The landlord fired the letting agency and we informed him that we would be availing of the Part 4 thing.

Now he has the same letting agency working for him again, and they are asking us to sign another year long lease with them.

Even though we've informed both the letting agency and the landlord that we were availing of the Part 4 thing, do we still have to sign a lease? And do they get to force a year long lease on us?

(We dont want to stay here for a year as we are getting married next month and will hopefully be climbing the property ladder. If not we will be moving elsewhere, it was just with planning the wedding, we didnt need the extra hassle of moving as well.)

antoinolachtnai

Nobody can force you to sign anything.

The whole legal thing is kind of technical. You could spend days thinking about it and discussing it with solicitors and all the rest of it.

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I wouldn't sign anything. I would just sit tight for the moment and keep paying the rent, no matter what. If they serve notice on you, or try to raise the rent by more than 5 percent or so, then you should probably get legal advice and/or talk to Threshold or the PRTB. Both of these things are extremely unlikely. Assuming there is nothing sinister you aren't telling us, I'd say it could take them months or maybe years to evict you legally in these circumstances (just my opinion). And anyway, landlords don't need the hassle.

If they try to do something silly, like an illegal eviction, then call the gardai. But it's extremely unlikely they'll do that.

Personally, it looks to me like the agent is trying to get you to sign a new contract in order to justify charging the landlord commission for your second year of tenure. (I am a cynic when it comes to agents.)

Be sure to keep good records of payments and any letters.

Good luck with the wedding, I hope you are very happy!

The_Conductor

Advise that you conduct all dealings with both the letting agency and the landlord in writing and keep copies of same, in case you need a papertrail. Re: in the unlikely event that it comes to calling the Gardai- they are very unlikely to want to get involved and most probably will inform you that it is a civil matter (and depending on who you are talking to may advise that you send a solicitors letter to the landlord and/or refer the matter to the PTRB).

S.

antoinolachtnai

The gardai will intervene if the landlord threatens or attempts to physically eject the tenant from the flat, no? I don't think it's a civil matter in those circumstances.

Hells_Belle

Can someone help me understand this Part 4 thing? We signed a 1 year lease a year ago. The letting agent wants us to sign a new lease on Monday. Am I required to sign a lease? Can the landlord refuse to continue renting to me if I don't sign a lease? What do I need to tell them if I don't want to sign a lease?

antoinolachtnai

Ask him why how you will benefit from signing the new lease. Read 'tenants' rights and obligations' on http://www.prtb.ie/downloads.htm

Also, read the section about tenure in the explanatory notes of the act at http://www.oireachtas.net/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/bills28/acts/2004/a2704.pdf

On the face of it, the landlord cannot refuse to continue renting to you for a further three years whether you do or don't sign a fresh lease. However, I cannot say that that is the definitive answer for your case. For that you need to get legal advice or advice from the PRTB or Threshold.

How is the agent requestiong this? I would just ignore telephone requests to be honest. Even a written request, there is no reason to rush into making a reply. If he gets really persistent, write to the agent in a few months and ask him what benefit there will be from signing a fresh lease. Do not mention about Part 4 or any of that. Just keep it all friendly and cordial. Get him to reply in writing.

On the face of it, signing a new lease wouldn't prejudice your Part 4 tenancy anyway.

You and bamboozled should exchange some PMs and find out if you are both dealing with the same agent!

Hells_Belle

Thank you, antonio; that was very useful. I will call Threshold on Monday morning.

The letting company I'm using has the initials BC

They've actually been really nice to deal with and our landlord, too, has been very promt in dealing with the few plumbing issues we've had. They're all lovely.

We've inherited a dog, though, which is against the terms of our current lease. I'm going to try to renegotiate so the dog can stay, but if not we're going to have to move house. If we had a one year lease in place, that would break the lease agreement, and I don't want to do that.

Really, I just want to stay here, with the dog I realise I've made an awful situation; I need to do the best thing to resolve it and I'm just at a loss.

digitaldr

I'm a landlord in Dublin and once my tenants have stayed for 1 year I only ask them to give me a months notice if they're going to move out. There's such a high demand I usually find good tenants within a few days.