House falling apart

kaffa

About 2 months ago part of the ceiling in my flatmates room collapsed. We both have been trying to contact the landlord and his cousin since the event but neither have gotten back to us. All calls are going to voice mail, texts not being replied but are being delivered etc. My flatmate has just cut off his rent and I am trying to find out if i have the right to withhold rent also, the draught is terrible To add to this the heating failed last week so its rather chilly. anyone experienced this before or know what rights i have? Threshold havent been much help

Rebeller

kaffa wrote:

About 2 months ago part of the ceiling in my flatmates room collapsed. We both have been trying to contact the landlord and his cousin since the event but neither have gotten back to us. All calls are going to voice mail, texts not being replied but are being delivered etc. My flatmate has just cut off his rent and I am trying to find out if i have the right to withhold rent also, the draught is terrible To add to this the heating failed last week so its rather chilly. anyone experienced this before or know what rights i have? Threshold havent been much help

This is obviously a health and safety issue and should be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

As your landlord is refusing to acknowledge the problem I'd recommend going over his head and bring the sub-standard condition of the property to the attention of the building inspectorate of your local authority. Each local authority should have a building inspector who is responsible for ensuring that accommodation conforms to certain minimum standards.

Unfortunately, from my experience there is little or no enforcement of building regulations for second hand rental properties. This is due to two main reasons:

1) Most landlords do not register tenancies as they are required to do by law
2) Local authorities (like many other arms of the state) often operate to promote certain corrupt vested interests as oposed to serving the needs of the community as a whole.

Depending on your financial circumstances I would also consider just leaving. Simply give your landlord the requisite notice by text, voicemail and/or registered letter if you have a contact address and hound the your local authority to take action against your landlord.

I am sick and tired of coming across gombeen landlords who have the audacity to rent out properties unfit for human habitation.

Good Luck

Sponge Bob

www.prtb.ie is where you go