[Advice Wanted] Deposit refund problem

Señor Juárez

Last year I moved in with a few friends to a flat aimed at students. I moved out three months later, and the rest of them stayed for the rest of the year before moving out.

That was over four months ago now, and we have not been able to get back our deposit (one month worth of rent in advance - quite a sum between all of us). The landlord has been elusive - we have all tried to call his contact number numerous times, but there is never any answer. He once answered, and promised one of my friends that he would sort it all out, but he sounded drunk at the time, and nothing ever happened about it, and he did not get back to any of us.

We were also never given a rent book, and he asked us to lodge the money directly into his account. Together with the fact that he seeked out students specifically, I suspect that he is avoiding declaring this income (since students are unlikely to be taxed, they would not need to claim rent back as a tax allowance).

Is there anything we can reasonably do to get this sorted out for us? I have heard there is an agency (not sure if it is Governmental or otherwise) for dealing with such problems for third level students, but I do not know where I should contact, or even if this is a good idea. Anyone have any suggestions, or had similar experiences before?

bget

threshold.ie has lots of useful information and also you should consider talking to your college students union. If you have an email or poatal address for this individual i would advise that you write a formal letter telling him that by law he is obliged to refund your deposit etc.. (unless of course there was substantial damage to the property) and that if you dont hear from that you will be forced to contact the authorities in relation to the matter.. If he doesn't respond i would urge you to follow through. You could bring him to the small claims court. Check out threshold its very good it cites relevent laws which you could include in your letter..
Keep trying, dont let him away with it.. You have rights

Orual

You could go to the small claims court or you could go to the ptrb to try to resolve this. I think you can go to either. You may have to pay a small fee but you should get your deposit back if you have paid all of your rent and have not damaged the property beyond normal wear and tear.

Victor

You don't have the money and current exercises are fruitless, it can only be of use to go to the PRTB.

www.prtb.ie

navin.r.johnson

What with Landlords being inately crooked, you should pursue him legally. Once he gets a solicitors letter that will shake him up. Not giving you a rent book is illegal for starters.