Fixed Term Tenanacy - ESB bill

tenant10

Hi everyone,

signed a fixed term lease for a room(12 mths) no right to terminate, (stupid eh, very!!) some others in house in the same position.

1st tenant said landlord said after she had moved in a week, that she has to pay E300 to keep the ESB switched on or to agree to the a/c being switched to her name and provide bank a/c details to him, she does this
is this right? seems v sly to me.
(no receipt given to her for her cash deposit)

its not a sublet, its rent a room, why is 1st tenant is responsible for the electricity bill, what happens if she moves out, then i have to put ESB into my name
why was electricity going to be cut off if she did not agree, she has not rented the house (and is not a sublet) and is not responsible for collecting the esb bill for the whole house

interested like to hear some thoughts about this behaviour

Landlord promising to sue one individual who is moving out on 1 weeks notice (forfeiting deposit etc)

LL is very ignorant and will not look into anything, acts like something out of the 19th century when the red coats were running the place! (maybe its the security of all those fixed term leases)

i checked and property is registered with with ptrb or whatever it is, but he has not given us a point of contact apart from name and phone number.
this guy is v.clever and knows it.

Thanks in advance any help given

G

Victor

Do I have it right that the landlord has rented out rooms and doesn't live on the premises? If so the Residential Tenancies Act applies and you can assign your tenancy (with someone reasonably acceptable to the landlord) if you need to leave.

Your friend should demand a recipt for the €300 - I presume this has been paid to the ESB?

Ste.phen

If he doesn't live there it's sure as hell not 'rent a room', which means he lives there and rents a room. If he's renting the rooms separately on different leases that's another matter entirely.
The ESB will ask your friend for a 300 euro deposit when she opens an account, no idea why the landlord would want that, seeing as the account is probably in his name already, unless he wants to remove the risk of the tenants closing the ESB account and reclaiming *his* 300?

tenant10

he's renting the rooms separately on different leases.Is the ESB behaviour correct?

he does not live there and i wont be assigning to someone else as i would not put someone in that position then.

thx

astrofool

The tenants are responsible for electricity, not the landlord, if she moves out, someone has to take it over, or she could ask to get it cut off. She will get her deposit back then. if someone breaks the lease, he has every right to pursue that person through the courts.

This applies equally to gas, or bins (if not part of the management fee).

Ste.phen

That's a messy situation, the rooms are rented seperately, but the services (gas,ESB,bins, etc) are provided to the entire unit...

Emerald Lass

you say the property is registered with PRTB, but afaik it is tenancies which need to be registered not properties. If I am correct then go to PRTB and ask what tenancy is registered to your house. If only the original tenant it registered than LL could be in serious trouble for not resgistering each tenacy. This gives you something to bargain with.

As another poster said, LL asking for 300 euro may be because he is offering to keep bill in his name (surprise surprise, its for tax reasons, not any act of goodwill!). As bill is in his name if tenants skip town laving a bill owing he is hoping to be covered. If you are happy to let him keep bill in his name then fair enough, but I would ask that each oneof you pay your share of the 300 E and get a receipt each for what you pay.

tenant10

dont understand bit about happy to keep the bill in his name

the problem was he didnt want the bill in his name

Emerald Lass

tenant10 wrote: »

1st tenant said landlord said after she had moved in a week, that she has to pay E300 to keep the ESB switched on or to agree to the a/c being switched to her name

perhaps i misunderstood you by the wording of your OP. You said LL told 1st tennant they could either pay him €300 to keep ESB switched on OR agree to change the name on the account. I took this to mean that she could give him €300 and he would leave the acc in his name but he wants €300 as a security in the event of a bill being unpaid. The alternative was to switch the a/c to her name, and provide all the info requested.

If he was allowing the account to remain in his name I can understand his request for a security - a tennant of mine moved out owing the ESB almost €700 for 3 mths electricity! Thankfully the bill was in her own name (I would never allow my name to stay on the bill). If something like this were to happen then LL would hope that by getting €300 from tenants he would not be so out of pocket.

The best thing is to get the bill changed into a tenants name. or better yet joint names of two tenants.

havana

Does all sound a little odd!

I know though that the ESB are looking for a €300 deposit for new accounts (rented property only??) if you do not sign up for the Direct Debit.