Bill for damages

The Volt

Okay so my friends and I are in a real predicament here.

New Years Eve we rented a lakeside holiday home. I wont go into specifics here about location. Anyway, we were under instruction that 6 people were insured to be in the house and no more. We violated this by a few, nothing that would get us into trouble or cause issues. Early evening we were informed that we would be joined by a gang of people that we A) didn't know and didn't want to be joined by. We tried in vain to keep them out of the house, one invitee responsible for giving them entry.

Things began to get out of hand very quickly, we felt intimidated by this gang of youths and feared for our own safety. Before long, two of my friends had rushed around to reception to explain that things had gotten out of hand. They were not taken seriously and refused requests to call the Gardai, instead they sent around two members of staff to the house. They made no impact whatsoever. Eventually they called the police and we were informed to get our things and leave as anyone still in the house within a half hour would be arrested. With that we left, leaving the scum in the house. *Importantly, at this stage there was little or no damage done to the house at all*

One of us stayed behind in reception for the Gardai while the rest of us scurried back to a friends house. We waited for him to call us and give us the go ahead to come back as we were told that we could probably go back to the house after they had been cleared out.

When we got back we found that the house had been turned upside down. It was in a state. The only piece of evidence we have that this crowd were in the house is a bank card with a name on it which we handed over to the police. We were told that we wouldnt be allowed back in to the premises and promptly left.

Yesterday our friend who had booked it with his credit card received a bill for a suspicious €1992. We have until the end of the month to pay it.

Now I don't know how you all would feel about this but I am not too keen on forking up money that I don't have.. We didn't invite these people, one person invited her boyfriend and (in her words) a few his friends, which led to friends of friends being invited and so on. The house was not even one of my close friends ideas which leaves the pill even more bitter to swallow as the responsibility lies with us as we booked the reservation.

I stress that the lakeside village in which we had rented from did not provide adequate security to prevent us from pretty much being broken into and refused to call the gardai when we made it extremely clear that their intervention was needed.

Any advice here would be much appreciated guys

reverandkenjami

I can't see any way out of this one! You would be liable for any damages wether caused by you or not. You's were the ones left in charge of the house...

The Volt

We had been told to leave before most of the damage was done though =/

cgarvey

Voltwad wrote: »

I stress that the lakeside village in which we had rented from did not provide adequate security

DDid that gang break down the door, or force entry in any way? If not, what security were you expecting from the lakeside village, in question?

Without knowing too much details about your situation, it looks like there was one person responsible (the CC holder), and he/she allowed persons to be on the premises that should not have been there. He/she was responsible (and, of course, all of you who shared the reservation have a shared moral responsibility). So, I'm assuming the Gardaí just called to deal with a breach, or potential breach, of the peace and not any case of trespassing? In which case, it's back to the dude with the CC. You blame the girl whose boyfriend brought friends, but (as, I'm sure you've realised) this quickly becomes a complicated civil issue. Should you take action against her? Well if you feel that strongly about it and have evidence/witnesses to support that claim (that she brought the guests uninvited), then maybe. Should you chalk it down to a bad idea by a gang of drunken people who had an ability to prevent the situation in the first place ("no, you're not coming in, sorry. *lock door*), yes maybe. Again, though, it's hard to tell from your limited details.

Nody

Voltwad wrote: »

We had been told to leave before most of the damage was done though =/

You rented the house, you accepted liability for the house, you take the responsibility for it, esp. as you left knowing the youths where still in the house.

mickoneill30

Voltwad wrote: »

We had been told to leave before most of the damage was done though =/

You were responsible for the house. If you received the house with a pile of scumbags then feel free to leave it with a pile of scumbags.

Why should the owner have to pay for damages caused by your group (you or one of your guys invited them back so they're your responsibility). If you had nothing to do with inviting the guys back maybe get on to the idiot that did and try and get the €1900 from him.

Shelflife

who told you to leave the house? the guards have no right to tell you to leave your own premises (or one that you have rented) they should have removed that people who were not invited.

but at the end of the day they were let in and regardless of who let them in the person who rented the house is liable for any damage.

they in turn can persue the people who actually caused the damage through the civil courts.

The Volt

The two members of staff who came (insisting that the guards were not needed) arrived.

We actually could not stop them getting in, these were quite a low form of human being, demonstrated by the damage they done and the substances they were consuming (which they cleaned up before the gards arrived)

I'm not shying away from the fact that we are the ones in **** here, but we genuinely could not stop the goings on, hence we saught outside help.

tallaghtoutlaws

Voltwad wrote: »

The two members of staff who came (insisting that the guards were not needed) arrived.

We actually could not stop them getting in, these were quite a low form of human being, demonstrated by the damage they done and the substances they were consuming (which they cleaned up before the gards arrived)

I'm not shying away from the fact that we are the ones in **** here, but we genuinely could not stop the goings on, hence we saught outside help.

One thing I can't figure out is why you guys left and not the scum who wrecked the place? Ok the staff kicked you out but in fairness I would have refused to leave also until the scum were out of there. How come the staff didnt ask them to leave? It all just doesnt add up. And in fairness if you had refused to leave the Gaurds would have been there quicker. And another thing in the age of mobile phones why did you not call the Gardai yourself?

ejmaztec

Must be a job for a lawyer as there seem to be some grey areas in how the situation was handled by all those involved.

The Volt

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

One thing I can't figure out is why you guys left and not the scum who wrecked the place? Ok the staff kicked you out but in fairness I would have refused to leave also until the scum were out of there. How come the staff didnt ask them to leave? It all just doesnt add up. And in fairness if you had refused to leave the Gaurds would have been there quicker. And another thing in the age of mobile phones why did you not call the Gardai yourself?

Well that's a fair point aye, when two of the lads said they were going around to reception we left it at that, then we left when we were instructed to. The unwanted unsociables refused to leave and then we were told that whoever was still in the house in a half hour was being arrested.

foggy_lad

Voltwad wrote: »

Well that's a fair point aye, when two of the lads said they were going around to reception we left it at that, then we left when we were instructed to. The unwanted unsociables refused to leave and then we were told that whoever was still in the house in a half hour was being arrested.

ye should have stayed and waited for the police and explain to them ye had rented the property and the others had forced their way in and were causing trouble there. and if the guards told ye to leave and left the other troublemakers on the premises them you may have grounds to claim off them?

eth0_

Voltwad wrote: »

Early evening we were informed that we would be joined by a gang of people that we A) didn't know and didn't want to be joined by. We tried in vain to keep them out of the house, one invitee responsible for giving them entry.

Why didn't you inform the management and/or the gardai at this point that you had been threatened with uninvited guests later in the evening?

Why didn't YOU call the guards in the first place when these scumbags showed up?

Who were these scumbags, just local undesirables? How/when did they 'inform' you that they were going to show up at your house?

The Volt

We should've called the gards ourselves yeah but we thought we were doing the right thing by getting the establishment informed, these scumbags were friends of a girl who we see every now and again, her fella's friends. then their friends etc. We heard through her friend (seeing one of my friends) that she'd let it be known to undesirables.

They weren't local no. D24 area. Don't think I should be more specific

youcrazyjesus!

You rented the place. You let others in. You take responsibility. End of story.

matchthis

Pay the fine betwween yourselves and then go after the people who did the damage to be reimbursed. No joy, consult a solicitor. If these people threatened your safety, that would be another kettle of fish.
Crap senario, but don't leave they person who booked it to take the bullet.

dotsman

Afraid that, legally, whoever booked it is responsible.

Your first mistake was having more people than you were supposed to. From that moment on, the landlord loses all sympathy for you, and legally, you have broken the terms and conditions. The next problem was inviting the girl in question. If she is the sort of person who would a) do this, and b) not own up and volunteer to cover the damages (and apologise for ruining your night), then you have poor judgment of character and should choose your friends more wisely.

As for what happened that night, I'm still confused as to why exactly you left, and under who's instruction (was it perhaps that the staff didn't know who was supposed to be there and who was not due to the fact that you had already more guests than you were supposed to?). As for the guards, they are entirely your responsibility and no-one else's. You have a mobile phone I assume?

The only way out of this that I can see is that you all cough up to pay the bill and then chase the girl in question for compensation, although it is difficult to say if you would receive any.

Think of it this way. If, instead of renting it for the night, you had rented it as your normal accommodation. You have a party and loads of scum gate-crash (at one of your house mates request). It's up to you, and not your landlord to ring the guards, and it is up to you and not your landlord to pay for the damages. And likewise, you can try to go through the courts to get compensation from the house mate who invited the scumbags, but, again, I'm not sure how that would end up (a lot of "he said... she said").

I'm afraid you're going to have to chalk this one down to experience and choose your friends more carefully.

Max Power1

Voltwad wrote: »

Okay so my friends and I are in a real predicament here.

New Years Eve we rented a lakeside holiday home. I wont go into specifics here about location. Anyway, we were under instruction that 6 people were insured to be in the house and no more. We violated this by a few, nothing that would get us into trouble or cause issues. Early evening we were informed that we would be joined by a gang of people that we A) didn't know and didn't want to be joined by. We tried in vain to keep them out of the house, one invitee responsible for giving them entry.

Things began to get out of hand very quickly, we felt intimidated by this gang of youths and feared for our own safety. Before long, two of my friends had rushed around to reception to explain that things had gotten out of hand. They were not taken seriously and refused requests to call the Gardai, instead they sent around two members of staff to the house. They made no impact whatsoever. Eventually they called the police and we were informed to get our things and leave as anyone still in the house within a half hour would be arrested. With that we left, leaving the scum in the house. *Importantly, at this stage there was little or no damage done to the house at all*

One of us stayed behind in reception for the Gardai while the rest of us scurried back to a friends house. We waited for him to call us and give us the go ahead to come back as we were told that we could probably go back to the house after they had been cleared out.

When we got back we found that the house had been turned upside down. It was in a state. The only piece of evidence we have that this crowd were in the house is a bank card with a name on it which we handed over to the police. We were told that we wouldnt be allowed back in to the premises and promptly left.

Yesterday our friend who had booked it with his credit card received a bill for a suspicious €1992. We have until the end of the month to pay it.

Now I don't know how you all would feel about this but I am not too keen on forking up money that I don't have.. We didn't invite these people, one person invited her boyfriend and (in her words) a few his friends, which led to friends of friends being invited and so on. The house was not even one of my close friends ideas which leaves the pill even more bitter to swallow as the responsibility lies with us as we booked the reservation.

I stress that the lakeside village in which we had rented from did not provide adequate security to prevent us from pretty much being broken into and refused to call the gardai when we made it extremely clear that their intervention was needed.

Any advice here would be much appreciated guys

as other posters prior to me have alluded, this is going to be an expensive lesson for whoever gave their cc no for the booking, unfortunately!

Cabaal

Legally whoever booked it will have to pay as they did not adhere to the contract, its not the lodges owners fault that the people renting the place let a bunch of scumbags in...they didn't invite them after all.

jor el

One the outset, it looks like it's though titty for whoever booked the room. You let these people in (invited or not, unless they broke the door down, you let them in) and you are responsible for the damages. However, since the staff were called out, saw that no damage was done, and told you to vacate the house, this might be grounds for them accepting some of the responsibility.

Given the amount of money involved, and that there's no clear cut answer in your favour, you'd be best to consult with a solicitor and see what to do. As someone else said, if you know who these people are, you could go after them for the costs, with a civil suit of your own, after paying off the costs to the house owners.

Moral of the story: Don't associate with knackers.

You're saying that not many more than 6 were going in the first place? Then I'm assuming you knew the girl who invited the scum quite well yeah? Or else why would you invite her to such a small party?

But then you say you only saw her every so often? Doesn't really add up to me. Oh well, at least one way or the other the poor fool who rented his place out to (what seems to be) a load of 16 year olds will get it fixed on your buck.

Joey the lips

i think the author really knows the answer

Pay the bill before the credit card holder is brought to court

and ditch the so called friend that brought the scum around

Simple!

The two staff that rushed in are not insured to mdeal with that. The contract spec how many was allowed. The contract was breached. The police treated it as a civil mater bar the dist of peace so you become responsible

Sorry thats the facts but try consumer law if you think you might have a shot

The Volt

I think we've accepted that we're on our own on this one =/ going after these scummers could open up a whole mass of other problems like.