Landlord ignoring me.....and I've an urgent repair

mikemac

My apartment door is damaged.
I'm not sure what happened exactly, I reckon the local scum from the estate next door tried to kick it in.

There have been burglaries around in the last few months, I was talking to the local councillor about it before the elections, they knew the score.

So now my front door is sort of pushed in.
And on a windy day there is a terrific breeze through, thank god for the good weather as it's freezing some days!

Called the landlord four times in 9 days to get out to fix it.
They're loaded, own many homes, the guy is a builder, I generally deal with his wife over money.
"Bla, bla, I've a team of workers in the area, we'll get there tomorrow"

It's obvious to anyone passing this door is pushed in. Hell, I'm pretty weak and I reckon I could kick it in. It's an ordinary wooden door with only one standard lock.

I've been here before. Years ago in college (different house) our door got damaged, landlord never got around to fixing it and the gaff got robbed, yep laptops taken and gardai around taking fingerprints the next day. In fact I got an infraction in legal forum for asking legal advice on this :pac:

Trying to be proactive, what can I do? Rent due in three days, I'll be flamed for saying withhold rent but what else can I do?
Even if I gave notice, it'd 30 days with a damaged door and me worrying every day in work.

I offered to get a trademen in the golden pages and deduct the cost from the rent but was warned not to. Sure the landlord can do it cheaply himself if he's a builder........but when?

hobochris

Id be onto the PRTB straight away.

mrgaa1

photograph the inside/outside of the door. Send the rent money with the photos to your landlord - recorded delivery - informing them that the door needs replacing and that you are worried about the security of the flat given recent burglary's in the area. Inform them that if the door is not fixed within three days that you will get someone to fix it and that you will pay the bill and then send it on to them for renumeration. Listen, at the end of the day, do you want to find some drugged up group of ar**holes in your flat in the middle of the night robbing and kicking the sh*te out of ye. Fix the door, write the letter, and any judge in the country that says you are not entitled to a refund should be named and shamed. BTW everytime you talk to your landlord write down date, time, names and brief overview of conversation. If you have all these times put them in your letter.

wyndham

Withold the rent.

RentDayBlues

Don't withhold your rent - you need to make sure you follow the rules, even if the LL does not.

You need to formally inform them of the problem in writing, emails/phone calls/texts wont suffice. Explain to them that you want to problem solved immediately. Allow the a reasonable amount of time to respond - perhaps 2 days from receipt of letter. At this point your choices are:

1. Repair the damage yourself and invoice the LL for the bill
2. Give 28 days notice and move

I've been through a similar thing recently and this is the advice threshold gave me.

kmick

Screw that - ring the ladlord and his wife but also send the letter (dont mention the rent withholding in that though). If they dont answer leave a message. Tell them you have their rent in an envelope and they will get when they fix the door. End of story. The PRTB(sic) are swamped and wont give you a refund when our laptop gets nicked.

whizzbang

Why not tell them the rent will be on the hall table whenever he wants to come around and pick it up. He may want to hurry as you can see it from the street the way the door is cracked open

Get him to come and pick it up each month until he fixes the door. Can't keep saying he is not in the area!