Nightmare landlord and letting agent!

lycopodium123

I moved into a 2 bedroomed house in Dublin 8 3 months ago. When we came to view the house, it was just a quick look a round and we were a bit pushed for time as we had already given notice on our previous place, so we decided to take this one.

However, once we paid the letting agent the rent and deposit and moved in, we realised that we had not got what we had bargained for. The whole house was absolutely filthy, it took 3 people 3 full days just to clean the kitchen, let alone the rest of the house. When I asked the agent about this, he told me that he thought the previous tenants had cleaned (so obviously he hadn't even bothered his hole to check).

Also, we went away for a night and came back the next day only to find that the back garden was full of empty beer cans and bottles and other rubbish as there is no fence around the property and this has happened on more than one occassion. I asked the letting agent to organise a fence as I felt the house was not safe and am still waiting. Every time I speak to him, he has some excuse.

There is rat poison all over the converted attic and when I asked about this, I was told that it was just a precaution - this turned out to be untrue aswell, as you can hear the rats running around when you're upstairs in either of the bedrooms.

Another thing is, when we moved in, we noticed ants coming into the living room through a crack in the front wall, where the window adjoins the wall, we asked the letting agent about this and he said it wasn't a problem! We got some silicone and blocked up the crack ourselves, the agent said this was fine. However, over the last couple of mornings, we have woken up to find huge masses of ants and flying ants all over the living room! When we said it to the agent, he told us we would send someone out to fix it today. Instead of anyone coming out to fix it, I received a forwarded on email from the landlord saying that he "loathes paying a couple of hundred Euros to get the problem fixed, when it can be easily fixed with some ant killer."
Now, the ants are not really the problem! The problem is that the landlord seems to be putting his finances above our health and safety and any time we ask for problems to be fixed, we're fobbed off and nothing is done.

I have just received an email from the agent saying that "obviously, this is not the house for me and my housemate"

The problem is, we have signed a 12 month lease and to be quite honest, I dont want the hassle of having to move again in such a short time, I just want a fence and for the ants and rats to be gone! I am starting to lose the plot with the way they (the agent and the landlord) seem to think that this behaviour is acceptable when we're paying 1000 euro per month! The last email I sent, I said that a fair price for a house in this condition is 600 euro pm and that thats what we will be paying until our (basic) requests have been met. Haven't heard anything since.

There are loads of other smaller things that have happened as well, like the blind in the front bedroom is broken and when we asked to get it fixed we were told that "the landlord doesn't really want to have to pay for it!"
Water flows over the gutters any time it rains, when i asked to get that fixed I was told that I'm not a plumber and how would I know its that?!!!

Does anyone have any suggestions as how best to deal with this....?!

Thanks

gaeilgegrinds

Are they registered with the tenancy board? I'd say this is a case for them. When I rent out rooms I make sure there are lamps and shelves, the thought of expecting someone to live in your conditions is appalling.

mick867

Go onto wwwprtb.ie andcheck if your landlord has registered

he has a duty to register-

I would also be wary about getting your deposit back- make sure that the condition of the house and any defects or breakages were noted on the inventory

If you spent money and time on cleaning the kip
ask the land lord to refund you this

D3PO

i have no sympathy for you.

it didnt suddenly become dirty after you viewed it. the fence at the back didnt suddenly dissapear, the rat poison didnt magically appear.

if you didnt bother to view properly then tough luck. the landlord doesnt have to put up a fense, you have seen no rats and im sure are free to remove the poison if you so wish especially if its only there as a precaution.

as for the ant thing it would cost you less and take less time to go buy some ant power than if would to ring the agent and wait for it to be sorted.

are you really that helpless ?

lycopodium123

well actually, there are rats, we may not have seen them, but have definitely heard them running around. As for the fence, well you're right, it wasn't an issue when we moved in because we weren't made aware of the fact that the local teenagers use the back garden as their den!
And of course, ants I can deal with.....
As for the dirt, obviously we knew we would have to clean the place when we moved in, the same way we cleaned the last place we moved out of and assumed the previous tenants would have done the same here - or that the agent/landlord would have gotten cleaners in (as our previous landlord offered to do when we were leaving) but it was only when we started cleaning that we realised how bad it really was. But still, all of these things are not the real issue.
The issue lies in the fact that any time ANYTHING needs to be done in the house (and yes, we have done as much as we can, but there's only so much we, as tenants can do!) we're fobbed off or told that its not an issue. Its the general attitude of landlords in this country (like you I presume) that is the problem.

lycopodium123

well actually, there ARE rats, we may not have seen them, but have definitely heard them running around. As for the fence, well you're right, it wasn't an issue when we moved in because we weren't made aware of the fact that the local teenagers use the back garden as their den! When I initially brought this up, I was told to ring the Gardai, not the agent!
And of course, ants I can deal with.....
As for the dirt, obviously we knew we would have to clean the place when we moved in, the same way we cleaned the last place we moved out of and assumed the previous tenants would have done the same here - or that the agent/landlord would have gotten cleaners in (as our previous landlord offered to do when we were leaving) but it was only when we started cleaning that we realised how bad it really was. But still, all of these things are not the real issue.
The issue lies in the fact that any time ANYTHING needs to be done in the house (and yes, we have done as much as we can, but there's only so much we, as tenants can do!) we're fobbed off or told that its not an issue. Its the general attitude of landlords in this country (like DP30) that is the problem.

Had a look on the PRTB website but couldn't find the property - think i'll give them a buzz on monday morn.

We actually did ask to be re-embursed for the cleaning and cleaning products etc and are still waiting.......what a surprise!

Bob Z

lycopodium123 wrote: »

I moved into a 2 bedroomed house in Dublin 8 3 months ago. When we came to view the house, it was just a quick look a round and we were a bit pushed for time as we had already given notice on our previous place, so we decided to take this one.

I think if a landlord rushes you when you are viewing a house its a bad sign