Conned by Landlord

D3PO

hideous ape wrote: »

. Worst case scenario and illegal...stop paying rent until you've got roughly 2000e worth of rental time and feck off somewhere else. Provided he has no home address for you.

.

these kind of comments make it hard for me to side with tennants on here. I cant imagine being a landlord having to put up with this childish way of confronting issues.

The fact is the OP has signed a legally binding document. He viewed the apartment and didnt do so appropriatly.

These are the facts. As to possible blindsiding by the landlord etc, thats purely conjecture.

The OP refuses to accept any responsibility here and really they need to look long and hard at themselves.

I refuse to believe the smell is that bad that it cant be resolved by some airing, fabreeze and cleaning, if it was and you could smell it down the hall there is no way the landlord could have masked that by airing in the common area, secondly if the smell was that bad there would clearly be discolouration on the walls, ceilings etc.

Now peoples opinions are fine but the fact remains that the OP signed a lease and has absolutly no basis to break it.

So either look to resolve this yourself, or accept that your at least in some way to blame for this situation and see if you can work out an amicable solution with the Landlord either by agreeing between you to agree to end the lease without penalty, or by trying to share the cost of resolving the smell issue.

and realise if you go in like a bull in a china shop like you have here trying to refute your culpability that you will get nowhere

D3PO

ztoical wrote: »

Right I'm not siding with or against the OP here I'm just curious about alot of the replies and wondering if someone wants to clear it up. If I go to view a house/apartment/whatever....have a good look round, take my time, go back and see it again at a different time, then sign a lease but after I move in find something is wrong like major issues with damp, rats in the attic or smells or the like is it the case that it's though sh!t cus you viewed the place and signed off on it being ok when you sign the lease? I can understand what people are getting at about making sure to have a good look and maybe more then one when renting and more so when buying and I do think the OP has come on a little strong here but it also sounds a little odd saying "you didn't spot it before signing the lease so your pretty much F****d"

well rats would and rising damp would cause helth and safety issues so you would be within your rights to break the lease. however i find it hard for somebody not to spot damp when viewing.

in this case its a smell, it has no relation really to the other 2 examples and it is something that I cant comprehend being missed when viewing if done so properly.

i dont think anybody in here would say tough you signed the lease in the first 2 scenarios you mention.

Agent J

Based soley on the OPs attitude i have to wonder the actual extent of the problem.

However taking it at face value then leave the place and take a case to the PRTB to have your deposit back if they refuse to refund it.

If you are able to prove your claim then I don't see an issue.

Little tip though, i've dealt with the PRTB myself and the language you have used here would not get you very far with them.

There is provision under the 2004 tenancy act that the dwelling must be habitable. The OP would have to argue spefics there.

hideous ape

D3PO wrote: »

these kind of comments make it hard for me to side with tennants on here. I cant imagine being a landlord having to put up with this childish way of confronting issues.

I've lived in at least 15 different places during my life so far. I've lived in three different locations in Ireland. I've never missed my rent, never failed to pay a bill and always left places cleaner than when I moved in. The flip-side to this is that I have had only two, honest and decent landlords! My current landlords and one about 10 years ago.

So far landlords/EA's have:

- Charged £100 (punts) above what the landlord thought was the rent and was pocketing the difference.
- Illegally evicted housemates on numerous occassions.
- Taken deposit when the place was left in better condition than when I moved in.
- "Mistakenly" left a front door wide open so their cousins could rob our house. They were caught!
- Refused to fix heating / water / washing machine / shower until legal action was threatened.
- Took a TV and Video recorder belonging to me because a housemate was behind on his rent.
- Tried to land ESB and Phone bills on us from previous tenants.
- Entered our house and put down rat poison over a weekend without our knowledge...which killed a housemates kitten.
- Arrived at my house and left their children for two hours while they went Xmas shopping???

My experience has taught me that good landlords are much more rare than good tenants.

zuroph

hideous ape wrote: »

I've lived in at least 15 different places during my life so far. I've lived in three different locations in Ireland. I've never missed my rent, never failed to pay a bill and always left places cleaner than when I moved in. The flip-side to this is that I have had only two, honest and decent landlords! My current landlords and one about 10 years ago.

So far landlords/EA's have:

- Charged £100 (punts) above what the landlord thought was the rent and was pocketing the difference.
- Illegally evicted housemates on numerous occassions.
- Taken deposit when the place was left in better condition than when I moved in.
- "Mistakenly" left a front door wide open so their cousins could rob our house. They were caught!
- Refused to fix heating / water / washing machine / shower until legal action was threatened.
- Took a TV and Video recorder belonging to me because a housemate was behind on his rent.
- Tried to land ESB and Phone bills on us from previous tenants.
- Entered our house and put down rat poison over a weekend without our knowledge...which killed a housemates kitten.
- Arrived at my house and left their children for two hours while they went Xmas shopping???

My experience has taught me that good landlords are much more rare than good tenants.

you can't say that til you've had 15 tenants to compare to

D3PO

hideous ape wrote: »

I've lived in at least 15 different places during my life so far. I've lived in three different locations in Ireland. I've never missed my rent, never failed to pay a bill and always left places cleaner than when I moved in. The flip-side to this is that I have had only two, honest and decent landlords! My current landlords and one about 10 years ago.

So far landlords/EA's have:

- Charged £100 (punts) above what the landlord thought was the rent and was pocketing the difference.
- Illegally evicted housemates on numerous occassions.
- Taken deposit when the place was left in better condition than when I moved in.
- "Mistakenly" left a front door wide open so their cousins could rob our house. They were caught!
- Refused to fix heating / water / washing machine / shower until legal action was threatened.
- Took a TV and Video recorder belonging to me because a housemate was behind on his rent.
- Tried to land ESB and Phone bills on us from previous tenants.
- Entered our house and put down rat poison over a weekend without our knowledge...which killed a housemates kitten.
- Arrived at my house and left their children for two hours while they went Xmas shopping???

My experience has taught me that good landlords are much more rare than good tenants.

ok Id have to say your experiences have been terrible, but I dont think its fair to say that any of those experiences are somewhat regular occurances bar maybe the deposit and repair issues.

hideous ape

zuroph wrote: »

you can't say that til you've had 15 tenants to compare to

I can...I've lived with 25+ different tenants so far.

- Two housemates did get behind on their rent...one of these times the landlord took my stuff as collateral!
- Another guy turned out to be a drug dealer and did a runner when some "unofficial" Sligo Sinn Fein members called to the house.
- Two others left bills on us, which we paid as soon as we could.

Everyone else I've lived with payed their rent and bills on time so yes I can say I have dealt with more than 15 great tenants!

zuroph

so, in summary; people :rolleyes:

D3PO

hideous ape wrote: »

I can...I've lived with 25+ different tenants so far.

- Two housemates did get behind on their rent...one of these times the landlord took my stuff as collateral!
- Another guy turned out to be a drug dealer and did a runner when some "unofficial" Sligo Sinn Fein members called to the house.
- Two others left bills on us, which we paid as soon as we could.

Everyone else I've lived with payed their rent and bills on time so yes I can say I have dealt with more than 15 great tenants!

and whilst i did rent a room 4 out of the 5 tennants i had were awful ranging from falling behind in rent then legging it whilst in arrears to taking my car keys from the hallway and taking my car out for a drive !!

so you cant just say all problems are with landlords.

hideous ape

D3PO wrote: »

and whilst i did rent a room 4 out of the 5 tennants i had were awful ranging from falling behind in rent then legging it whilst in arrears to taking my car keys from the hallway and taking my car out for a drive !!

so you cant just say all problems are with landlords.

Never said all problems were with landlords. I was simply sharing my experience of the rental market. I've gone to viewings with rusty water pooled on the kitchen floor...a guy asleep in the room I was viewing...a bathroom with dead rotting leaves all over the floor and in the bathtub...told the apartment was no where near the train tracks when in fact the train tracks ran directly behind the apartment block..etc.

My personal experience has been weighted almost entirely on the side of dodgy landlords. My current landlords are excellent though...they pointed out two small problems when I went to view the place and agreed to have them fixed within the first week. They did just that!

D3PO

hideous ape wrote: »

My personal experience has been weighted almost entirely on the side of dodgy landlords. My current landlords are excellent though...they pointed out two small problems when I went to view the place and agreed to have them fixed within the first week. They did just that!

I can never understand why landlords would be so bad. I mean do they not realise keeping a good tennant is the best solution for both parties. Seems your current landlord understands the value of a good tennant.

I think the biggest problem here is that in recent years people invested in second and thrid homes . apartments etc with a view to selling for big profit only to find they now have to rent out.

The problem is these are not professional landlords and havent a clue what they should be doing.

redhugh

I heard that leaving a large glass of salty water (more salt the better and make sure the salt is dissolved into the water) in each of the rooms during the night when all the windows and doors are closed will absorb a good bit of the smell out of the fabrics etc, you may need to do this every night for a week or 2.
This combined with leaving the windows and doors opened whilst you are there during the day will help.
But the only definite way to resolve is to wash down all the walls & ceilings and Wash the curtains & cleaning the carpets etc this is something the Landlord should have done before advertising for a new tennant, but as stated by all the other replies you viewed & signed on the dotted line so its up to you to put up with it or clean it all yourself

redhugh

Ahhh this Landlord does have a clue as he aired out the property before viewing which suggests that he was wise to the situation at hand

hideous ape

D3PO wrote: »

The problem is these are not professional landlords and havent a clue what they should be doing.

True...it was obvious to me that the really bad ones I've had, jumped into the rental market with little or no prior knowledge once the boom hit. I fully accept there are also a lot of crazy and scumbag tenants out there too.

My most recent issue was only resolved today. I have posted a thread in here where an estate agents caused me so much hassle getting the deposit and the months extra rent taken off me, roughly 2000euro. This took 22 days, 4 office visits, a few phonecalls, a few emails and finally I went mental in their office yesterday. Had this been handled properly I would have had no problem moving into one of their places in the future. But not now! Thankfully I moved into a place with very nice and professional landlords:)

D3PO

hideous ape wrote: »

True...it was obvious to me that the really bad ones I've had, jumped into the rental market with little or no prior knowledge once the boom hit. I fully accept there are also a lot of crazy and scumbag tenants out there too.

My most recent issue was only resolved today. I have posted a thread in here where an estate agents caused me so much hassle getting the deposit and the months extra rent taken off me, roughly 2000euro. This took 22 days, 4 office visits, a few phonecalls, a few emails and finally I went mental in their office yesterday. Had this been handled properly I would have had no problem moving into one of their places in the future. But not now! Thankfully I moved into a place with very nice and professional landlords:)

yes i read that thread. EA's are muppets in general. I really cant understand why landlords use them. It beggars belief.

the thing is your old landlord isnt awar eof all this crap and will continue to use them thinking everything is ok when infact they are probably reducing his ability to rent out his property.

The_Conductor

Guys- keep to the OPs original query- and quit the personal remarks.

gleep

Just had a reply from l/l, he has apologised for the situation, and crucially said he didnt believe the problem was that bad. To me this shows that he was aware of it, and the wide open windows & doors were a (ahem)smokescreen!
He has agreed to wire me a refund, I just hope he stands by his word now. I'll let you all know what happens.

Oh and does anyone know how long a wire transfer takes from oz to here? Same as everywhere else?

zuroph

a full refund? so you're moving out?

gleep

Aye well thats what he said, just waiting on the money to hit my account now. I'll post when it does(hopefully).

Wouldn't say Im moving out, I never moved in! But I'm hopefully walking away with my money.

EKRIUQ

So this was just really a lack of communication between the tenant and the landlord, where the tenant accused the landlord of being a Con Artist when in general he seems to be quite sound by agreeing a refund even though your breaking the lease. In general I think that's most of the problem, people are well able to whine and moan without actually trying to find a solution (Applies to consumer issues as well) and a message board seems to be their way of getting acceptance for their whining attitudes but fortunately people on boards.ie are able to see through a lot of that.

gleep

EKRIUQ wrote: »

So this was just really a lack of communication between the tenant and the landlord, where the tenant accused the landlord of being a Con Artist when in general he seems to be quite sound by agreeing a refund even though your breaking the lease. In general I think that's most of the problem, people are well able to whine and moan without actually trying to find a solution (Applies to consumer issues as well) and a message board seems to be their way of getting acceptance for their whining attitudes but fortunately people on boards.ie are able to see through a lot of that.

Would he have agreed to the refund if he had a clear conscience/nothing to hide? Seriously? i THINK NOT. I posted here because he'd taken 2k of my hard earned after jippin me and I wanted some advice.

And I couldnt agree more that people use boards to get acceptance for their stinkin attitudes, and we can see who they are.

D3PO

gleep wrote: »

Would he have agreed to the refund if he had a clear conscience/nothing to hide? Seriously? i THINK NOT. I posted here because he'd taken 2k of my hard earned after jippin me and I wanted some advice.

you still have a major attitude problem. Get off your high horse accept you were at least 50% at fault and learn from YOUR mistake.

I hope you bother to view your next property properly. If you dont please dont come on here complaining.

gleep

D3PO wrote: »

you still have a major attitude problem. Get off your high horse accept you were at least 50% at fault and learn from YOUR mistake.

I hope you bother to view your next property properly. If you dont please dont come on here complaining.

Look, if I'm bothering you that much, ignore the thread.And seeing as how you asked so nicely, I won't post again.........;)

ttm

gleep wrote: »

I posted here because he'd taken 2k of my hard earned after jippin me and I wanted some advice.

Good job you didn't post here looking for moral support

Paulw

Hopefully in future, you'll view any property properly before you sign a lease and hand over money. The next landlord may stick to his guns, and be in the right to, and you'll then be out of pocket.

gurramok

I'd like to see what happens when that landlord tries to rent the place out in the coming cold months with the windows opened.

He should be reported, its a form of conmanship.

hideous ape

I've always found it odd how the rental market is totally disconnected from normal business practices. If I buy something and the next day I discover its broken or shoddy and this was not obvious in the shop, then I can return it within a pre-agreed amount of time. But somehow a rental lease is written in Gods blood with Satan's signature attached for approval!

There should be an Irish / EU law that allows a tenant to terminate a lease within the first 7 days without even needing to give a reason...most good landlords would want to know why, most poor landlords would already know. If a place is unsuitable to you for whatever reason, you know this within the first few days. A house or an area can only really be judged if you stay there for a few days. This alone would remove a lot of the poor landlords and shoddy places from the market. To cover the landlords maybe double the rent has to be payed by the tenant, if you move out within the 7 days or something like that.

eth0_

gleep wrote: »

Just had a reply from l/l, he has apologised for the situation, and crucially said he didnt believe the problem was that bad. To me this shows that he was aware of it, and the wide open windows & doors were a (ahem)smokescreen!

The fact he's been cooperative and agreed to refund you your deposit and rent without any argument indicates to me that he didn't think the problem was so bad - probably because he's a smoker himself.

Trust me, he is well within his rights to keep your depost, first months rent and chase you for the rest of the years rent.

WIZE

Well played OP . Im happy you are getting your money back .

dishonesty is a plague which you see more and more theses days

gaz wac

gleep wrote: »

Oh and does anyone know how long a wire transfer takes from oz to here? Same as everywhere else?

Three - four working days

ok well then that is just my experience, Dub to Oz and then same on return wire is three days for me ( BOI -Macquarie Bank )