Rented House - Freezing

Angry Troll

this country simply is not prepared for serious winter temperatures and people somehow just accept and live with it…
of course, bringing all irish houses up to standard would take a while and cost a lot after all the neglect and sloppiness of the past years and decades…outdoor-plumbing, lack of insulation etc., all built on the cheap with no regard for quality or anything like it…
the simple truth is that a properly built and insulated house with modern windows and an up-to-date heating system will always be nice and warm in winter. it really is that easy...

TheCityManager

Update on all this....

House is so so cold I simply cannot live there at the mo so am living with gf :rolleyes:

I decided that due to cold, landlord's refusal of new fridge etc that I would put stop on rental standing order and give a months notice....

Left canceling SO too late..was taken today ..so I'm stuck with it for another two months..The one that was taken this morning and my deposit (in lieu of next month..,)
Fcuk Fcuk why didnt I cancel SO a day earlier...now Im basically paying €1100pm for storage..:(

Unless nice landlords would let me off two months early ... yeah right

Massive Muscles

TheCityManager wrote: »

Update on all this....

House is so so cold I simply cannot live there at the mo so am living with gf :rolleyes:

I decided that due to cold, landlord's refusal of new fridge etc that I would put stop on rental standing order and give a months notice....

Left canceling SO too late..was taken today ..so I'm stuck with it for another two months..The one that was taken this morning and my deposit (in lieu of next month..,)
Fcuk Fcuk why didnt I cancel SO a day earlier...now Im basically paying €1100pm for storage..:(

Unless nice landlords would let me off two months early ... yeah right

Lesson learned, never setup a standing order. Say you will then just do a manual online transfer every month.

Angry Troll

seems some people are just not taking this very seriously…recommending to “start using whatever rooms face south as your main rooms” or “leave the heating on 24/7 and wear a woolly jumper” and stuff like that…nice ideas, my great grandma might have done just that back in 1901…
yet this is the 21st century and ireland is in the north-western part of europe so houses should be insulated properly and heating systems installed to cope with cold weather with or without the sun or woolly jumpers...everything else is basically unacceptable and pure neglect and sloppiness by builders and landlords and should no longer be tolerated by anyone…

The_Conductor

I see how you got your username

Seriously though- most of the jobs in the Irish construction industry for the next 20 years- will be in retrofitting insulation and knocking 1 bed apartments into reasonable sized 2-3 bed ones.......

There was a collective national insanity for the past 15 years- we need to calm down and figure how we are going to end up with accommodation that people can actually live in.

roboto

Angry Troll wrote: »

seems some people are just not taking this very seriously…recommending to “start using whatever rooms face south as your main rooms” or “leave the heating on 24/7 and wear a woolly jumper” and stuff like that…nice ideas, my great grandma might have done just that back in 1901…
yet this is the 21st century and ireland is in the north-western part of europe so houses should be insulated properly and heating systems installed to cope with cold weather with or without the sun or woolly jumpers...everything else is basically unacceptable and pure neglect and sloppiness by builders and landlords and should no longer be tolerated by anyone…

amen... well said. Most of the houses that were built in a hurry throughout the "boom" are lacking basic standarts. This time of the year it just has become to obvious that something is wrong... and ist not even like the Austrian winter with -20 degress or below, just a "coldsnap"

Angry Troll

smccarrick wrote: »

[...]

Seriously though- most of the jobs in the Irish construction industry for the next 20 years- will be in retrofitting insulation and knocking 1 bed apartments into reasonable sized 2-3 bed ones.......

There was a collective national insanity for the past 15 years- we need to calm down and figure how we are going to end up with accommodation that people can actually live in.

amen to that

rosiejosie

Argh found this thread and had to agree. I think literally every house I've lived in in Ireland since we moved here in 1994 has been damp. Thats 9 houses, some worse than others. I'm really upset at the moment because of the house my boyfriend and I are in now. It's a big old building, built in 1836 and renovated and separated into 2 houses about ten years ago. When we came to see the house the landlady said that there was sometimes a bit of mold around the kitchen window due to steam from cooking, but that they had just painted it with anti-damp stuff. So I said ok, asked is there damp anywhere else (the reason we were moving was because the flat we were in then had a bedroom so damp there were puddles on the floor) she said no and seemed shocked at the idea. Fast forward 9 months and there is black mold all around the living room, kitchen window, coming up in the bedroom, the porch is covered, the wood panelling in the living area is moldy, more than half my books are moldy, our clothes won't dry... She called around today and said she's in touch with someone to sort it out but we have to keep the windows open. Now - it's open plan so we are in this room all day, have to cook and dry clothes in here because we have no dryer and as I'm sure everyone knows - it's winter and it rains a lot. I already open windows but it is so cold you can see your breath all day and we can't afford to have a fire burning all day and night. Sorry for rant but I get so frustrated. I've moved sooo many times the last few years. I know this mold is caused by condensation and after the freezing winter the big cold walls react to the moisture in here, but we have no option but to hang the clothes in here to dry, and we have to cook to eat! And I'm scared she'll make it out to be our fault because we didn't keep the bloody windows open in the sub-zero temperatures!!! Oh and she admitted today that they had this problem in the past but never this bad. So now we'll have to move yet again.

D3PO

I dont see why you have to keep you clothes in to dry. Ive put my washing out all the time since the cold snap and all have dried outdoors. Im not saying the mould is your fault, but people dont take enough care to prevent it either.

The amount of people I know that enver open their windows is amazing.

shoegirl

Angry Troll wrote: »

of course, bringing all irish houses up to standard would take a while and cost a lot after all the neglect and sloppiness of the past years and decades…outdoor-plumbing, lack of insulation etc., all built on the cheap with no regard for quality or anything like it…

This is just not true. The worst places for substandard ratings are converted properties, mostly pre-63 conversions. Its very common for these places to bring in weekly incomes of 600 a week or more, and I've seen incomes of as much as 75k a year from these. Given that a lot of them would have been bought in the 70s and 80s very cheaply a lot of these landlords are making a tidy sum. Plus I think there have been lots of tax incentives over the years for various purposes. There really isn't much excuse aside from pure greed.

I am soon moving out of a place that was only "renovated" in the last few years, but they built an extension that effectively is one great big heat and natural light remover. Ironically, the original part of the building almost doesn't need heating at all. It wouldn't have cost them that much to insulate the new part at the time, and the extension effectively created 3 completely new apartments bringing the landlord at least 370 a week in rent, so in one year that is nearly 20k, or 200k over 10 years! Surely that is enough to have spent just 5k or more properly insulating and ventilating the place in the first place!

rosiejosie

D3PO - We sleep with our bedroom window open yet there is mold in the bedroom. I open the window in the living room every morning but it gets very very cold. You can see your breath nearly every day in this house. The window in the kitchen area is in a very deep wall over the sink which means you have to climb up and down the kitchen counter to open it. Yes, maybe we should have had the windows open more but when it gets so cold so quickly in here it isn't very nice. We wear jumpers and jackets and woolly socks and my boyfriend often wears his hat inside as it is. As for the washing, I try to put it out when it's dry, but it rains nearly every day in this part of the country, and to have nearly-dry washing drenched again in a few minutes of rain means it will take another 4 or 5 days till it's dry. Of course us simply being here is probably the main cause of the damp, but that shouldn't be the case. Like other people have said here, I think it's something that builders and architects need to figure out. Ireland is such a damp country, we need to find a way to make houses that can deal with it. Anyway, I'm over my sulk from this morning, I'm sure it will work out, and the spring is on the way, hopefully with some warmer weather!:)

gurramok

rosiejosie, do you not have a washer/dryer for the clothes?

And when you do move in 3 mths time, maybe target an apt this time? (maybe on an upper flr to catch rising heat and not as old as 1836 )

If you don't like apts, maybe try an old style Corpo house, as they are mostly better built and perhaps better insulated.

And try asking for a BER cert from a new landlord, it may help.

ricman

bring the pc, and tv into 1 room, theres no point in trying to keep the whole hous warm, in a few weeks it,lll be much warmer.
the next house ,make sure the attic is insulated, and all windows, front door,back door have double glazing.
CHECK FOR condensation near windows.
OBVIOUSLY bigger houses tend to be colder than small ones.
YOU should make sure cooker and fridge,dryer, central heating is working be4 you give the landlord 1cent,or sign a lease.YOU could ask the landlord to buy a dryer in powercity,its only 200euro.
we have loadsa houses built in the last 5 years that have very low standards of insulation ,thats prbly why theres a new ber rating system so at least you know it,be4 you buy a property now.
how the hell do you make a small 1bed aptmnt into a 3bed ?WHEN theres thousands of empty 2bed apartments on the market.
WHEN YOU GO out ,open 1 0r 2 top windows, smaller windows, you dont want to attract burglars.

Xiney

fyi - an icebox in your fridge is no longer acceptable under tenancy regulations.

You now are entitled to either a fridge-freezer or a seperate freezer.

Bob_Latchford

Ask if they had BER if you signed lease after last Jan (2009)

according to this site

http://www.greenme.ie/greenblog/2009/09/83-of-landlords-are-ignoring-ber-legislation/

without it lease is invalid

rosiejosie

gurramok, no dryer just a washer. The apartment is a good idea but we have dogs so it wouldn't work for us. We want to find a "proper" house, something that was built for a family to live in, if that makes sense, but having dogs makes it difficult to find places, sometimes you have to take what you can get. Not, that I'm complaining, they're worth it! When we moved here we never even thought of the BER, but we'll def be asking when we move

iguana

rosiejosie wrote: »

We want to find a "proper" house, something that was built for a family to live in, if that makes sense, but having dogs makes it difficult to find places, sometimes you have to take what you can get.

If you go on the advanced search on Daft.ie you can choose a "pets allowed" option on the search so will automatically see places that are ok with pets. I'm looking for a house in Dublin that I can have my dogs in and there are lots of options, what's difficult is finding a place near a park that I can actually walk them in.

In addition to that there is a rental over-supply in most places so it's easier to get landlords to agree to having pets. If you haven't already download the Property-Bee toolbar so you can see how long the property has been on the market and if the rental asking price has been changed. It puts you in a stronger position to negotiate.

Graces7

Re fridges not working.. the modern energy efficient ones cut out when the temperature in the room gets too low. We thought the one here was dead and made the landlord replace it to find the same thing; also our dehumidifier kept cutting our for the same reason.

We have a very cold house too as it is high altitude. Double glazing and bad condensation problems no matter how many windows open.
No central heating.

In the old days, Irish folk would keep a turf fire lit 24/7. Says a lot.

The dehumdifier is a boon; we bought it and have never regretted it. It pulls the damp in and takes the edge off the chill.

Bleach bottles make great hot water bottles also. We collect them

Ireland is one huge bog after all.. We have moved every year for five years... The last place before this was the worst; then the back wall and floor began pouring water in so we quit. Fast.. so now we need to face this one through and have survived the winter thankfully..

The_Conductor

I'd echo what Graces7 said about getting a dehumidifier. I'm in a modern building, with good insulation, in the Dublin area- and I remove ~20 litres a day of water from the environment (a shocking amount and I've no idea where its coming from........) I also run a commercial aircon unit on dehumidity settings in the summer- its reasonably energy efficient, and really helps upstairs in particular (where it gets incredibly hot and sticky).

In low humidity- we need less heating in the winter- and less cooling in the summer.......

goat2

Paulw wrote: »

It's damn cold weather.

A BER C rating is good, better than most homes.

You don't have to use freezer. If it wasn't working when you moved in, they're under no obligation to replace. Same with alarm.

As for dishwasher, sounds like a bad circuit, that should be easy enough to fix. Wash the dishes by hand until then.

Again, if it was leaking before you moved in ... they can get away with doing nothing, especially if they are trying to sell the premises.

I've my heating on all day here, and it's still cold. Mine is a modern (4 yr old) apt. I own it, so not much I can do. It's well insulated, but the weather outside with the wind and rain, and cold .... well ... not much I can do.

as far as i know anything over a year you have to give one months notice, then my guess under the year it could be one week look it up, but you have to give notice to get your deposit back, as for the freezer they do not have to see after, as for the garage it would not come into the frame either, dishwasher is another thing they did not have to supply, the weather is so cold these days the best of houses are not keeping the heat in, it is according to which part of country you are, some areas are much colder, the more nothwards we go the colder it is.

Graces7

We were in a situation last November; the lease had expired and neither agent not landlord had bothered to renew it. There were serious damp problems so we waited as if anything better came up..

In the heavy rains, water started pouring in through the floor; stone tiles had been laid on bare earth; and also in the hot press along the back wall.

We evacuated as fast as we could; the agent said that that was fine as there was no lease. We did get our deposit back but he still owes us for damage to our property.

He carped about the state of the place as he called it! But in several inches of water...

AARRRRGH

We have a BER rating of B and were still freezing this winter. Just had to have more heat. Its been a bad winter and people just dont understand, you just couldnt get by with the same amount of heat they usually use in winters in Ireland.


If you need more heat, then dont be too scabby to use more heat. You'll just suffer in the long run.

Dont dry clothes in your house/apartment. The moisture goes into the air and sucks the heat out and causes mold. It then takes more heat to heat this air again.

Open the windows every day for a while to allow air circulation. Wet stale air out, Fresh air in.

Never rent anywhere with worse than a BER rating of D. C or better is very good.

planetX

Graces7 beat me to it - about the operating temperature for fridge-freezers. Mine has switched itself off twice over this winter, because of the frigid temperatures in my house. Wasn't cold enough to stop every damn thing in the freezer defrosting though.
I'm getting seriously depressed by the houses I've rented. I get ice inside my windows on the cold nights, I have to microwave honey and nutella to spread a sandwich, as they've solidified in the cupboard. And now i'm getting burst capillaries on my face from going between extreme hot and cold (ie huddling the fire)
Next time you move try to factor in the heating costs. I know I've been spending far more on oil and coal than anyone I know who owns their own house, so I could probably have rented somewhere nicer for an extra 100 a month, and actually saved money. But then you don't really know till you move in what it's really like.

iguana

planetX wrote: »

Next time you move try to factor in the heating costs. I know I've been spending far more on oil and coal than anyone I know who owns their own house, so I could probably have rented somewhere nicer for an extra 100 a month, and actually saved money.

Another thing for renters to seriously pay attention to is the type of heating available. You don't want to be relying on electric heaters, and in so many rental houses/flats they are the only heating available.

Graces7

Indeed yes. There are night storage heaters here which we have never used as we cannot afford them.

The landlord then bought a superser; at least with that you pay as you use.

And we have the open fire.

Re fridges; I had also to move the computer printer out of that room as it refused to print. We are high altitude here and it affects temperature.

Al I got was a message re low temperature on it.

It has been a very unusual winter of course. So wait and see how things go now.. if it ever really warms up again

UOTE=iguana;64798217]Another thing for renters to seriously pay attention to is the type of heating available. You don't want to be relying on electric heaters, and in so many rental houses/flats they are the only heating available.[/QUOTE]

shoegirl

iguana wrote: »

Another thing for renters to seriously pay attention to is the type of heating available. You don't want to be relying on electric heaters, and in so many rental houses/flats they are the only heating available.

Thats just it. One of my big gripes with Daft is that a lot of advertisers tick the "central heating" box when it isn't there and gloss over it. Agreed you don't really know till you get there, but scour the photos of places to look for heaters.

ReeRee

planetX wrote: »

I'm getting seriously depressed by the houses I've rented. I get ice inside my windows on the cold nights, I have to microwave honey and nutella to spread a sandwich, as they've solidified in the cupboard. And now i'm getting burst capillaries on my face from going between extreme hot and cold (ie huddling the fire)
Next time you move try to factor in the heating costs. I know I've been spending far more on oil and coal than anyone I know who owns their own house, so I could probably have rented somewhere nicer for an extra 100 a month, and actually saved money. But then you don't really know till you move in what it's really like.

Amen. Am actually in that situation at the moment. Although it was the olive oil that froze, not the Nutella.

The_Conductor

Just remember you are entitled to a BER cert (energy rating cert) for any new tenancies. There are a lot of people out there who are unaware of this right. Tenants need to shop around and ensure that sound and temperature insulation are on their must have lists when renting........