Landlord is a cowboy and wont sign dole offices landlord form

iii Stevo iii

Basically my landlord is a cowboy.
I finished college in May and am staying on in my college rented house for the summer.
Applied for the dole when I finished college and have my means test next week.
Landlord came for rent on the first this month and I asked him to sign my dole landlord form.
He said no. He doesn't rent to people on social welfare.
Basically hes evading tax. (we knew he was a cowboy from the start as he wouldnt give us a lease, but we didnt really mind as rent and location of house was very reasonable)

Now I'm in a situation where my bank statements are sent out to this address, (required by dole office and acting as another form of proof of address) and I am living and paying rent here but I cant prove this to the dole office without the landlord form.

What are my options?

Talking to a few people:
"Move house" Not really an option, well not as the means test is next week. Plus id imagine i would have trouble getting deposit back off landlord.

"Explain situation to dole office" Id imagine this would not go down well and they would think I was the cowboy.

"Forge the document, use his name but put down a false address and a friends phone number". Been honest this is appealing to me as the best option. Thinking I could also put down one of the lads names in the house and if anything comes of it just say I was subletting off him and never had any dealings with the landlord.

Interested to hear what people think my options are

pirelli

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

Basically my landlord is a cowboy.
I finished college in May and am staying on in my college rented house for the summer.
Applied for the dole when I finished college and have my means test next week.
Landlord came for rent on the first this month and I asked him to sign my dole landlord form.
He said no. He doesn't rent to people on social welfare.
Basically hes evading tax. (we knew he was a cowboy from the start as he wouldnt give us a lease, but we didnt really mind as rent and location of house was very reasonable)

Now I'm in a situation where my bank statements are sent out to this address, (required by dole office and acting as another form of proof of address) and I am living and paying rent here but I cant prove this to the dole office without the landlord form.

What are my options?

Talking to a few people:
"Move house" Not really an option, well not as the means test is next week. Plus id imagine i would have trouble getting deposit back off landlord.

"Explain situation to dole office" Id imagine this would not go down well and they would think I was the cowboy.

"Forge the document, use his name but put down a false address and a friends phone number". Been honest this is appealing to me as the best option. Thinking I could also put down one of the lads names in the house and if anything comes of it just say I was subletting off him and never had any dealings with the landlord.

Interested to hear what people think my options are

Find out if he is registered with the prtb,
Contact threshold and ask them.. that is their job.

alwaysadub

AFAIK,but i could be wrong, he doesn't really hate a choice, and has to accept the rent allowance if you get it.
The HSE would know for sure.

Don't forge anything though- you'll only make things worse. You will be found out.

iii Stevo iii

pirelli wrote: »

Find out if he is registered with the prtb,
Contact threshold and ask them.. that is their job.

Right lets say I do that, how does that help me with my means test next week? If anything its going to out the landlord, and then in turn leave my housemates and myself without a house (and dole for me).

alwaysadub wrote: »

AFAIK,but i could be wrong, he doesn't really hate a choice, and has to accept the rent allowance if you get it.
The HSE would know for sure.

Don't forge anything though- you'll only make things worse. You will be found out.

I'm not looking for rent allowance, this is just the means test to see if I am eligible for the dole.

What are the repercussions if I did put down false info on a dole form? Purely based on the fact that my landlord is not above board.

In essence I am paying my rent each week, everything on my side is above board, I'm not trying to scam money from the government.

pirelli

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

Basically my landlord is a cowboy.
I finished college in May and am staying on in my college rented house for the summer.
Applied for the dole when I finished college and have my means test next week.
Landlord came for rent on the first this month and I asked him to sign my dole landlord form.
He said no. He doesn't rent to people on social welfare.
Basically hes evading tax. (we knew he was a cowboy from the start as he wouldnt give us a lease, but we didnt really mind as rent and location of house was very reasonable)

Now I'm in a situation where my bank statements are sent out to this address, (required by dole office and acting as another form of proof of address) and I am living and paying rent here but I cant prove this to the dole office without the landlord form.

What are my options?

Talking to a few people:
"Move house" Not really an option, well not as the means test is next week. Plus id imagine i would have trouble getting deposit back off landlord.

"Explain situation to dole office" Id imagine this would not go down well and they would think I was the cowboy.

"Forge the document, use his name but put down a false address and a friends phone number". Been honest this is appealing to me as the best option. Thinking I could also put down one of the lads names in the house and if anything comes of it just say I was subletting off him and never had any dealings with the landlord.

Interested to hear what people think my options are

Is this about rent allowance. The landlord is required by law to provide you witha rent book, If this is not about rent allowance and just job seekers benefit then tell the social welfare and they can not refuse you if you have rent book and are means tested at that address and have proof of address.

shinikins

Repercussions are that you would not be given ANY dole, and you may be effectively banned from applying for it again for several months. Theres absolutely no benefit to you trying to spoof the welfare system, do what someone else suggested and report him, they can be pretty quick about doing something. Be honest when you have your means test and tell them that your landlord is dragging his heels, they've come across your situation many times before and you won't be the last either.

iii Stevo iii

pirelli wrote: »

Is this about rent allowance. The landlord is required by law to provide you witha rent book, If this is not about rent allowance and just job seekers benefit then tell the social welfare and they can not refuse you if you have rent book and are means tested at that address and have proof of address.

No this is about the standard means test to see if I'm eligible to draw the dole.

He has never issued a rent book.

Social welfare told me what I needed:
Proof of address
Bank Statements
Proof of finishing college
Lease from landlord (told them I didn't have one then they gave me a special form for the landlord to fill out)

He will not fill out this form.

So I do not know what to do.

iii Stevo iii

shinikins wrote: »

Repercussions are that you would not be given ANY dole, and you may be effectively banned from applying for it again for several months. Theres absolutely no benefit to you trying to spoof the welfare system, do what someone else suggested and report him, they can be pretty quick about doing something. Be honest when you have your means test and tell them that your landlord is dragging his heels, they've come across your situation many times before and you won't be the last either.

Thanks for the reply.

My worry about reporting him is messing up all my housemates summer. I dont know what happens when you report someone but Id imagine they would be on his case pretty quick, then I would assume me and my housemates would be out on our asses pretty quick too. We have no lease.

alwaysadub

Explain to the SW that he's being difficult and see what they say. I doubt you're the 1st person it's happened to.

As someone above said, if you're caught out for forging the document, you'll have no chance of getting any dole.

ANXIOUS

If I was you I'd forge it. No point ruinning it for you and your friends. But from reading other threads might get messy if you tried claiming rent allowance.

pirelli

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

No this is about the standard means test to see if I'm eligible to draw the dole.

He has never issued a rent book.

Social welfare told me what I needed:
Proof of address
Bank Statements
Proof of finishing college
Lease from landlord (told them I didn't have one then they gave me a special form for the landlord to fill out)

He will not fill out this form.

So I do not know what to do.

Make sure you have every document for the means test including how you pay your rent etc and get a rent book and force the landlord to fill it out.

You also have to be signed on with fas and it might help if you had some proof of looking for work lying around.

Does the landlord only have to sign the form or actually fill it out himself.

cee_jay

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

"Forge the document, use his name but put down a false address and a friends phone number". Been honest this is appealing to me as the best option. Thinking I could also put down one of the lads names in the house and if anything comes of it just say I was subletting off him and never had any dealings with the landlord.

Interested to hear what people think my options are

That's fraud and never a good course of action. Explain the situation to the office. It won't be the first time they have seen it.

Anyone else advocating this course of action will be banned for a week.

tenchi-fan

He probably isn't declaring his rental income.

First, a warning. If in the unlikely event your landlord is non-resident you are liable for the tax.
Second, don't forge his signature, it can get you in a lot of trouble!

If he refuses to sign the form, here is what I would do :

1, fill out the entire form and just leave his signature blank.
2, Open Microsoft word and type the following.

Landlord Name: A.N. Other
Landlord Address: 15 South Street
Property Address: 54 Mill Street
Tenant Name: Your Name
Rent: €50 per week
Deposit: €400
Schedule of payments:
14 June 2010 €50
21 June 2010 €50
28 June 2010 €50
etc

Explain to the dole office that your landlord refused to sign a lease but you have helpfully prepared the attached schedule to facilitate your claim. Bring along any bills which are addressed to the property but are in your name, and if you gave your landlord a cheque at any stage give the dole office details of the cheque (you could even ask the bank for a copy of the cheque)

Grumpypants

Good god do not lie on any social welfare documents or forge any signatures. you will just get yourself in trouble for something that someone else is doing.

Tell them in the interview that the land lord refused to sign the form and you are unsure what to do. The social are not out to trick or scam you. The landlord on the other hand doesnt something seems fishy.

dlambirl

alwaysadub wrote: »

Explain to the SW that he's being difficult and see what they say. I doubt you're the 1st person it's happened to.

As someone above said, if you're caught out for forging the document, you'll have no chance of getting any dole.

+1 - Explain to the S.W that your landlord is being awkward.

And DONT forge anything. You will get yourself into major bother

I applied for dole a few years ago, I was living in a houseshare and I had nothing to do with the landlord. I was not applying for rent allowance either. I don't even know if the landlord was above board as my housemate dealt with him, I just paid the rent to my housemate. What happened with the social welfare was that I had to get a letter from my housemate stating the rent I paid per month to him. (I wrote it for him since it wasn't really his problem, he signed it). This was accepted by social welfare as proof of the amount of rent I was paying, the landlord's name and address never came into it. This was in 2006, things may have changed since?

iii Stevo iii

Deleted User wrote: »

I applied for dole a few years ago, I was living in a houseshare and I had nothing to do with the landlord. I was not applying for rent allowance either. I don't even know if the landlord was above board as my housemate dealt with him, I just paid the rent to my housemate. What happened with the social welfare was that I had to get a letter from my housemate stating the rent I paid per month to him. (I wrote it for him since it wasn't really his problem, he signed it). This was accepted by social welfare as proof of the amount of rent I was paying, the landlord's name and address never came into it. This was in 2006, things may have changed since?

I think this is my best option so far.
Ill try it and see how it goes.

gaytony

The exact same thing happened to me last year! how I dealt with it was by explaining my situation to the Social Welfare , started to look for a new house and made it clear to the landlord if he tried to do me out of my deposit I would present Treshhold with receipts of my paid rent and also the EBS bills as proof that he was renting to me.

OmeGar

Have seen similar cases in the past. The office will normally have a procedure for dealing with this. (They may accept bank statements and bills or they may ask the SWI to drop into your home).

Simply be honest. Your landlord is breaking the law as i doubt he has registered the tenancy with the PRTB, and is not paying Tax on the income he gains from his rental property.

I would suggest that you start looking for somewhere better to live in the medium term, as it won't help your case now.