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Breaking a lease

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  • 30-01-2011 9:11pm
    #1
    aance
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2 ✭


    I just moved in a flat with a 6 months contract.
    My flat is very cold: 12°c with central heating fully on and 15°c with second electric heater.
    I would like to move out but the lease specify that I would loose my deposit if breaking the lease.
    Would I have any rights to keep my deposit knowing the difficult conditions?


Comments

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    #2
    forestfruits
    Registered Users Posts: 572 ✭✭✭forestfruits


    I think you have to inform landlord of heating issues and allow them time to repair- do this in writing to cover yourself. If not repaired you could break the lease as they have not lived up to their obligations as a landlord.

    Alternatively I think you can break a tenancy agreement if you give notice- usually 28 days


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    #3
    Treora
    Registered Users Posts: 376 ✭✭Treora


    CC the prtb and buy some thermal underwear.

    Your radiators, if old, may have air bubbles. Is the top part cold and the bottom hot? Get a radiator key, one might be hidden in your home, youtube how to remove the air from your radiators.

    Get your hands on a thermometer and make a short movie on your phone showing that the heat is on full and that the rooms are freezing.

    See if any central heating plumbers in your area offer free quotes. Get a few of them in and send the best quote off to the landlord saying that you could get it done and remove the cost from your rent. Make sure the plumber is insured and that you get a water tight contract.

    If you are using electrical heaters to suppliment your central heating and/or your central heating works off gas then consider changing to bord gais or airtricity.

    Search for some energy efficient sites (start with SEI and youtube) on how to improve room temperature cheaply. Remove hidden draughts and look for ways of improving window insulation (a cheap wooden homemade frame and some clear heavy duty plastic), but make sure that you have plenty of vents open to keep down moisture content and CO2 levels.

    Email your landlord on all the SEI grants s/he can get for insultating your place. The motivation for him/her is that the value will be retained by ensuring that there is no rising damp.

    Wear a hat, an old tradition in older and colder times in Ireland was to wear a woolen hat to bed.


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    #4
    aance
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2 ✭aance


    Thank you for your messages.
    The one radiator is not broken and is fully working but it is not enough for the size of the room and the fact that there is many drafts due to bad isolation.
    I'm using as a supplement an electric heater but again that brings me to only 15 degrees.
    The tenancy agreement stipulate that I will loose my deposit WITH 28 days notice.
    I was just wondering if I could have any back up not to loose my deposit as the flat is not suitable.

    PS: I already do look like a cosmonaut in my flat to keep myself warm wrapped in layers of clothes...


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