Landlady not registered with PRTB?

smurfy89

Hi, I had been living in a house in Sligo for the last 8 months. I cannot seem to find it registered anywhere on the PRTB website even though the landlady insists that I should be able to find it registered there somewhere.

She is refusing to give back my deposit and only once I moved out she told me that she wasn't happy with me moving out and that I should have gotten a person to fill the room before leaving. I gave her over a months notice stating that I would be leaving the house by the end of this week.

Just wondering if she is meant to have my tenancy registered with the PRTB or just the house? I can't even find the house on the website.

Would my lease even have been valid or legal with her if she is not registered?

Thanks

oakshade

I'm a (hopfully decent) landlord and to the best of my knowledge my tenants got a letter from the PRTB when I registered there moving in?? Get in touch with PRTB or you may be able to take him/her to small claims court to reclaim the deposit.

smurfy89

Thanks. I thought that I should have gotten a letter alright as I did the first house I was registered in.
Have just emailed the PRTB reporting the house as being un-registered and another email to them regarding the situation with the deposit.
Think I just have to deal with the PRTB for now! Hopefully I will get it back

eezarthegreat

smurfy89 wrote: »

Hi, I had been living in a house in Sligo for the last 8 months. I cannot seem to find it registered anywhere on the PRTB website even though the landlady insists that I should be able to find it registered there somewhere.

She is refusing to give back my deposit and only once I moved out she told me that she wasn't happy with me moving out and that I should have gotten a person to fill the room before leaving. I gave her over a months notice stating that I would be leaving the house by the end of this week.

Just wondering if she is meant to have my tenancy registered with the PRTB or just the house? I can't even find the house on the website.

Would my lease even have been valid or legal with her if she is not registered?

Thanks

As far as I know LL's are MEANT to be registered with the PRTB. Mine isn't, I kinda' have a similar issue. How were you paying rent per month? What method?

Sadly, I rang the PRTB on several occassions to report my LL and they're very laxy-dazy about it but as a member of boards mentioned in my post, I could ring the Revenue and report him.

oakshade wrote: »

I'm a (hopfully decent) landlord and to the best of my knowledge my tenants got a letter from the PRTB when I registered there moving in?? Get in touch with PRTB or you may be able to take him/her to small claims court to reclaim the deposit.

If you're registered then I'd bet your tennants got one. But in this case, and like my LL, the fact that the LL isn't registered probably means it's the OP didn't

eezarthegreat

smurfy89 wrote: »

Thanks. I thought that I should have gotten a letter alright as I did the first house I was registered in.
Have just emailed the PRTB reporting the house as being un-registered and another email to them regarding the situation with the deposit.
Think I just have to deal with the PRTB for now! Hopefully I will get it back

Contact Threshhold too:

http://threshold.ie/

These guys are generally great and act like a medium between you and the LL. I'd bet they're your best chance to get some money back

niallers1

Just becuase the house is not on the PRTB website doesn't mean the tennancy isn't registered.

In my experience they can take months to get anything done with the PRTB.

If you move out of a place it's not your job to get a replacement. It is great if you can do that but you are under no obligation.

If you had a lease for a year then you are breaking it so she is entitled to withhold your deposit unless you are moving out because she broke a condition of the lease.

Your terms and conditions on your lease make up a contract to which you are bound.

smurfy89

Yeah I will definitely be reporting them to the Revenue.

Was paying cash in hand every month :rolleyes: They never wanted anything put into bank accounts or anything. I put 2 months rent into their accounts on seperate occasions and have both receipts.
All bills were included in rent so that ensured everything was in their name.

Sent an email to threshold earlier too.

Waiting on the landlady to get back to me now after I asked for my registration details with the PRTB and said I am entitled to them. Will see how I get on!

eezarthegreat

smurfy89 wrote: »

Yeah I will definitely be reporting them to the Revenue.

Was paying cash in hand every month :rolleyes: They never wanted anything put into bank accounts or anything. I put 2 months rent into their accounts on seperate occasions and have both receipts.
All bills were included in rent so that ensured everything was in their name.

Sent an email to threshold earlier too.

Waiting on the landlady to get back to me now after I asked for my registration details with the PRTB and said I am entitled to them. Will see how I get on!

Yeah see what she says. You'll have the Revenue as the absolute last resort but I'd definitely call them. Whether before or after you get sorted - too many LL's think they can get away with this and by the sounds of things both yours and mine are about to get a serious wake-up call

let us know how you get on!

Ray Palmer

Revenue or PRTB have nothing to do with you one way or the other. The OP is breaking the lease and can be held to rest of the lease regardless of notice given.

Many landlords do not trust bank transfers because a tenant claims bank problems etc to avoid paying rent.

ztoical

Are you renting a whole house under one lease or just a room?

smurfy89

Was just one room.

Have asked for details of the house being registered with the PRTB and if my tenancy had been registered and she just keeps ignoring the question. She keeps telling me I've broken the contract and that I have no legal rights.

I've all my rent paid up to date and have done nothing to break the contract apart from move my things out and ask for my deposit after I gave her notice. She won't tell me how she thinks I've broken the contract either!

Milk & Honey

You are not covered by the PRTB. You were not leasing a dwelling which is essential before the RTA 2004 kicks in. Try the small claims court.

ztoical

smurfy89 wrote: »

Was just one room.

If your just renting a room in a house then the tenancy would not be reg'd with the PRTB. It's only if you were renting the house as a whole.

Victor

smurfy89 wrote: »

Have asked for details of the house being registered with the PRTB and if my tenancy had been registered and she just keeps ignoring the question. She keeps telling me I've broken the contract and that I have no legal rights.

Is there a written lease or similar document that you signed?

Did you agree to stay for a specific period?

Agent J

I dont know where people are getting the idea that the OP isnt covered by the PRTB. They havent given enough data.

Here is a list of what isnt covered.

https://www.prtb.ie/faq.aspx#Q10

Tl;dr version is If you actually live with the landlord you arent covered. Otherwise you pretty much are. Even if it just one room.

The thing about PRTB registration is that they Landlord cannot file a complaint aganist the tennat without it. The tennant always can.

So you file your complaint and they wont get very far if they try to counter claim for early termination.

Milk & Honey

PRTB decision which was posted on their own website.

"Tribunal Reference Number TR10/DR532&589/2006.
Reasons for Decision of the Tribunal

On the facts agreed by the Parties the Tenant was not entitled to occupation of a “self-contained residential unit”.

Under the agreement entered into in December 2003 the Tenant is merely entitled to exclusive occupation of one bedroom and he shares other facilities including the kitchen, bathroom facilities and reception area facilities with other occupants.

The Landlord was of the view that the Tenant was not entitled to put a new lock onto the bedroom door. The Tenant contested this.

It is clear from the evidence that the letting does not come within the definition of “dwelling” as set out in section 4 of the Act of 2004. The shared facilities afforded to the Tenant could not be considered to be a “bed-sit” or any other form of “self-contained residential unit”. "


The PRTB therefore has no application at all. This is so whether the Landlord resides in the building or not. Unless all of the tenants are on the same lease in which case the entire is a letting of a dwelling there is no need to register.

shadowcomplex

If your only renting a room in a house or apartment then you didnt sign a lease and can move out whenever you want as long as you give a months notice, small claims court is the only way, I am personally sick to death of landlords in this country, so many of them refuse to pay back the deposit, how can people be so dishonourable, its leaves people with no choice but to not pay the last months rent to ensure they get their deposit back,the thing is the deposit should go to a 3rd party, why should the landlord get to hold on to the deposit, its your word against there when you move out, in alot of other countries the deposit goes to an impartial 3rd body

Agent J

Milk & Honey wrote: »

The PRTB therefore has no application at all. This is so whether the Landlord resides in the building or not. Unless all of the tenants are on the same lease in which case the entire is a letting of a dwelling there is no need to register.

That makes no sense.

1) Why are the PRTB publishing a decision in something they have no authority over?

2) Any landlord letting individual rooms out on a lease could get done for not providing basic cooking & sanitation for each room. If those facilities are supposed to shared then the tenacy is shared.

3)That creates a massive loophole which doesnt make sense when you read through the PRTB FAQ when it comes to changing names on tenacies.
And again here is there own list of what they do not cover

https://www.prtb.ie/faq.aspx#Q10

I'm going to take the FAQ & the 2004 act over an interpretation of a decision over an unrelated matter.

The fact that if the landlord is resident is a very important fact. It is stated clearly that it isnt covered by the PRTB

Milk & Honey

That is the PRTB's own decision. They have the authority to decide whether any letting is covered by the Act or not. That is what they did in that case. It makes no difference whether the Landlord lives in the dwelling or not. (the landlord didn't in that case.). The FAQ's were produced before that decision and have not been updated.
Stating that to comply with the standards in rented dwellings means that only entire dwellings can be let would have the effect that people like the o/p would be forced into partnerships with other individuals unknown to them. The cure would be worse than the disease. In any event the o/p was a licensee and not a tenant.

Agent J

That still does not answer why they have given a decision on something they have no jurisdiction over.

*reads the case*
Ah, the answer is they didnt. They washed their hands of it. And judging by the length and the amount appeals they seemed to have just given up.

Decisions are only binding on that one case .A decision on one cannot be infered as to how any other case would go. Also that case was about a tenacy which existed preceed the 2004 act. My reading of it is that any set up like that has to be a shared tennacy agreement.

Anyway. This is all off topic anyway. My point is the OP still can take a case and the PRTB will tell them pretty quickly if they have grounds or not.

The fact the landlady lived with them is material as it automatically excludes it from the PRTB without question.