Landlord problems, what can we do?

boo3000

Hi, we've been living in a rented room in a shared house with six other people, initially we got on fine with our landlord and he seemed quite reasonable. A no of problems started to occur, i won't list them all, don't want this to be a rant, generally cold and damp and no repairs! Two of the other tenants moved out and we started to have problems with the landlord having showings without informing us, he was also quite rude to my girlfriend saying he wanted her to clean the house before viewings. The house was clean if a little untidy and we explained that it wasn't our responsibility to clean up after other people. We told him we wanted to move out and he agreed to return our deposit, since then he keeps bringing people around without notice and on one occaision gave out because my girlfriend was in bed and he wanted to show the room. On another occaision he was showing the room of another tenant and walked into the room while the guy was in the en-suite shower. The lease says we have to allow viewings with reasonable notice in our final month. My question is, does this include bedrooms, are these not considered private space and secondly given how unreasonable the landlord has been so far can we now refuse viewings?

Any help greatly appreciated!

someuser905

kick him out if he didn't give notice

The Lovely Muffin

Your landlord cannot have any viewings without prior arrangement with you and any other tenants in the house.

From www.threshold.ie

Privacy

As a tenant you are entitled to quiet and peaceful enjoyment of your home. Your landlord is only allowed enter with your permission. If the landlord needs to carry out repairs or inspect the premises, it should be by prior arrangement with you. If the property is put up for sale, ask the landlord to agree viewing times with you. If your landlord repeatedly enters your flat without your permission contact Threshold for advice.

http://www.threshold.ie/page.asp?menu=70&page=240

Contact Threshold (and maybe PRTB?) and see what they say.

odds_on

What kind of lease do you all have? Is the house rented out as a single unit and every signed the same lease or do you all have separate leases? It makes a big difference.

boo3000

We all have seperate leases, he's saying he's going to give notice but he's done this before and doesn't stick to it, he'll just show up at another time anyway!

odds_on

boo3000 wrote: »

We all have seperate leases, he's saying he's going to give notice but he's done this before and doesn't stick to it, he'll just show up at another time anyway!

As you all have separate leases, which basically means that you have a lease for your own room and shared facilities. Therefore, the landlord is entitled to enter the house and move around the shared facilities. However, he cannot just enter the bedrooms of the tenants who are in occupancy. He has the right to show any vacant rooms only. For any other occupied bedrooms he requires the prior consent of the tenant which the tenant may refuse at his will.

If it is a fixed term lease, he cannot give you notice - it is a fixed term contract until the term expires. If at the end of the fixed term and the tenant wants to stay, he may elect to have a Part 4 lease and not sign another fixed term lease - the advantage being that the tenant may break a Part 4 lease by giving the appropriate written notice in the prescribed format. The disadvantage is that the landlord can also ask the tenant to leave but only under certain conditions, the two easiest ones for him is if he or a family member wants to live in the house or if he wants to sell the house.

Again, with individual leases in the same house but with shared facilities, the tenancies are not registered with the PRTB and neither landlord nor tenant can make a claim with the PRTB as this type of arrangement is outside the scope of the PRTB; this all hinges on the definition of dwelling as stated in the RTA 2004.

boo3000

Thanks for that odds on, great help. It was us who gave notice that we wanted to move out so were happy to go, at the time he said he would return the deposit but i don't know if he will now that we've had a row about viewing rooms, because we don't have any grounds with the PRTB where do we go if we don't get our deposits back? I've tried to be reasonable with the landlord on this, but i think he's gonna start to be difficult now and it's good to have info beforehand!

boo3000

Also just a general question on this, does this mean that landlords renting like this don't have to register anywhere and so it would be a lot easier to dodge tax?

odds_on

boo3000 wrote: »

Also just a general question on this, does this mean that landlords renting like this don't have to register anywhere and so it would be a lot easier to dodge tax?

That is correct - it's the same with live-in landlords. There is no dispute service and yes, the landlord could be dodging his tax liabilities, but then again, he may not be.

And as you are breaking the lease and not assigning it to someone else, it is fairly normal to forfeit your deposit.

boo3000

Well were breaking the lease but on the grounds that the place isn't up to scratch, there's been a leak in the room since we moved in it seems to be affecting the wiring, he already agreed to return the deposit can he break this agreement now?

odds_on

boo3000 wrote: »

Well were breaking the lease but on the grounds that the place isn't up to scratch, there's been a leak in the room since we moved in it seems to be affecting the wiring, he already agreed to return the deposit can he break this agreement now?

What to do if there is a problem in the accommodation
This is very important and very few tenants actually do this correctly, as a result, repairs or whatever are not done and the tenant is constantly phoning or texting the landlord. This goes on for weeks and weeks if not months and months.
If the tenant has an issue with anything in the property (appliance failure, pest infestation, problems with windows, floors, leaks, etc) that the landlord should maintain under his obligations, then the following steps should be taken:
1. Advise the landlord immediately either by phone or text.
2. Write to the landlord (keep a copy), date it and state the failure and give the landlord a reasonable time to remedy the failure. A reasonable time would normally be 7 – 14 days but may be less in serious cases. If the tenant does not give the landlord a time limit for the rectification of the failure, the problem will to drag on and on and on …….
3. Under normal circumstances, if the landlord does not rectify the failure within the time limit then he is in breach of his obligations. However, if he has to wait for new parts, then he would not be considered in breach as this is out of his control.
By keeping a copy of the letter advising the landlord about the failure, you have evidence to back yourself up should there be a claim with the PRTB as regards the landlord’s breach of his obligations.

If you have done the above, then you should be free to leave after a written period of notice (28 days) and be entitled to the return of your deposit. Again, keep a copy. There is an Example of Notice of Termination of Tenancy on the PRTB web site which can be used by either tenant or landlord.