Landlord entered house without permission

trishawisha

So me and Bf moved into a rented house in November, signed a one year lease. Last night 8.30 pm Landlord calls to the door and says hes thinking of the selling house and there's a viewing tomorrow at 3pm just to let you know.
We were a bit shocked, although we did understand his reasons; he lives too far away to work the farm that the house sits on properly.

So out of curiosity I found it on daft last night, complete with pictures,, including ones that have to have been taken last week. It shows my lovely red Mixer, lamp in sitting room etc. Nobody got permission to enter the house. I would assume LL and EA were both there. One day last week we came back from work and noticed a chair placed right in front of door, I think we both thought the other had done it, but its now obvious a picture was taken on top of chair.
What will I do next? Should I confront LL and make sure this does not happen again? What about our lease, we thought we would be here a good while- been renting last 8 years and finally found a house that ticked all the boxes.
Any advise helpful people?

djimi

A: your landlord is obliged to give you a minimum of 24 hours notice if he wants to enter the house, and thats at your convenience, so he cannot just announce that he will be arriving at a time and then expect to be let in.

B: He was trespassing on your property, and you have pictures on Daft to prove this. For the duration of your lease it is not his property, he has no rights whatsoever to enter it without your permission and what he did is no different from a stranger on the street breaking in.

C: The fixed term of your lease covers you as much as it does him, and he cannot sell teh house from underneath you. I could be wrong about this, but if he sells the house he does so with you as sitting tenants, and the new owners effectively take over as your landlords. They must honor the remainder of the term of the lease and cannot force you out.

Im not sure what course of action you can take; someone more knowledgable will weigh in Im sure, but I would certainly confront him about points A and B, remind him of his boundaries and your right to privacy as determined by law, and inform him that if this kind of thing happens again you will be persuing it further. What action you wish to take about the trespassing is at your discresion.

mathepac

http://www.threshold.ie/menu.asp?menu=96 - here you go all in one place

trishawisha

Thanks for replying, I just noticed this...

Security of Tenure

The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 affords greater security of tenure to tenants in the private rented sector. The landlord can terminate the tenancy without reason during the initial six months but once the tenancy has lasted six months, the landlord will only be able to end it on specific grounds. Acceptable grounds include the tenant not complying with their obligations (e.g. not paying their rent), the landlord intending to sell the dwelling and the landlord requiring the dwelling for his own occupation or for a family member. For a complete list of the acceptable reasons, contact Threshold.

The landlord must also give the tenant written notice of termination. The period of notice will depend on the duration of the tenancy.

Would this mean that because we have only been renting for 3 months, he could give us notice and we would have to leave? Less than 6 months only requires 28 days. Could this be right? and if so wtf point was the lease for if it does not hold us to the house for 1 year?

Went to MORE ABOUT LEASES on threshold

There is some confusion on how leases interrelate with the Residential Tenancies Act.

One area which confusion arises is where a landlord wishes to sell a property with vacant possession, but where the tenants have a current lease. Those landlords and their representatives believe that because section 34 of the Residential Tenancies Act provides that a 'Part 4' tenancy can be ended on the grounds that the landlord wishes to sell the property, this section can only be used to terminate a tenancy held under a lease.

Threshold and the Private Residential Tenancies Board do not share this interpretation. A landlord cannot terminate a tenancy held under a lease on the grounds that the landlord wishes to sell the property. The landlord can sell the property, but must do so subject to the tenancy. This interpretation is informed by Section 26 of the Residential Tenancies Act.

Section 26 provides that a tenant is entitled to greater security of tenure than that provided under 'Part 4' of the Act. 'Part 4' rights are a minimum level of security of tenure, not a maximum. It is not the case that Part 4 abolished the security of tenure provided by leases.

odds_on

djimi wrote: »

A: your landlord is obliged to give you a minimum of 24 hours notice if he wants to enter the house, and thats at your convenience, so he cannot just announce that he will be arriving at a time and then expect to be let in.

B: He was trespassing on your property, and you have pictures on Daft to prove this. For the duration of your lease it is not his property, he has no rights whatsoever to enter it without your permission and what he did is no different from a stranger on the street breaking in.

C: The fixed term of your lease covers you as much as it does him, and he cannot sell teh house from underneath you. I could be wrong about this, but if he sells the house he does so with you as sitting tenants, and the new owners effectively take over as your landlords. They must honor the remainder of the term of the lease and cannot force you out.

Im not sure what course of action you can take; someone more knowledgable will weigh in Im sure, but I would certainly confront him about points A and B, remind him of his boundaries and your right to privacy as determined by law, and inform him that if this kind of thing happens again you will be persuing it further. What action you wish to take about the trespassing is at your discresion.

Yes, djimi, basically correct in all you say.

OP, first of all advise the landlord in writing and keep a copy, that if he or his agent enters the property again, without your permission, you will make a claim with the PRTB for breach of landlord obligations by disturbing your "quiet enjoyment" of the property. The PRTB take a very dim view of this type of action by a landlord and can award damages.
You could quote: DR1573/2008 in which the landlord had to pay the tenant €1,500 for a breach of the Respondent Landlords obligations for unlawfully entering into the tenancy of the dwelling ..... There are others that I know of, but I won't quote them.

Furthermore, as he has breached his obligations on entering the property, you can rightfully deny him from viewings which was your prerogative in the first place.

The landlord is entitled to sell the house but, as djimi says, with you as sitting tenants. If you had a Part 4 lease, he would be entitled to give you a Notice of Termination with the appropriate notice period, depending on how long you have been in occupation. However, there is nothing he can do as you have a Fixed Term lease.

If you have been in the house for more than 6 months, you have probably acquired Part 4 rights, which allow you to remain in the property at the end of the Fixed Term. The landlord (either old or new) would then have to issue a Notice of Termination thus giving you over a month more in the house (just really to cause him hassle).

nibtrix

Just to add to what's been said, you are not obliged to allow viewings. The landlord is allowed to access the property, giving suitable notice, for inspection or repair purposes only.

If you decide to allow the viewings then you can specify times to the landlord. I was in a similar situation last year and we told the landlord that viewings could be Saturday mornings or Monday evenings only, and that we needed at least 3 days notice. We were present for all viewings.

As has been stated by other people, with a fixed term lease they can only sell the house with you as sitting tenants.

Based on the fact that the landlord is going to be unhappy and possibly cause hassle, and that you will have to move out in November, I would ask the landlord to release you from the lease, at a date of your choosing (i.e. when you've found a new place) and compensating you for the break in lease.

Ray Palmer

nibtrix wrote: »

Just to add to what's been said, you are not obliged to allow viewings. The landlord is allowed to access the property, giving suitable notice, for inspection or repair purposes only.

He can enter on the grounds of an emergency say a water leak or a suspect gas leak.

nibtrix

Ray Palmer wrote: »

nibtrix wrote: »

Just to add to what's been said, you are not obliged to allow viewings. The landlord is allowed to access the property, giving suitable notice, for inspection or repair purposes only.

He can enter on the grounds of an emergency say a water leak or a suspect gas leak.

Of course, thanks for pointing that out. I was going to put that in my post but figured it was a given.

I was just specifying that the whole "must give you 24 hours notice to enter" doesn't mean that he can enter under any pretext so long as he has given notice.

Jehuty42

Make sure to download the images from Daft straight away so you'll have them as proof if needed later on. Take some screenshots of the advert page too. Don't put this off.

odds_on

Ray Palmer wrote: »

He can enter on the grounds of an emergency say a water leak or a suspect gas leak.

Originally Posted by nibtrix
Of course, thanks for pointing that out. I was going to put that in my post but figured it was a given.

I was just specifying that the whole "must give you 24 hours notice to enter" doesn't mean that he can enter under any pretext so long as he has given notice.

This is one of the problems when answering questions - if we put in all the ifs and buts, we would be having much longer posts! That's why I often write: "Basically, ......". There is actually more to what I have said.

odds_on

Thanks for replying, I just noticed this...

Security of Tenure

The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 affords greater security of tenure to tenants in the private rented sector. The landlord can terminate the tenancy without reason during the initial six months but once the tenancy has lasted six months, the landlord will only be able to end it on specific grounds. Acceptable grounds include the tenant not complying with their obligations (e.g. not paying their rent), the landlord intending to sell the dwelling and the landlord requiring the dwelling for his own occupation or for a family member. For a complete list of the acceptable reasons, contact Threshold.

The landlord must also give the tenant written notice of termination. The period of notice will depend on the duration of the tenancy.

Would this mean that because we have only been renting for 3 months, he could give us notice and we would have to leave? Less than 6 months only requires 28 days. Could this be right? and if so wtf point was the lease for if it does not hold us to the house for 1 year?

Went to MORE ABOUT LEASES on threshold

Quote:
There is some confusion on how leases interrelate with the Residential Tenancies Act.

One area which confusion arises is where a landlord wishes to sell a property with vacant possession, but where the tenants have a current lease. Those landlords and their representatives believe that because section 34 of the Residential Tenancies Act provides that a 'Part 4' tenancy can be ended on the grounds that the landlord wishes to sell the property, this section can only be used to terminate a tenancy held under a lease.

Threshold and the Private Residential Tenancies Board do not share this interpretation. A landlord cannot terminate a tenancy held under a lease on the grounds that the landlord wishes to sell the property. The landlord can sell the property, but must do so subject to the tenancy. This interpretation is informed by Section 26 of the Residential Tenancies Act.

Section 26 provides that a tenant is entitled to greater security of tenure than that provided under 'Part 4' of the Act. 'Part 4' rights are a minimum level of security of tenure, not a maximum. It is not the case that Part 4 abolished the security of tenure provided by leases.

Last edited by trishawisha; Yesterday at 18:02.

Somewhere along the line I missed the above post.

Unfortunately, Threshold, in their wisdom and wanting to give a simple, concise and condensed version of the RT Act often fail to distinguish when they are referring to a Part 4 lease, a Fixed Term lease or both. Most of what you have quoted applies to PART 4 tenancies and not to fixed term tenancies.

You have a fixed term lease which basically (but with exceptions such as breach of lease) cannot be broken by landlord or tenant before the end of the fixed term.

Part 4 tenancies give the tenant better security of tenure to that available to tenancies before the RTA 2004 plus the added right to stay in a property at the end of a lease which has lasted more than 6 months.
Fixed Term tenancies are the most secure tenancies available in the Irish market and most landlords prefer to use Fixed term tenancies especially as their first lease with a tenant. After six months (without a Notice of Termination having been issued within those first six months) a tenant acquires Part 4 rights. This right allows the tenant to continue in occupation of the property if the tenant desires either with new Fixed term lease or a Part 4 lease.
A Part 4 is less secure as a landlord can, during its existence, issue a notice of termination but only under certain circumstances, one of which is if the landlord wants to sell the property within the next 3 months (with vacant possession.

As you have a fixed term lease, none of what you quoted above applies to you.