Deposit and extra charges!

andy125

Hello all,

When i moved into an apartment the rent was agreed at 500 euro a month and a banck draft was set to the landlord, Now the agent said that there was a 15euro refuge charge ontop of that per month, but i only set up the 500 euro bankdraft and not 515 as in the lease it says 500 euro. In the lease it does not mention a refuse charge, i said it to the agent recently about the bins and he said thats ok the bin charge will be taken out of ur depoist when your lease is up,

What im wondering can he do this as it is not written anywhere that i have to pay 15 euro for the bins and 500 for the apartment is more than enough already

snubbleste

Maybe you should not pay the electricity bills either?

andy125

snubbleste wrote: »

Maybe you should not pay the electricity bills either?

ESB is different obivously, most places have bins included in rent so that is why im asking where i stand on this. Its my first time renting so i am new to all of this.

djimi

If you were told about the refuse charge then why didnt you pay it?

andy125

djimi wrote: »

If you were told about the refuse charge then why didnt you pay it?

I forgot when i was putting in the bankdraft as i was just reading off the lease when entering the details for the bank. Its only he mentioned it recently that i remebered about it.

ProudDUB

OP, your land lord can with hold your deposit for just two reasons 1. Non payment of rent. 2. Repairs and/or cleaning over what would be considered normal wear and tear.

The bin charges may be valid charges, but it is up to him to include them in the initial rental amount asked for. If he did not do that, he can not come to you after the fact and insist that you pay them, or take the fees out of your deposit.

Tell the estate agent that you are aware of your rights in this matter, and that you will file a claim against the landlord with the the PRTB if he attempts to deduct bin fees from your deposit. The estate agent is a professional. He probably knows all that already. He is just chancing his arm on you not knowing your rights.

andy125

ProudDUB wrote: »

OP, your land lord can with hold your deposit for just two reasons 1. Non payment of rent. 2. Repairs and/or cleaning over what would be considered normal wear and tear.

The bin charges may be valid charges, but it is up to him to include them in the initial rental amount asked for. If he did not do that, he can not come to you after the fact and insist that you pay them, or take the fees out of your deposit.

Tell the estate agent that you are aware of your rights in this matter, and that you will file a claim against the landlord with the the PRTB if he attempts to deduct bin fees from your deposit. The estate agent is a professional. He probably knows all that already. He is just chancing his arm on you not knowing your rights.

Thanks for your anwser, greatly appreciated.

ProudDUB

No probs. Just FYI, the PRTB are notoriously slow to act. It can take up to a year to get a hearing date from them, never mind come to a decision. If/when you are moving out of your current house, and you need a deposit on another one, have a back up Plan B in place in case your deposit from this house remains tied up for a while.

fasttalkerchat

What ProudDUB says about the deposit is correct, however, assuming that you live in the Republic...

In the republic you have to pay for bin collection everywhere so you can't assume that this will be included in your rent. Unless bin collection is in your contract as included in rent I would say that you are liable for this. How they can chase you up for it is a different matter.

matrim

A lot of leases have a clause that you are responsible for all bills during your stay and the landlord could claim that because of a clause like this you are responsible for the refuse charge.

Icepick

He can't force you to pay if you don't want to, but that means that you won't have your bins collected, and that can breach the agreement.

n900guy

andy125 wrote: »

Hello all,

When i moved into an apartment the rent was agreed at 500 euro a month and a banck draft was set to the landlord, Now the agent said that there was a 15euro refuge charge ontop of that per month, but i only set up the 500 euro bankdraft and not 515 as in the lease it says 500 euro. In the lease it does not mention a refuse charge, i said it to the agent recently about the bins and he said thats ok the bin charge will be taken out of ur depoist when your lease is up,

What im wondering can he do this as it is not written anywhere that i have to pay 15 euro for the bins and 500 for the apartment is more than enough already

I think it's pretty bad form to try and not pay your own bin collection charges by using the literal wording of the lease. I mean, come on. You are basically trying to use PTRB or other legal means to avoid paying your €15 of bin charges which you full well know are your own responsibility and not the landlords.

What is the honest and proper thing here?

the_syco

You can not pay it, but then you won't have your bins collected.
But I am curious why they didn't let you know about it before

djimi

A landlord is entitled to retain part/all of your deposit in order to settle unpaid public utility bills, so I really dont see why you feel you have a leg to stand on here. You were told about the bin charge and you didnt pay it.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/landlords_rights_and_obligations.html

As a landlord, you may withhold a deposit (or part of a deposit) only if:

The tenant has not given you proper notice when leaving
You have been left with outstanding bills (i.e., public utilities) or rent
The tenant has caused damage beyond normal wear and tear.

odds_on

Read your lease as most leases will have a clause similar to this:

To pay promptly to the authorities or the landlord or to whomever they are due, any and all local authority charges, refuse charges and any and all outgoings including gas, water, electricity, cable television and telephone if any, relating to the property.

sexymama

I am Landlord and pay the bin charges which are included in the yearly service charges.I do not pass this charge onto the tenant but maybe I am in the minority!

SM

djimi

sexymama wrote: »

I am Landlord and pay the bin charges which are included in the yearly service charges.I do not pass this charge onto the tenant but maybe I am in the minority!

SM

Im yet to come across a landlord who doesnt include the bin charges in the total rent, but I only really look at apartments so it might be different for houses.

sexymama

hi djimi!
It is an apartment that I have.I have had the same tenants for the past 7 years so just have left things the way they have always been from the start.
Maybe if that ever changes in the future I might reconsider!

SM

matrim

from my experience apartments normally have bin charges included in the rent. I think because they are sometimes included in the management fees.

I've found houses are more likely to let the tenant pay

ted1

if its a comunal bin as found in apartments then the charge in included in the rent. if it is a service where you pay pper weight or per lift then this involves an individual subcrription from the end user and hence the tenant must pay.