Difficulties With Landlord

CA88

Just looking for some opinions/advice on this. I have been in my property for almost 6 months now, pay my rent, keep myself to myself etc. There are a number of issues which started to appear once I moved in such as the bathroom sink leaking, broken light switches and so on. The worst however is the kitchen ceiling. The problem started about 6 weeks ago when the heavy rain began to hit. I noticed a leak in the ceiling, stuck a bucket under it and informed the landlord straight away. As with all the faults, he's round the house within an hour. But then that's it, you never see him again and then the problem is never actually fixed. With the rain having been so torrential, the ceiling is now sagging a lot, plaster board is gradually coming away from the wall edges and a chunk of the plaster board actually fell down. The wall to the back of this is also wet to the touch when the weather is really bad. I txt and left him a voicemail again yesterday, 6 weeks after he told me he would get it fixed, and still nothing. Never mind the other issues in the house.

I phoned Threshold who told me the best thing to do would be to contact my local council and report it to Environmental Health who would then do an inspection and basically order him to carry out the repairs. Thing is, I find the landlord a bit intimidating to be honest and don't want him showing up getting angry at me. Also, he isn't registered with the PRTB so isn't exactly doing things by the book, I only found this out last week. Any advice? Would be much appreciated

SweetCaliber

Don't mind his intimidation. These problems can get serious and for the safety of your family I would definately get onto the council about it.

CA88

Yeah think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and contact the council, I know I'm completely within my rights it's just so stressful. Have found out so much about this man since I moved in here, if I'd known before there's no way I would have rented from him. Basically a 'business man' with no concern for individuals.

SweetCaliber

CA88 wrote: »

Yeah think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and contact the council, I know I'm completely within my rights it's just so stressful. Have found out so much about this man since I moved in here, if I'd known before there's no way I would have rented from him. Basically a 'business man' with no concern for individuals.

Exactly and unless forced to he probably won't do anything and that being said the problems would just get worse and worse and could pose a huge safety risk for you and your family.

MitchKoobski

OP this is gonna sound weird, but I'm like 70% sure I used to live in that house and had the same problems. Rice Park area or thereabouts?

CA88

Not quite, no doubt there's a fair few of these types around though. Unfortunately.

MitchKoobski

Ah well, even the description of the landlord fitted the landlord I had perfectly.

CA88

Threshold said to basically let him know I'm going to the council and also to mention the PRTB so he realises I'm serious. He has 3 properties (that I know of) and none of them are registered.

daenerysstormborn3

CA88 wrote: »

I phoned Threshold who told me the best thing to do would be to contact my local council and report it to Environmental Health who would then do an inspection and basically order him to carry out the repairs. Thing is, I find the landlord a bit intimidating to be honest and don't want him showing up getting angry at me. Also, he isn't registered with the PRTB so isn't exactly doing things by the book, I only found this out last week. Any advice? Would be much appreciated

Contact the council. In my experience Dublin City Council take complaints like these very seriously so I would imagine other councils do too.

Oh and please take photos and keep a record of all your communications with the landlord. Keep any texts, e-mails, letters, you should think about writing down anything said in a phone conversation relating to the problems with the house.

ex_infantry man

its a health and safety issue and should be reported and so should he as ya said he aint registered and could'nt give two fcuks once ya pay your rent!!! simple stop paying your rent

CA88

Have left them a message so here's hoping they can help me next week.

ex_infantry man

fingers crossed for ya

CA88

ex_infantry man wrote: »

fingers crossed for ya

Thanks!

ex_infantry man

don't take crap from him you have rights as a tenant

SweetCaliber

Agreed with ex_infantry_man.

Also from citizensinformation:

Obligations of a landlord

As a landlord, you must:
Make sure that the property meets certain minimum standards

One of those being:

Ensure that the house is in a proper state of structural repair. This means that it must be essentially sound with roof, floors, ceilings, walls and stairs in good repair and not subject to serious dampness or rotting. The new Regulations strengthen this requirement with effect from 1 December 2009 (see below)

Therefore:


If your home does not meet the minimum standards

Local authorities enforce these standards, so if you think that your home does not comply with the minimum standards, you should complain to the local authority whether you are a local authority tenant or housing association tenant. If you are a private tenant and you think your accommodation is sub-standard or your landlord refuses to carry out repairs that are included on the aforementioned list, you can ask the local authority to make the landlord comply with these standards. See 'Where to apply' below.

Failure to comply with the minimum standards can result in penalties and prosecution. Housing authorities can issue Improvement Notices and Prohibition Notices to landlords who breach the minimum standards regulations. An Improvement Notice sets out the works that the landlord must carry out to remedy a breach of the regulations. If the landlord does not do these works, the housing authority may issue a Prohibition Notice, directing the landlord not to re-let the property until the breach of the regulations has been rectified.

Further disputes between landlords and tenants in the private sector can be mediated by the Private Residential Tenancies Board.

So don't let him get away with this!

CA88

Cheers lee3155, really useful information. Will let you all know how I get on next week.

Hoffmans

sounds like you have a "slumlord" - definition:
a parasitic leech that rents out shyte property and endeavours to make the maxium money out of it to line his greasy pockets...

CA88

Still no reply from Environmental Health and have left 3 messages now, grrrr!

SweetCaliber

CA88 wrote: »

Still no reply from Environmental Health and have left 3 messages now, grrrr!

Head down to the council offices and tell them that your getting no reply from Environmental Health and that the problem is increasing a safety risk on you and your family.

Luckycharms_74

CA88 wrote: »

Yeah think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and contact the council, I know I'm completely within my rights it's just so stressful. Have found out so much about this man since I moved in here, if I'd known before there's no way I would have rented from him. Basically a 'business man' with no concern for individuals.

I hope you get sorted on this. Contact the council & PRTB. As you said he is a business man & he has no regard for your issues it seems. Its guys like this that give Landlords a bad name.

I'm a landlord. I'm registered with PRTB and council for the NPPR charges as well. It's piece of mind for both landlord and tenant if any issues arise the PRTB can deal with it.

Good luck with resolving your issues

CA88

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

I hope you get sorted on this. Contact the council & PRTB. As you said he is a business man & he has no regard for your issues it seems. Its guys like this that give Landlords a bad name.

I'm a landlord. I'm registered with PRTB and council for the NPPR charges as well. It's piece of mind for both landlord and tenant if any issues arise the PRTB can deal with it.

Good luck with resolving your issues

Good to hear from a landlord, still no reply from council (or landlord!) so will take a trip down to them my next day off.

invalid

for the OP, the Environmental Health officer is not the person to contact in this case. You need to contact the Housing Section in City Hall. the procedure is this:

You contact Housing with the house and landlord details.
Housing will organise to inspect the house. You do not have to inform the landlord that you contacted the Council. They act on information from loads of different sources..
Following the inspection the landlord will be given a list of defects he must correct or face legal action. All private rented dwellings must comply with the various housing standards acts.(visit prtb.ie for a list)
WCC Housing will also inform the PRTB that he is unregistered.

All that being said i would suggest yo start looking for alternative accommodation as well. If the property is as bad as you say the remedial work may be too expensive for the landlord to do and he may be forced to take the property off the market.

Sully

This really isn't the right forum for advice, and I have no idea at all if what's being said here is correct or not. There is a more appropriate forum which will point you in the right direction at least so I shall move it there for you.

Best of luck!

I had a similar experience with a slum landlord like yours on Mary St. Same thing too with a leak, he would walk in unannounced with 3 or 4 lads to take a look at the ceiling and disappear for 2 weeks promising it would be fixed nothing ever got done, he even had the neck to try and take my deposit for water damage due to the leak!

There is nothing worse than having a derelict landlord.

All the best with the authorities. Do not give an inch!

murphaph

Look for an alternative home if at all practicable OP.

Your landlord is a chancer and you'll always have trouble with him. Oh and please report him to revenue and the PRTB while you're at it-sick of scumbags like this not paying their dues and forcing the rest of us to pay more (also a fully registered and tax compliant landlord).

CA88

With the rain having been so torrential I had tried again to contact my landlord but to no avail. Then when I was in the kitchen today I heard a big crack and a massive split has appeared in the corner where the ceiling is sagging. I came home from work to find a basin and a bucket full with water and another leak had appeared too soaking the floor. I sent a polite but firm txt to the landlord explaining how urgent this was, honestly don't think that part of the roof is going to last the night. He said he'll be round tomorrow and sorry he hadn't done anything about it when I told him about it 2 months ago but he had 'been busy'. Now I'm going to need to pull an all nighter to empty buckets, lose a shift at work tomorrow therefore losing income, and my kitchen is damp and the window frames and ledges upstairs are now black with damp too. My rent is 480 per month, 120 per week, do you think it's more than reasonable to ask for a reduction in rent and if so, how much??

ABajaninCork

It's not reasonable to stay in a place that is an obvious H & S hazard!

OP - others have suggested that you report the landlord to PTRB and to Revenue. Have you done this as yet -and if not, why not??

As I understand it, you need to inform the landlord in writing of the defects noted and give him a time frame to get them fixed. Did you take (time-stamped) photos of the damage as suggested? You're certainly going to need them.

You need to get in touch with Threshold too. They are the best people to advise on the next steps.

And I would look to move ASAP. No amount of reduced rent is worth the hassle.

Sleepy

Start looking for new accommodation OP. Give him the month's notice and tell him he can have the deposit as the last months rent as he seems exactly the sort that you'll have trouble getting it back from.

Once you're out report him to PRTB, Revenue, local council etc.

BostonB

Just move out.

the_syco

OP, the landlord doesn't give two fcuks about you or your family, it would seem, so move out. You've been too patient, and thus the landlord has seen fit to walk over you.

Tell him you'll pay rent when he get the holes fixed, and use the money saved to pay for a deposit for a new place.