A question about rent....

bcmf

Posting on behalf of a workmate.
Himself and a few others are renting a house.
He asked me to have a read of the contract/agreement/written terms (My english is better then theirs)
The contract covered all the usual BUT was only 12 months long and ended approx 24 months ago so effectively they were/are renting with an expired contract/agreement/written terms.
They have been approached by the landlord and told ,to the best of my knowledge, verbally that he wanted to raise the rent by €300 per month.

They are good tenants and really cause no trouble in fact any time they have have an issue with the house they tend to fix it themselves as they get very little feedback/contact with the landlord.

Any idea where they stand.
TIA

djimi

The legal position is that the landlord cannot raise the rent above the average market rate, which is defined as the amount that the landlord could expect to get from a new tenant.

€300 is a very high raise; they would have to have been paying significantly under the average (ie they were paying too little to start with or the rent in the area has risen dramatically in the past 2 years) for him to be able to justify such an increase. They need to go off and do some research; see what similar properties in the area are renting for. If similar properties are renting for the same money then there isnt a lot that they are going to be able to do.

They are free to dispute the increase with the PRTB, and can remain paying the current rate while they wait for their case to be heard. If the PRTB were to rule in favour of the landlord however, they would be expected to pay the difference from the time of the initial hearing.

The increase notice must be in writing btw; a verbal notice is not sufficient and can be ignored. They almost must be given at least (I think) 30 days notice of the increase.

bcmf

Thanks for that.
They are in Hollystown , Dublin 15 and its a nice big 4 bed house and they were paying €1100 pm and have now been asked for €1400.

djimi

There is a 5 bedroom house currently for rent on Daft in Hollystown for €1400 a month (there is also a 5 bed for rent for €1800...). They need to do a bit more investigation and see if they can find out what 4 bedroom houses in that area are currently renting for.

bcmf

Yeah come to think of it there are very few houses that are exactly the same where they are so they will need to sit down and discuss amongst themsleves what they want to do.
Thanks again for your help.

djimi

Their best course of action might be to sit down with the landlord and try and reach a compromise. If €1100 is average (or maybe even slightly below average from looking at the prices of 4 bedroom houses in D15 as a whole) then the reality is they are going to have to face a rent increase of some description (whether its in their current house or if they move). If might be better to negotiate something with their current landlord; it saves the landlord the hassle of looking for new tenants and it saves your friends the hassle of moving. Plus the landlord isnt going to get €1400 for that property from new tenants if there is a 5 bed available in that estate for the same money (and would possibly rent for a few quid less than that).

bcmf

djimi wrote: »

Their best course of action might be to sit down with the landlord and try and reach a compromise. If €1100 is average (or maybe even slightly below average from looking at the prices of 4 bedroom houses in D15 as a whole) then the reality is they are going to have to face a rent increase of some description (whether its in their current house or if they move). If might be better to negotiate something with their current landlord; it saves the landlord the hassle of looking for new tenants and it saves your friends the hassle of moving. Plus the landlord isnt going to get €1400 for that property from new tenants if there is a 5 bed available in that estate for the same money (and would possibly rent for a few quid less than that).

....indeed. Plus imo they should make up a list of stuff that they have done (in regards to the maintance of the house) that they have informed the landlord about but have ended up doing themselves and using that as a bargaining tool.
Yeah? NO?

djimi

What kind of maintenance have they been doing? Technically they should be informing the landlord of all problems and any work that needs carrying out. Im sure that it wont be an issue, but if the landlord wants to get sticky then they could argue that they should have been allowed to have the work carried out by their own people. I doubt that would be an issue though; the only thing that would cause an issue would be redecorating.

bcmf

To be honest I am not sure as what they were doing was getting lost in translation tbh.
Maybe it would be better to not say anything.

djimi

Sorry, just reread that again. If they have been informing the landlord of work that needs doing but have ultimately been carrying out the work themselves, and if this has been an ongoing thing, then its fair to say that the landlord is aware of what they are doing and is happy to allow them take care of things that should be his responsibility, so in that case I probably would try and use it as a bargaining chip to be honest.