Signed no Contract - entitled to deposit back?

bezerk

Hi I'm currently renting a place and signed no contract and told the landlord I'm moving out next week and want the deposit back(600) and he said No, you have to give a months notice. The landlord is very invasive of the property and feels he can come and go when he feels like without warning. The rent is also weekly and I pay in cash and he collects it inside the house where I leave it out in the kitchen. I asked him to switch it to monthly or I set up a weekly direct debit into his account but he said no. I also asked him to call before calling around or set a specific time each week but he says he cant. He usually stops in on either a Friday, Saturday or Sunday and its really pissing me off. He's an old timer and don't think he is really knows what rights and regulations are. I also noticed he is not registered with the PTRB by cheking their website. He is very good if anything goes wrong and had a plumber there the following day when the shower broke. I want my deposit back so what would be the best way about going about this or am I even entitled to it.

djimi

How long are you in the property? The minimum notice that you can give is 28 days, and thats assuming you are in the property for less than 6 months. It goes up as the length of the tenancy increases (35 days for 6 months to a year, 42 days for 1-2 years etc).

If you try to leave in a week then you cannot expect to get your full deposit back. The landlord is entitled to keep the deposit to cover the lost rent, however they are also obliged to mitigate their loss in a timely fashion, meaning they cant drag their heals on finding a replacement, and they can only deduct for the time that the property has been empty. I wouldnt be expecting much of the deposit back though, even best case scenario.

bezerk

djimi wrote: »

How long are you in the property? The minimum notice that you can give is 28 days, and thats assuming you are in the property for less than 6 months. It goes up as the length of the tenancy increases (35 days for 6 months to a year, 42 days for 1-2 years etc).

If you try to leave in a week then you cannot expect to get your full deposit back. The landlord is entitled to keep the deposit to cover the lost rent, however they are also obliged to mitigate their loss in a timely fashion, meaning they cant drag their heals on finding a replacement, and they can only deduct for the time that the property has been empty. I wouldnt be expecting much of the deposit back though, even best case scenario.

Thanks only there thee months but very invasive, when collecting the rent he could keep chatting to you if you were there or make himself a cup of tea. Once I was asleep in bed and he saw my car outside and started knocking on my bedroom door, I didn't answer and he came in.

djimi

You need to be firm with him. The law states that he is not entitled to enter the property without prior mutually agreed notice. Ignorance is not an excuse; that kind of carry on is not acceptable by anyones standards. A few choice words (threat of Gardai, which probably wouldnt come to anything but might be enough to make him cop on) might be in order.

Ultimately though you are better off leaving. With no lease you can give 28 days written notice and just get out of there with your deposit intact.

bezerk

djimi wrote: »

You need to be firm with him. The law states that he is not entitled to enter the property without prior mutually agreed notice. Ignorance is not an excuse; that kind of carry on is not acceptable by anyones standards. A few choice words (threat of Gardai, which probably wouldnt come to anything but might be enough to make him cop on) might be in order.

Ultimately though you are better off leaving. With no lease you can give 28 days written notice and just get out of there with your deposit intact.

Yea think I'll just stick it out for the month and get it back, have nowhere confirmed yet to stay, was going to stay in a mates. He's nice man but a bit simple and naive if you get me.

Santa Cruz

If a tenancy isn't registered then the landlord is in difficulty and in no position to be calling the odds.. In the past notice would depend on how you pay the rent e.g. paid weekly then one months notice was required, paid monthly then one months notice was required.

bezerk

Santa Cruz wrote: »

If a tenancy isn't registered then the landlord is in difficulty and in no position to be calling the odds.. In the past notice would depend on how you pay the rent e.g. paid weekly then one months notice was required, paid monthly then one months notice was required.

What would happen if I reported him? Don't really want to as he is a nice man, he's naive and not really up to the times if you get me. He probably doesn't realize he is doing anything wrong even though I said it to him ten times. He probably doesn't even know its against the law and thought I was BSing him

miss no stars

Send him a registered letter telling him

- that following your 3 month tenancy to date, you will be vacating in 28 days and, as there's no damage, you expect the return of your deposit in full;
- for the remaining 4 weeks you will continue to allow him to call to the door to collect the rent, but as you've outlined before, he legally cannot let himself in, make himself cups of tea or in any other way prevent you from peacefully enjoying your home
- you understand that the entering without permission may have been a misunderstanding in the past but as relations have been otherwise good, you look forward to a satisfactory end to the tenancy and a favourable reference from him.

edit: if he has an email address it might not hurt to also send him an email with the exact wording of the letter in it and with a note to say "hi landlord, sent you this in a letter today but also emailing it to make sure you get it in case it's delayed in the post". you can prove someone received a registered letter but it's hard to prove what's in it.

Santa Cruz

bezerk wrote: »

What would happen if I reported him? Don't really want to as he is a nice man, he's naive and not really up to the times if you get me. He probably doesn't realize he is doing anything wrong even though I said it to him ten times. He probably doesn't even know its against the law and thought I was BSing him

Ah come on. In your post you list a number of activities he engages in which are completely against all landlord/tenant law. He is far from naïve. He is playing the old "I'm stupid and I know it trick" It's time that you started standing up for yourself. Check with PRTB for penalties for not registering tenancies etc.

miss no stars

Santa Cruz wrote: »

Ah come on. In your post you list a number of activities he engages in which are completely against all landlord/tenant law. He is far from naïve. He is playing the old "I'm stupid and I know it trick" It's time that you started standing up for yourself. Check with PRTB for penalties for not registering tenancies etc.

OP's only been there 3 months. Tenancy very well could be registered but the online list not updated.

OP - did you ring the PRTB and ask them if it's registered or just check online?

bezerk

Santa Cruz wrote: »

Ah come on. In your post you list a number of activities he engages in which are completely against all landlord/tenant law. He is far from naïve. He is playing the old "I'm stupid and I know it trick" It's time that you started standing up for yourself. Check with PRTB for penalties for not registering tenancies etc.

He's around 65-70 i'd say or more and I don't want to roar or shout at him.

foggy_lad

bezerk wrote: »

He's around 65-70 i'd say or more and I don't want to roar or shout at him.

Next time you see him ask him for a key to his house and tell him you will drop the rent off and let yourself into his house and leave the rent in the kitchen for him! ask him would he be happy with someone roaming around in his "home" when he is not there, then tell him that such actions could lead to thousands of Euro of fines if some not so nice tenant reported him.

bezerk

foggy_lad wrote: »

Next time you see him ask him for a key to his house and tell him you will drop the rent off and let yourself into his house and leave the rent in the kitchen for him! ask him would he be happy with someone roaming around in his "home" when he is not there, then tell him that such actions could lead to thousands of Euro of fines if some not so nice tenant reported him.

I think I will actually ask him that just to show him what the issue is. I think I need to say to him about the PTRB and setting up a direct debit again as not happy with someone invading my privacy

miss no stars

bezerk wrote: »

I think I will actually ask him that just to show him what the issue is. I think I need to say to him about the PTRB and setting up a direct debit again as not happy with someone invading my privacy

PRTB - phone them, the online list does not get updated very quickly at times. Make sure before you start going on about him not being registered.

Rent collection - for the sake of 4 weeks, getting a reference and not causing hassle with the deposit I'd be inclined to suck it up a little and tell him you're happy to do a weekly collection provided you're there when he collects it OR if that doesn't suit, you can transfer the funds into his bank account electronically OR you can drop in to his house with a cashiers cheque BUT he is not to be in your home without you there.

djimi

bezerk wrote: »

What would happen if I reported him?

Probably nothing in reality. I think the PRTB will give out warnings before they start handing out fines.

bezerk wrote: »

Don't really want to as he is a nice man, he's naive and not really up to the times if you get me. He probably doesn't realize he is doing anything wrong even though I said it to him ten times. He probably doesn't even know its against the law and thought I was BSing him

He might be a nice man but he is a dreadful landlord. I dont have a lot of sympathy for that carry on; if he wants to run a rental business then he needs to cop on and learn the legalities of what he is doing. Age/ignorance is not an excuse for breaking the law.

I once lived with a "nice woman" in college; turned out her absolute nutcase of a son was fleecing us for electricity when he was effectively living in our house when we went home for the weekend. She knew exactly what he was doing but never made any effort to stop him. It was a good lesson in why you dont always take people at face value...

dissed doc

The most reasonable thing is to give a month's notice and find a new place that you prefer.

It's so hostile to start sending registered letters around to someone who comes every week. Talk about trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

No matter where the OP goes, a month's notice is pretty normal.

miss no stars

dissed doc wrote: »

It's so hostile to start sending registered letters around to someone who comes every week. Talk about trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

No matter where the OP goes, a month's notice is pretty normal.

No it's not - the landlord could be quite sticky with returning the deposit and a papertrail showing the length of tenancy, serving adequate notice and detailing previous problems but showing a willingness to try to get along, would be useful when lodging a PRTB case for non-return of deposit.

odds_on

If you agreed orally with the landlord that you would stay for a certain period of time (e.g. 6 months, 9 months, 1 year) Then you would have a verbal fixed term agreement and cannot break the agreement just by giving any amount of notice. The only way out is by an assignment.

If you did not agree with the landlord for a fixed period of time, then, at present you have a verbal Periodic tenancy and the notice period as in previous posts is correct.

As you have no written agreement (of which a part conforms to the requirements of a rent book) then a landlord is obliged by law to provide a tenant with a rent book.

Among the requirements to be stated in a rent book are:
The address of the property
The landlord's name and address and/or the landlord's agent (if any), also used for the service of legal documents (e.g. a notice of termination)
An emergency contact number.
The Tenants name
The commencement date of the tenancy
If a fixed Term tenancy, the period of the fixed term
The amount of deposit paid
The amount of rent and how it is to be paid

If your landlord will not provide a rent book unless the required information in a lease agreement) then you should contact your local Housing Authority who are responsible for this part of legislation

djimi

Lets be honest, the chances of proving a verbal fixed term agreement are virtually nil!