Difficult Tenant

omnithanos

Tenant moved into my property on 1st June 2013.
Rent was agreed at €925 per month and approx €760 of this was paid by Rent Allowance which he received directly.
He kept missing his payments and from November he arranged for the rent allowance payments to come to me directly but in his first year at the property he had gone into arrears of over €5,000.
I made sure that he did not go into any further arrears by sending warning letters which meant he kept on top of his payments for the next six months.
I then increased the rent from the 1st of January this year to €975 per month and he agreed to pay it and to add something towards the arrears.
When we met to sign the new agreement he told me that there was severe damp in the upstairs bedrooms and he gave me two quotes to replace the roof.
I said I would arrange to fix it up but my repair man kept making excuses which led to my tenant missing a further two months of his share of the rent.
He said he could get someone to fix it up for €400 so I said I would write off his two months missed rental payments if he arranged to fix it up.

In April I received a call from one of his neighbours to say that my tenant now has three dogs and one had escaped and attacked her.
I arranged to meet my tenant at the house and I was happy that the dogs weren't dangerous. I brought it to my tenants attention that his lease states that he should have written permission to have a dog at the house and I stressed that three dogs were too many. He claimed that if he returned the dogs they would be put down so I agreed he could keep the dogs provided that he could guarantee that they could not get out, that he make an effort to rehouse one of them as soon as possible and that he would not take any more dogs in.
I relayed this agreement to the neighbour who wasn't at all happy and who abused me by saying I was only interested in getting my rent.

I got another text from the same neighbour on Thursday saying that my tenant now has four dogs and one is escaping. I sent a text to my tenant who confirmed he now has four dogs but the latest one is old and hasn't got long to live and it is only one of the four dogs that can get out. He had also gone four weeks behind in his payments and said that he has no problem paying the rent but that myself and the neighbours need to give him space about the dogs.

I sent a text to him this morning to remind him that he is now five weeks behind in his payments.

I have also arranged to talk to another, more reasonable, neighbour about him today.

My plan now is to send him a warning letter ordering that my five weeks rent be paid, the newest dog removed, the escaping dog removed if he cannot be contained and the upstairs bedrooms repaired all within fourteen days. If he does not comply with these demands I will ask him to vacate.

Any further suggestions?

doctorchopper

You really need to harden up, over 5000 in arrears. You are running a business not a charity. Not only are you not getting paid but most likely your house is going to get destroyed by 4 dogs.

Taboola

I'd get legal advice about issuing him with an eviction notice. He's messing you about.

omnithanos

I was going to follow the eviction process through the PRTB. Should I give the PRTB a call about the situation?

dialer

I agree with Taboola.
Seek legal advice immediately with the view of termination of tenancy.

This is ground-hog day all over.

Your neighbours must love you for having a tenant with 4 dogs.

Cuddlesworth

doctorchopper wrote: »

You really need to harden up, over 5000 in arrears. You are running a business not a charity. Not only are you not getting paid but most likely your house is going to get destroyed by 4 dogs.

I read it as at least 6.5k at this point if not more. He was 5k in arrears last year. So hes not 5 weeks behind, he is 6 months and counting.

And he is a RA tenant. One that is bad with money. One that withholds rent for "reasons" that he has decided on. And who now has dogs while renting. That he is unable to control.

Send him notice of arrears and evict him. This is not going to get better, ever. Be prepared for months of non-payment. Do it now, not later. A person on social welfare, with four dogs, bad money skills and rent well over the limit for a single person in Dublin(520 per month versus 975) is only going to increase his debt to you. Debt you will not be able to recover. At this point, what he owes you, you will never see. He does not have the means to pay you back. He does not have any incentive to pay you back.

Penny Tration

Send him a 14 day notice of arrears (ALL arrears!), followed by a 28 day notice of eviction.

Then be prepared for him to stay there for a year or more while you fight in court to have him removed.

You've let it go way too far.

Puddle Q

omnithanos wrote: »

Tenant moved into my property on 1st June 2013.
Rent was agreed at €925 per month and approx €760 of this was paid by Rent Allowance which he received directly.
He kept missing his payments and from November he arranged for the rent allowance payments to come to me directly but in his first year at the property he had gone into arrears of over €5,000.
I made sure that he did not go into any further arrears by sending warning letters which meant he kept on top of his payments for the next six months.
I then increased the rent from the 1st of January this year to €975 per month and he agreed to pay it and to add something towards the arrears.
When we met to sign the new agreement he told me that there was severe damp in the upstairs bedrooms and he gave me two quotes to replace the roof.
I said I would arrange to fix it up but my repair man kept making excuses which led to my tenant missing a further two months of his share of the rent.
He said he could get someone to fix it up for €400 so I said I would write off his two months missed rental payments if he arranged to fix it up.

In April I received a call from one of his neighbours to say that my tenant now has three dogs and one had escaped and attacked her.
I arranged to meet my tenant at the house and I was happy that the dogs weren't dangerous. I brought it to my tenants attention that his lease states that he should have written permission to have a dog at the house and I stressed that three dogs were too many. He claimed that if he returned the dogs they would be put down so I agreed he could keep the dogs provided that he could guarantee that they could not get out, that he make an effort to rehouse one of them as soon as possible and that he would not take any more dogs in.
I relayed this agreement to the neighbour who wasn't at all happy and who abused me by saying I was only interested in getting my rent.

I got another text from the same neighbour on Thursday saying that my tenant now has four dogs and one is escaping. I sent a text to my tenant who confirmed he now has four dogs but the latest one is old and hasn't got long to live and it is only one of the four dogs that can get out. He had also gone four weeks behind in his payments and said that he has no problem paying the rent but that myself and the neighbours need to give him space about the dogs.

I sent a text to him this morning to remind him that he is now five weeks behind in his payments.

I have also arranged to talk to another, more reasonable, neighbour about him today.

My plan now is to send him a warning letter ordering that my five weeks rent be paid, the newest dog removed, the escaping dog removed if he cannot be contained and the upstairs bedrooms repaired all within fourteen days. If he does not comply with these demands I will ask him to vacate.

Any further suggestions?

Yeah. Get out of the landlord business. It's not for you.

omnithanos

Jenny Thalia wrote: »

Send him a 14 day notice of arrears (ALL arrears!), followed by a 28 day notice of eviction.

Then be prepared for him to stay there for a year or more while you fight in court to have him removed.

You've let it go way too far.

A year seems an unduly prolonged period. Would I still receive the rent allowance payments while following this process or would they cut me off too?

Is there no mechanism for removing the dogs? Could I have him removed quicker because of the urgent works needed to the house?

Cuddlesworth

omnithanos wrote: »

A year seems an unduly prolonged period. Would I still receive the rent allowance payments while following this process or would they cut me off too?

Is there no mechanism for removing the dogs? Could I have him removed quicker because of the urgent works needed to the house?

You need to research this so that every step is done 100% correctly but here is a rough example

14 days notice of arrears
28 days notice of eviction due to arrears and breach of lease
PRTB case lodged and judgment received, up to 6 months
District court case lodged and eviction order granted, up to 6 months.
Sheriff eviction with order, up to 1 month.
Repairs/cleaning(assume 1 week at least).

omnithanos

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You need to research this so that every step is done 100% correctly but here is a rough example

14 days notice of arrears
28 days notice of eviction due to arrears and breach of lease
PRTB case lodged and judgment received, up to 6 months
District court case lodged and eviction order granted, up to 6 months.
Sheriff eviction with order, up to 1 month.
Repairs/cleaning(assume 1 week at least).

Thanks Cuddlesworth.
Will Irish Water still expect me to pay his water bill?

hdowney

His water bill is his issue not yours. You are not consuming the water why should you pay for it. I presume Irish water have been notified that there is a tenant in the property by yourself.

Did he pay you a deposit? I fear you may need it for damages etc.

Michael D Not Higgins

You've been far too soft and he's been taking serious advantage. He owes you a four figure sum which you seem to have written off!

Greenmachine

Your tenant is taking the proverbial. You definitely need to harden up. One missed payment is a warning, and an immediate insistence on a repayment plan. Miss another payment, start the eviction process. Contact PTRB for advice. The dogs is beyond belief.

omnithanos

hdowney wrote: »

His water bill is his issue not yours. You are not consuming the water why should you pay for it. I presume Irish water have been notified that there is a tenant in the property by yourself.

Did he pay you a deposit? I fear you may need it for damages etc.

Yep I notified Irish Water though I haven't paid them yet myself.
He gave a deposit when he moved in but that was deducted from his arrears when we made up the second agreement so Irish water can't get anything there.

jimmycrackcorm

One thing is for sure, keeping him as a tenant will only bring further arrears so nothing to lose in terminating.

Another example of why landlords won't easily accept RAS tenants

Arbiter of Good Taste

Your neighbour is fully entitled to be angry at you. You are taking the word of a liar and bad debtor with regards to the viciousness of 4(!!!) dogs, over your neighbour. That is frankly unacceptable.

I have one dog, and it is bloody expensive to maintain. If your tenant can afford four dogs, he can afford to pay his rent on time.

the_syco

omnithanos wrote: »

He kept missing his payments and from November he arranged for the rent allowance payments to come to me directly but in his first year at the property he had gone into arrears of over €5,000.

Evict him

omnithanos wrote: »

When we met to sign the new agreement he told me that there was severe damp in the upstairs bedrooms and he gave me two quotes to replace the roof.

If it was the roof, it'd be a lot more than severe damp!

omnithanos wrote: »

He claimed that if he returned the dogs they would be put down so I agreed he could keep the dogs provided that he could guarantee that they could not get out, that he make an effort to rehouse one of them as soon as possible and that he would not take any more dogs in.

Emotional blackmail, probably because by now he sees you as a soft touch.

omnithanos wrote: »

Any further suggestions?

Get rid of the tenant, and use an EA that will deal with this crap in future, as you don't seem to have the heart to say "no".

SteM

omnithanos wrote: »

...I have also arranged to talk to another, more reasonable, neighbour about him today.

By saying this you're inferring that the first neighbour who contacted you was being unreasonable even though she is the one that has to live beside this fool, she is the one that was attacked by the dog. Just because you think the 3 dogs aren't dangerous doesn’t mean she wasn't attacked by one of them.

If the 'more reasonable' neighbour doesn’t complain about the tenant then are you just going to ignore the complaint from the first tenant? Even though she's factually correct that your tenant has 4 dogs that you wouldn't have been aware of without her telling you?

omnithanos

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Your neighbour is fully entitled to be angry at you. You are taking the word of a liar and bad debtor with regards to the viciousness of 4(!!!) dogs, over your neighbour. That is frankly unacceptable.

I went to see the three dogs when they were reported to me and I could see first hand that they were over friendly but not vicious. I said to the neighbour I would call over every week to make sure there wasn't a problem with the dogs but I was told I was only interested in getting my rent.
When the dogs were first reported to me I was told the largest was the size of a small horse whereas in reality it didn't come higher than the arm of a sofa so the honesty of the neighbour was therefore in question which is why I did not act more forceably at the time.

Puddle Q

omnithanos wrote: »

I went to see the three dogs when they were reported to me and I could see first hand that they were over friendly but not vicious. I said to the neighbour I would call over every week to make sure there wasn't a problem with the dogs but I was told I was only interested in getting my rent.
When the dogs were first reported to me I was told the largest was the size of a small horse whereas in reality it didn't come higher than the arm of a sofa so the honesty of the neighbour was therefore in question which is why I did not act more forceably at the time.

You could find yourself in big trouble of anyone is attacked by these dogs considering you have been warned already.

omnithanos

SteM wrote: »

By saying this you're inferring that the first neighbour who contacted you was being unreasonable even though she is the one that has to live beside this fool, she is the one that was attacked by the dog. Just because you think the 3 dogs aren't dangerous doesn’t mean she wasn't attacked by one of them.

If the 'more reasonable' neighbour doesn’t complain about the tenant then are you just going to ignore the complaint from the first tenant? Even though she's factually correct that your tenant has 4 dogs that you wouldn't have been aware of without her telling you?

She doesn't live beside him she lives at the other end of the street.
She grossly exaggerated the size and temperment of the dog which she claims attacked her.
She sent me multiple abusive texts
I asked four other independent residents about the dogs and they all said they didn't have a problem with them.

Hence my conclusion that she was less than reasonable.

omnithanos

Puddle Q wrote: »

You could find yourself in big trouble of anyone is attacked by these dogs considering you have been warned already.

And based on that warning I told the tenant that the dogs could only be kept if he could assure me that they could not get out again. I also asked him to rehome one of the three as soon as he could as I considered three too many and I impressed on him that he should definitely not get any more dogs.

I don't think I have acted unreasonably.

Larbre34

With all due respect OP, it sounds like this lad could assure you that black was white.

Out on his ear with him. Begin the process today, cover yourself for all aspects. Plenty of fair minded tenants who would reciprocate your fair minded attitude.

omnithanos

Larbre34 wrote: »

With all due respect OP, it sounds like this lad could assure you that black was white.

Out on his ear with him. Begin the process today, cover yourself for all aspects. Plenty of fair minded tenants who would reciprocate your fair minded attitude.

I take everyone at their word whether I actually believe them or not.
I hope so. The letter will be delivered on Monday.
Prtb say I need to first bring his arrears to his attention in writing but I assume that this is covered by the multiple letters I have sent in the past and the fact that the arrears is mentioned in our second rental agreement which he signed in December.
Stage two is a 14 day demand. Stage three is the 28 day notice of eviction.

SteM

omnithanos wrote: »

She doesn't live beside him she lives at the other end of the street.
She grossly exaggerated the size and temperment of the dog which she claims attacked her.
She sent me multiple abusive texts
I asked four other independent residents about the dogs and they all said they didn't have a problem with them.

Hence my conclusion that she was less than reasonable.

Oddly you never said any of that in your original post.

You say the abuse was that you just want your rent, well I can see exact where is coming from. From her point of view she complained that she had been attacked. Then she finds out that not only did you not tell your tenant to get rid of the dog that attacked her, he's now gotten an extra one and as far as she can see you're doing nothing about it.

Also, just because 4 neighbours haven't been attacked or don't have a problem with the dogs does not mean she was lying.

omnithanos

SteM wrote: »

Oddly you never said any of that in your original post.

You say the abuse was that you just want your rent, well I can see exact where is coming from. From her point of view she complained that she had been attacked. Then she finds out that not only did you not tell your tenant to get rid of the dog that attacked her, he's now gotten an extra one and as far as she can see you're doing nothing about it.

Also, just because 4 neighbours haven't been attacked or don't have a problem with the dogs does not mean she was lying.

She appeared to be lying about both the size and temperment of the dog.
She has a fear of dogs so I suspect her idea of being attacked was to have the dog run past.

foggy_lad

OP you are legally responsible for any damage caused by the dogs and can be sued for damages if they bite someone!

Your neighbours could also take a case against you through the PRTB over the nuiscance caused by the dogs

Shelflife

foggy_lad wrote: »

OP you are legally responsible for any damage caused by the dogs and can be sued for damages if they bite someone!

Your neighbours could also take a case against you through the PRTB over the nuiscance caused by the dogs

How can a landlord be responsible for the actions of a dog that belongs to a tenant ?

Puddle Q

omnithanos wrote: »

And based on that warning I told the tenant that the dogs could only be kept if he could assure me that they could not get out again. I also asked him to rehome one of the three as soon as he could as I considered three too many and I impressed on him that he should definitely not get any more dogs.

I don't think I have acted unreasonably.

And your are trusting him because.......?

blackbird 49

I can't understand when in receipt of rent supplement, why is it not paid directly into landlords account.