Want to move out and break lease

Mary28

We have rented a house and the house is driving us mad. Things have broken and some of been replaced and others not - washing machine was replaced, dishwasher was not replaced. We are paying 1300 for an unfurnished 4 bed house. Place is not in great repair at all, main bathroom is leaking into the kitchen sporadically, has been for some months, landlady sent someone round this week and she has agreed to replace the bath and fix up the pipes, I think the floor boards will also have to be replaced as they are now rotten, under the kitchen sink is leaking too and we pulled out a rotten panel of cabinet a good few weeks ago, that whole section of the kitchen seems damp, a bit rotten and smells.
There was no shower door on our shower ensuite for over a month after we moved in. She delivered the door after a few weeks and left it sit in our bedroom for another few weeks before someone finally came to fit it.
We've had to leave by the back door as we have been unable to lock the front door, finally today someone came to fix that.
The heating timing doesn't work at all, it's just on and off, it's also pay as you go on a card so we found this quite expensive when we had the heat on and we can't time it to go on in the morning.
1 gas ring does not work at all and 2 others are very weak, we asked for this to be fixed but it hasn't been done.
Toilets were fixed after we came, one wouldn't flush and the inside of another looks like there's been acid down it, the enamel is off it. The toilet seats are so cheap they keep falling off. I replaced one but I'm just not spending more money on this house as at this point I want to move.
We were unable to move in for the first 4 weeks after paying the rent as they didn't have a code for the alarm so we couldn't move our stuff in, the house was broken into twice during this time as the alarm could not be put on.
Some of the taps are very hard to turn on and off, the shower tray floods (I poured a pint of water into the drain and it was blocked with just that much so it's pretty blocked) I've pulled up the drain cover thing and pulled out all the hair I could but it must be blocked around the bed. It was like this when we moved in.

There's more but I can't think of it off the top of my head. We are here since April and I just couldn't put a winter down in this house, I know we'll be frozen and it will cost the earth to heat.

We are pretty easy going but I'm just sick of it and the landlady thinks we are a pain in the arse, I tend to just ring her about the big things but she won't put a penny into the house. When the washing machine broke she replaced it with a 200 euro Beko machine which says it's suitable for 1-2 people. There are 2 adults and 3 kids in the house. She said she didn't have the money to replace the dishwasher.
I know her husband is ill and I try not to bother her for this reason.
We are both working and I rented this house in a bit of a rush, there was very little available in the area at the time, I knew the house was basic but I didn't foresee so much being so wrong with it.


So I'd like to move out and break the lease. I don't really care about the deposit at this stage, it will be worth it to just get out of here but can they come after us for the remainder of the year's rent or what is our position? As far as I am concerned the house is not fit for purpose. What is the best way to go about moving out?

the_syco

Not sure, but I'd make a full list of everything that needs to be fixed, put a date such as one month from the date of the letter being written that it all has to be fixed by, and have it sent by registered mail to the landlord.

If she got the €200 washing machine, I'd almost think she went unfurnished as she didn't have the cash to furnish it after previous tenants.

Miamiheat

OP

You can send a registered letter with a list of things that need to be sorted. The key is to give a time frame (2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks) to LL to fix said issues.

or

there is a thread a few lines below on the forum that is all about breaking a lease: You ask permission to LL to assign the lease to someone or sublet (you want to assign not sublet but i think the request must include both options) => if LL refuses they give you grounds to issue a termination letter with a notice period.

IF your landlord is really dragging due to real money issues, I would explain LL that any tenant will have the same problem and perhaps its best if they agree with you right now that you start fixing the issues and pay for it yourself and then deduct them from the rent. get all in writing.
If the house is in such condition and LL accepted your request to reassign you may have trouble finding a tenant for it (although that's unlikely with people accepting the lack of standards in this country).

good luck

Miamiheat

there: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057451701

Mary28

Thanks guys, both giving good advice there. We have emails with some of the requests from months ago that remain undone. I've heard about the suggesting to rent it for her alright but I'm not looking forward to trying to do that. We haven't rented ourselves in years, I just wasn't expecting the house to be so crap in this day and age, the house is under 15 years old too, just been maintained so badly.

Miamiheat

Mary28 wrote: »

Thanks guys, both giving good advice there. We have emails with some of the requests from months ago that remain undone. I've heard about the suggesting to rent it for her alright but I'm not looking forward to trying to do that. We haven't rented ourselves in years, I just wasn't expecting the house to be so crap in this day and age, the house is under 15 years old too, just been maintained so badly.

You don't want to rent and be liable as if you were a landlord yourself. The technique is you ask permission to "assign" the lease to someone else (it means they take over and you are gone). If she says YES you find someone to replace you and you leave and you can recover your deposit. If she refuses that entitles you to terminate the lease before the actual end specified in contract (there is a notice period) and you are STILL entitled to recover your deposit.


Plenty of info there:


http://www.threshold.ie/advice/ending-a-tenancy/ending-your-tenancy/

http://www.threshold.ie/advice/dealing-with-problems-during-your-tenancy/standards-and-repairs/