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Dispute with landlord

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  • 04-09-2015 4:40am
    #1
    Liam2650
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭


    Background:
    I have a lease with my landlord from 1/3/2015 to 29/02/2016. I'm terminating it on 6,Sept,and I have paid 700 deposit and 750 rent for September.

    The story:
    I had to relocate to another town this Sunday due to a new job. and I walked straight into my agent's office on the day I was offered the job(1,Sept) to let them know asap that I will terminate my lease and see if we could work out anything(like can I look for someone to replace us), as I obviously wouldn't be able to give an adequate notice. Just too naive to trust them and didn't bother to cancel my standing rent payment which made the rent payment later on the same day.

    One of the agent there said she will contact the landlord(also her boss) and let me know later in the day, not hearing back from her I had to return to the office again on 2nd and 3,Sept, And was told my last month's rent deducting 100 euro(rent for 1-6,Sept) can be refunded, but not the deposit, which is a total of 600.

    Sounds like reasonable, but actually it's ridiculous, because if I give a 30 days notice today, I should get my full 750 deposit back after 30 days and they won't be able to let the property for this month. So I offered to pay one extra week's deposit plus 100 euro for cleaning, and asked my full deposit back. This gives them ten days to find new tenants,or two weeks if they hadn't been so sluggish. I told the agent were they not taking the offer, I would serve a notice now and move out in 30 days. The agent said it was OK, and needed to check with landlord for the offer.
    Surprisingly, she then text me saying I would only getting 600 AND even if I give a notice now,I won't be refunded the deposit when I leave.
    she said"Your deposit would ONLY be refundable in full if you vacated the property after the entire agreed term of 12 months with a months notice given which would be 29th February 2016"
    This is obvious illegal but I think they are just taking advantage of the fact that I have to move immediately, and don't have the time to deal with the dispute.
    Forgot to mention, when signing the contract, the landlord verbally promised us that if we were moving unexpectedly, we can find replacement, but now they are refusing so. (Again, too naive not to have that in writing)
    I really need the money now, desperately, even just the 600, so I am afraid to irritate them and end up getting nothing in the near future, If I agreed to take the 600, would I still be able to entitled to raise the dispute to PRTB? Do I have any other options? (Communication is not working, I even did the maths with the agent)
    Thanks for reading,sorry for being verbose, English is not my first language
    Tagged:


Comments

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    #2
    salamanca22
    Registered Users Posts: 1,179 ✭✭✭salamanca22


    The landlord is only allowed to recoup losses from the deposit. If they find a tenant 10 days after you leave then they can only deduct 10 days from your deposit. Plus any other expenses (daft listing and such) and any deductions for damage/cleaning beyond wear and tear. It is worth noting that a landlord must do this ASAP and any delays on their part should not be your problem .

    You may reassign the lease to someone else, if your landlord refuses this you may break your lease without penalty (http://www.threshold.ie/advice/ending-a-tenancy/getting-someone-to-replace-you)


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    #3
    Taboola
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,052 ✭✭✭Taboola


    Liam2650 wrote: »
    she said"Your deposit would ONLY be refundable in full if you vacated the property after the entire agreed term of 12 months with a months notice given which would be 29th February 2016"
    This is obvious illegal but I think they are just taking advantage of the fact that I have to move immediately, and don't have the time to deal with the dispute.

    Why is this obviously illegal? You signed a fixed term lease for a year and you are now breaking that lease.


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    #4
    Penny Tration
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,687 ✭✭✭✭Penny Tration


    Taboola wrote: »
    Why is this obviously illegal? You signed a fixed term lease for a year and you are now breaking that lease.

    Because OP has a right to find a replacement tenant AND they are only allowed to keep hold of financial losses during the time the property us vacant (re-letting fees, prtb registration fees, etc), aside from breakages.


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    #5
    Taboola
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,052 ✭✭✭Taboola


    Penny Tration wrote: »
    Because OP has a right to find a replacement tenant AND they are only allowed to keep hold of financial losses during the time the property us vacant (re-letting fees, prtb registration fees, etc), aside from breakages.

    Well unfortunately OP it doesn't look like they are going to give you the money now. Inform them you are opening a dispute with the PRTB.


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    #6
    Liam2650
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭Liam2650


    Taboola wrote: »
    Why is this obviously illegal? You signed a fixed term lease for a year and you are now breaking that lease.

    As Penny said, in the case landlord refuse my reassignment, tenants have the right to terminate the lease by giving a notice, and this does not affect tenant's right to get their deposit back.


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    #7
    Liam2650
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭Liam2650


    Taboola wrote: »
    Well unfortunately OP it doesn't look like they are going to give you the money now. Inform them you are opening a dispute with the PRTB.

    That's what I am worried, that might irritate them and they will not give me anything until PRTB conduct a verdict, although I will be getting my money back then, I need the money now to pay for my rent where I am moving to.


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    #8
    Liam2650
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭Liam2650


    And at least I can get 600 if I accept their offer.


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    #9
    Liam2650
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭Liam2650


    salamanca22 wrote: »
    You may reassign the lease to someone else, if your landlord refuses this you may break your lease without penalty

    Even if they refuse my reassignment, I can only terminate by giving a adequate notice, then they said they will not give me deposit in that case.


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    #10
    3DataModem
    Registered Users Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭3DataModem


    " because if I give a 30 days notice today, I should get my full 750 deposit back after 30 days and they won't be able to let the property for this month"

    And if the landlord wanted, they could force you to pay the rent till the end of the lease (or assign to someone suitable to them).

    I think forfeiting just the deposit for breaking a lease at such short notice is probably not a bad deal.


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    #11
    Liam2650
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭Liam2650


    3DataModem wrote: »
    " because if I give a 30 days notice today, I should get my full 750 deposit back after 30 days and they won't be able to let the property for this month"

    And if the landlord wanted, they could force you to pay the rent till the end of the lease (or assign to someone suitable to them).

    I think forfeiting just the deposit for breaking a lease at such short notice is probably not a bad deal.

    Fact is law give you some freedom to have changes in life. You are not simply tied to a contract unconditionally. And I looked up lots of docs, I think my demand is rightful and reasonable.

    I said in my post they refused me to reassign the lease, in that case I can terminate the lease by giving a notice, but then they won't return my deposit because they want to take advantage of it.

    The maths is:
    1. If I reassign the lease, they do not get any extra benefit from it.
    2. If I terminate the lease by given 30 days notice(which is granted by law, because they refused 1), they will suffer some loss.
    3. If they accept my offer, assume they find new tenants in 7 days(very reasonable time, the apts in the house never have been empty for more than 3 days ), they get 150 to cover the cleaning/admin, and if they find new tenants in 3 days, they will get 275 for cleaning/admin. And I also offered to pay rent till they find new tenants + 100 for cleaning/admin.
    Also, they are likely to increase their rent so they will get extra money for that part too.
    4.If they give me 600 back, they will get 600-700 extra from this.

    And I was reasonable enough to offer option 3, so that they won't suffer any loss. But they are greedy enough to get the most benefit from me despite breaking the regulations. Or they probably think I know nothing about Irish law


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    #12
    Taboola
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,052 ✭✭✭Taboola


    Sorry if i'm wrong here but does your lease state that you can give 30days notice? Is there a break clause in it? Because if not then I don't know where you've picked up that from.

    http://www.prtb.ie/search-results/news/article/2014/02/11/breaking-a-fixed-term-lease
    For landlords, this means that the tenant cannot simply give notice and move out at any time. Rather the tenant will have to adhere to the terms of the lease by remaining in the property until the end of the lease.


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    #13
    foggy_lad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    If the Landlord is refusing to allow you to reassign the lease then you can just give notice and leave and take a case to the PRTB for the return of your deposit!

    You should also check on the PSRA Website to make sure that the "agent" who works for the Landlord ir properly registered to provide the services of a property agent.


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