Leaving a property without four weeks notice

ponzook

Hi a friend who lives in a bedsit is after getting a house share with friends and wants to leave immediately and live with friends before Christmas. She did not sign any lease for the bedsit and doesn't care about the deposit. Landlord is saying she has to pay four more weeks rent before she can leave but doesn't want to and he refuses to meet her. She said she can meet meet him over the next couple of days but refuses to meet and says he'll meet her in four weeks. Any consequences of this? She's sent him emails as well as proof.

MarkAnthony

Potentially your friend could be sued but it's pretty unlikely.

I don't countenance doing it but if she insists, leave the place in good order and the landlord with thew deposit and make sure the landlord is informed the place is empty.

JustAThought

Not exactly very nice or fair of her.

So she'll be hoping he behaves better than her & dosn't persue her for it or she'll be calling him an evil landlord? Sending an email to refuse to stick to terms dosnt mean anything and won't protect her one bit.


She needs to grow up & start behaving.

I wonder will she treat her new flatmates as badly when there is something else she wants, or dosn't want to bother with & whether this will cost them all money or their deposits in the future too.

Deshi Basara

No lease means there's little he can do. But your friend should do the amicable thing and live out the remaining 4 weeks. Or at least pay him for them. They obviously had a verbal agreement, which is a rare thing these days.

Besides that, what if she wanted a landlord reference for the new place? No need to screw people over to suit her own ends. Just move out when the current arrangement is finished. Is the house share going anywhere?

ponzook

There was no verbal arrangement with landlord regarding length of lease or notice that has to be given. Also isn't registered with the ptrb.

Deshi Basara

Then to answer your question - there are no real consequences to it. Other than it being bad form. Not much the landlord can do in terms of legal action.

Clearlier

ponzook wrote: »

Hi a friend who lives in a bedsit is after getting a house share with friends and wants to leave immediately and live with friends before Christmas. She did not sign any lease for the bedsit and doesn't care about the deposit. Landlord is saying she has to pay four more weeks rent before she can leave but doesn't want to and he refuses to meet her. She said she can meet meet him over the next couple of days but refuses to meet and says he'll meet her in four weeks. Any consequences of this? She's sent him emails as well as proof.

Assuming that there's a months deposit and that your friend is paying monthly then what I would do is give a month's notice, take the time between moving into the new place and the end of the notice period to ensure that the bedsit is left in the same order it was when she got it and pick up the deposit when returning the keys.

If she has the place ready sooner she can hand over the keys. If the landlord can let it within the month period then there's a case for expecting the relevant portion of the rent to be returned.

All this assumes good faith which may or may not be present.

dearg lady

Will her deposit cover the 4 weeks? She could probabaly find someone to fill the room quick enough.

seamus

In legal terms, she still has to provide minimum notice to terminate the tenancy. This is regardless of whether a written lease exists and regardless of whether the tenancy is registered.

In practical terms, since the tenancy isn't registered the landlord can basically do nothing if she leaves, except withhold her deposit. It does mean though that if she gets screwed over by a landlord in future, she can't really complain since she was happy to screw over a landlord herself.

dudara

How long has she been in the bedsit? Different notice periods apply depending on length of stay.

ponzook

dudara wrote: »

How long has she been in the bedsit? Different notice periods apply depending on length of stay.

5 Months. Cheers.

JustAThought

seamus wrote: »

In legal terms, she still has to provide minimum notice to terminate the tenancy. This is regardless of whether a written lease exists and regardless of whether the tenancy is registered.

In practical terms, since the tenancy isn't registered the landlord can basically do nothing if she leaves, except withhold her deposit. It does mean though that if she gets screwed over by a landlord in future, she can't really complain since she was happy to screw over a landlord herself.

This also means that s/he has absolutely zero comeback when the landlord withholds the deposit. More & more people are selling debts to private debtcollectors - they buy the debt and then chase the person for it - and as these arn't regulated or licensed then it can get messy and nasty. And thats outside the moral issue of taking goods & services & not paying for them, and being underhand & deceitful.
" your friend" was lucky getting a place in the midst of a rental crisis where people are sharing 2 & 3 to a room & happy to do so; even more-so to have a flexible landlord that didnt want to hold them to an 8 or 12 month contract - all they wanted was a months notice. <MOD SNIP >

foggy_lad

Does this "bedsit" have its own bathroom within the walls of the "bedsit" or is it shared with others?

Mrs OBumble

foggy_lad wrote: »

Does this "bedsit" have its own bathroom within the walls of the "bedsit" or is it shared with others?

There's no requirement to have it within the walls of the bedsit. It just has to be not shared with others. Exclusive access to a hall bathroom is fine.

ponzook

So she moved out and I helped her move her stuff. We cleaned the apartment and it spotless. Landlord gets his months rent and will have someone new there in a couple of days as it's city centre. Win win for him I'd say.

salamanca22

ponzook wrote: »

So she moved out and I helped her move her stuff. We cleaned the apartment and it spotless. Landlord gets his months rent and will have someone new there in a couple of days as it's city centre. Win win for him I'd say.

The landlord may only deduct rent lost from the deposit so long as the dwelling is empty. If it is empty for 1 week and the deposit covers four weeks then the landlord must return the deposit minus 1 week rent and any other deductibles that are due.

Arbiter of Good Taste

ponzook wrote: »

So she moved out and I helped her move her stuff. We cleaned the apartment and it spotless. Landlord gets his months rent and will have someone new there in a couple of days as it's city centre. Win win for him I'd say.

Who are you to say it's "win win" for him? It's less than two weeks before Christmas and he now has to advertise for new tenants, meet prospective tenants, get references, deal with ESB etc.

MarkAnthony

If the place was left clean and the LL is left with the deposit it's a cost of doing business I'm afraid. It sounds to me like it's not exactly a tightly run operation anyway. Faults of both sides but really no sympathy for anyone. Just my 2 cents.

JustAThought

Damage, outstanding bills, meter read probably not done, water bill not yet due for fourth quarter, any contracts or bills linked to this addreaa from the renter / absconder - given that they have proved themselves dishonest they will have to change the locks also - once a cheat never trusted twice . Pertty appalling performance.