Looking for tenant advice with no lease

Caireann

Hi,

I moved into a house in August and paid a months rent and a months deposit but I did not sign a lease. Since then my landlord has been too busy to collect the rent off me and provide me with a lease to sign. He has also not given me a fob/clicker for the gates so I've been left outside waiting for someone to open the gates often for 30 minutes and longer at nightime.

Some friends of mine have a spare room in their house and I'm considering moving in for the reasons stated above. Would anyone here be able to advise me on my rights as a tenant regarding my deposit and how I should approach this with my landlord? I would ideally like to pay for the months that I have stayed here and get my deposit back. I am afraid the landlord will keep my deposit. Please help any advice would be great

Mrs OBumble

So what has happened to the rent for September and October? If you still have it, then I'd think that it's likely greater than your deposit .... so it should be the LL worried about you doing a midnight flit, leaving the keys on the kitchen bench and no forwarding address.

Caireann

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

So what has happened to the rent for September and October? If you still have it, then I'd think that it's likely greater than your deposit .... so it should be the LL worried about you doing a midnight flit, leaving the keys on the kitchen bench and no forwarding address.

I have texted the landlord 6 times since I moved in to pay the rent and sign the lease and he has always replied that he is busy. I also asked for bank details to make things easier for him which he said he'd text me and never did. I'm not trying to cheat the LL I'm afraid of being cheated myself and losing my deposit when I feel I have been mistreated here. I want to know how I should approach the LL about my deposit, what is suitable notice and what are my rights.

Mrs OBumble

Answer the question: do you still have rent for Sept and Oct, and is it greater than the deposit?

Without a signed lease, you have few rights - but also it would be very hard for the LL to enforce the responsibilities that come come with having a lease.

Marcusm

If you can move out, I would do so. Failure to make proper arrangements either for the payment/collection of rent and access to the property are worrying signs.

Paulw

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Without a signed lease, you have few rights - but also it would be very hard for the LL to enforce the responsibilities that come come with having a lease.

That is not the case. You have plenty of rights, as does the landlord, as covered under the Residential Tenancies Act. A lease just gives added protection and information but this is always above your legal protections.

Haithabu

Caireann wrote: »

Hi,

I moved into a house in August and paid a months rent and a months deposit but I did not sign a lease. Since then my landlord has been too busy to collect the rent off me and provide me with a lease to sign. He has also not given me a fob/clicker for the gates so I've been left outside waiting for someone to open the gates often for 30 minutes and longer at nightime.

Some friends of mine have a spare room in their house and I'm considering moving in for the reasons stated above. Would anyone here be able to advise me on my rights as a tenant regarding my deposit and how I should approach this with my landlord? I would ideally like to pay for the months that I have stayed here and get my deposit back. I am afraid the landlord will keep my deposit. Please help any advice would be great

I have come across many landlords in my life but never across one who is "too busy to collect the rent". Are you sure it was the real landlord, not just someone who pretended to own the place and just took your money ?

Michael D Not Higgins

Haithabu wrote: »

I have come across many landlords in my life but never across one who is "too busy to collect the rent". Are you sure it was the real landlord, not just someone who pretended to own the place and just took your money ?

That doesn't wash, the OP has been there 3 months now.

Haithabu

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

That doesn't wash, the OP has been there 3 months now.

Why not, if the place is empty and someone knew it ? It would not be the only empty flat in Dublin. Easy money scammed, one month rent plus one month deposit.

Michael D Not Higgins

Haithabu wrote: »

Why not, if the place is empty and someone knew it ? It would not be the only empty flat in Dublin. Easy money scammed, one month rent plus one month deposit.

If they just knew the place was empty where did they get the keys for it?

The scam for these kinds of places goes like this:

1. Get a place to advertise.
2. Show it to people and collect as many deposits from as many people as possible.
3. Disappear into the night.

They're not in the habit of giving keys, and responding to communications from a tenant who has moved in.

The only thing I can think of remotely like what you're suggesting is a sublet. Even then the landlord is likely to come knocking as soon as the rent is not paid.

Caireann

Hi, sorry for not being clearer. I owe the landlord 1500 for three months rent and I paid a 500 euro deposit. The house has two other tenants in it who pay rent monthly and have lived there for many years so it isn't a scam. I believe the other tenants pay their rent by direct deposit. I asked the landlord for his bank details, he said he would send them on and then never did.

Atm, I am considering giving my landlord two weeks notice via text (since this is our usual form of contact) and paying 1000 euro and telling him to keep the deposit as this months rent. I feel this is fair since I have chased him down plenty of times to sign the lease and pay the rent and especially since I don't even have access to the house I rent. I am looking for advice on the fairest thing to do here and if I am in the right to take these actions.

Haithabu

Haithabu wrote: »

I have come across many landlords in my life but never across one who is "too busy to collect the rent". Are you sure it was the real landlord, not just someone who pretended to own the place and just took your money ?

Strange as it may sound I had a similar LL who regularly wouldn't bother collecting the rent every month, particularly around Christmas where one time we paid no rent for November, December and January until February I think.

He even lived fairly close and would pass by the estate going between home and work. I think he just wasn't arsed collecting it rather than not having time, he wasn't short of money. A house mate stated to drop it into his office eventually as it was close to where he worked too and having a jar in the kitchen with 3 or 4k in cash wasn't a great idea in a shared house with lots of people visiting, random people back after nights out etc.

Caireann wrote: »

Hi, sorry for not being clearer. I owe the landlord 1500 for three months rent and I paid a 500 euro deposit. The house has two other tenants in it who pay rent monthly and have lived there for many years so it isn't a scam. I believe the other tenants pay their rent by direct deposit. I asked the landlord for his bank details, he said he would send them on and then never did.
.

Get his bank details from your housemates?

davindub

Caireann wrote: »

Hi, sorry for not being clearer. I owe the landlord 1500 for three months rent and I paid a 500 euro deposit. The house has two other tenants in it who pay rent monthly and have lived there for many years so it isn't a scam. I believe the other tenants pay their rent by direct deposit. I asked the landlord for his bank details, he said he would send them on and then never did.

Atm, I am considering giving my landlord two weeks notice via text (since this is our usual form of contact) and paying 1000 euro and telling him to keep the deposit as this months rent. I feel this is fair since I have chased him down plenty of times to sign the lease and pay the rent and especially since I don't even have access to the house I rent. I am looking for advice on the fairest thing to do here and if I am in the right to take these actions.

Do exactly that, he can't really complain given the circumstances.

tradesman

Caireann, Why is it that you only text the LL. Does your phone not make calls? lol. Keep ringing the number until he /she answers. You are only storing up trouble imo. No records of rent paid or owed, no receipt of deposit paid etc. get on t o it straight away.