Landlord threatened to kill me and took my passport.

witconman

All,

I am a WIT student and live in Waterford and I am late for about 10 days to pay the rent. My landlord entered the house this evening and told me to get out because I was late with the rent. I told him that I'll pay the rent tomorrow by 5 pm.

He said to me that I have to give one of my personal belonging to him or else to leave his property. When I resisted to give any of my belongings, he entered my room and caught me by the collar and threatened to kill me if I don't pay the rent. My laptop was on the bed, so he took it away with him. He said to me that if I want my laptop back, I need to bring his rent or my passport to him. Since my parents are transferring me the money tomorrow I had to give the passport for him to keep because I have to complete work from college.

I have been living at this property for the past 1.5 years and have been late on rent a few times, however it has never happened that I have not paid the rent. I pay the rent in cash, he never signed a contract with me.

I want to to take legal action against him because he threatened to kill me and kept my passport with him.

What are my rights?

I am scared and depressed anyway because I am international student and don't have many friends here. Someone, please help me.

January

Call the gardai right now

Call the gardai immediately OP.

pjohnson

Jesus go straight to the police NOW. That landlord is a psycho AND a thief. That is your property. Get off here and get the gardai.

20Cent

witconman wrote: »

All,

I am a WIT student and live in Waterford and I am late for about 10 days to pay the rent. My landlord entered the house this evening and told me to get out because I was late with the rent. I told him that I'll pay the rent tomorrow by 5 pm.

He said to me that I have to give one of my personal belonging to him or else to leave his property. When I resisted to give any of my belongings, he entered my room and caught me by the collar and threatened to kill me if I don't pay the rent. My laptop was on the bed, so he took it away with him. He said to me that if I want my laptop back, I need to bring his rent or my passport to him. Since my parents are transferring me the money tomorrow I had to give the passport for him to keep because I have to complete work from college.

I have been living at this property for the past 1.5 years and have been late on rent a few times, however it has never happened that I have not paid the rent. I pay the rent in cash, he never signed a contract with me.

I want to to take legal action against him because he threatened to kill me and kept my passport with him.

What are my rights?

I am scared and depressed anyway because I am international student and don't have many friends here. Someone, please help me.

Go to the Gardai asap.

Jawgap

Talk to your Students Union and get along to the Guards with someone from the SU, if needs be.

infogiver

You need to call the Gardai right now and tell them that your property has been stolen and you've been threatened

witconman

January wrote: »

Call the gardai right now

I told him I'll be calling the Gardai but he said he'll kick me out of the house. I will have no where to go at this stage.

murphaph

If he threatened to kill you he has committed a criminal offence. Grabbing your collar is assault. The police should be your first port of call here. You'll obviously want to start looking for a new home as your landlord sounds unhinged and possibly dangerous.

davo2001

My landlord has threatened to kill me and has taken my passport, what will I do? I know, I'll create an account on boards.ie and ask people there.

:rolleyes:

AndyBoBandy

Please call the Gardai/police immediately.

No one should ever be threatened like that in what is their home

lawred2

witconman wrote: »

All,

I am a WIT student and live in Waterford and I am late for about 10 days to pay the rent. My landlord entered the house this evening and told me to get out because I was late with the rent. I told him that I'll pay the rent tomorrow by 5 pm.

He said to me that I have to give one of my personal belonging to him or else to leave his property. When I resisted to give any of my belongings, he entered my room and caught me by the collar and threatened to kill me if I don't pay the rent. My laptop was on the bed, so he took it away with him. He said to me that if I want my laptop back, I need to bring his rent or my passport to him. Since my parents are transferring me the money tomorrow I had to give the passport for him to keep because I have to complete work from college.

I have been living at this property for the past 1.5 years and have been late on rent a few times, however it has never happened that I have not paid the rent. I pay the rent in cash, he never signed a contract with me.

I want to to take legal action against him because he threatened to kill me and kept my passport with him.

What are my rights?

I am scared and depressed anyway because I am international student and don't have many friends here. Someone, please help me.

Gardai now.

c montgomery

Maybe pay your rent ontime in future

pjohnson

witconman wrote: »

I told him I'll be calling the Gardai but he said he'll kick me out of the house. I will have no where to go at this stage.

You'll be the least of his problems once you ring the guards.

20Cent

Doesn't sound like a place you will want to stay living anyway. Press charges you could get a few grand out of him.

infogiver

c montgomery wrote: »

Maybe pay your rent ontime in future

Because stealing your tenants property and threatening to kill them is an appropriate response to the rent being late...

gizmo555

gizmo555 wrote: »

What's your real name? Oscar Munoz?

While the LL is wrong the op is also in the wrong, being late with rent is totally unacceptable and he has said its not even his first time being late with rent which makes it even worse.

c montgomery

infogiver wrote: »

Because stealing your tenants property and threatening to kill them is an appropriate response to the rent being late...

Not at all but none of this would have happened if he paid ontime.

Gumbo

Why was your rent so late?
Did you let the landlord know in advance?

Have you any witness to the threats?
He could argue language barriers and mistaking phrases due to this.

I'd still go the Gardai but you need to answer the above questions first.

postsnthing

Strange username to choose - WIT conman

gizmo81

Late payment is not grounds for violence.

c montgomery wrote: »

Maybe pay your rent ontime in future

gizmo81

And the girls skirt was too short, you left your window open. Victims are not to blame for violence.

Erica Straight Starch wrote: »

While the LL is wrong the op is also in the wrong, being late with rent is totally unacceptable and he has said its not even his first time being late with rent which makes it even worse.

ForestFire

Open to correction, but have i not seen here multiple times that if the rent is late the LL mush issues a warning and the rent has to be paid in 15 days?

So while not morally right, rent can be up to 15days late before LL can take any additional action?

Other than that go to SU and Guards as others suggest

DrumSteve

*Looks at user name*

There's more going on here me thinks than were being told.

gizmo81

Correct, the landlord must issue 14 day warning notice followed by 28 days termination notice

https://www.rtb.ie/dispute-resolution/dispute-resolution/terminating-a-tenancy-for-rent-arrears

ForestFire wrote: »

Open to correction, but have i not seen here multiple times that if the rent is late the LL mush issues a warning and the rent has to be paid in 15 days?

So while not morally right, rent can be up to 15days late before LL can take any additional action?

Other than that go to SU and Guards as others suggest

EagererBeaver

gizmo81 wrote: »

Late payment is not grounds for violence.

Spinning bull**** stories isn't far off it though.

mrslancaster

oops hit the wrong button...
agree with others, theres no excuse for violence or threatening behaviour.

Mrs OBumble

The guards are unlikely to pay much attention to a foreign student in a tizz over a language misunderstanding. (Thats how they'll see it).

Go and see the intetnational students officer (or whatever they're called there) in WIT tomorrow.

gizmo81

I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt. Landlords have been known to assault tenants so it's not that far fetched.

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Spinning bull**** stories isn't far off it though.

R.D. aka MR.D

Now seriously, there are actually people saying 'if you paid your rent this wouldn't have happened'.

Yeah, fair enough but also the landlord does not have the right to threaten. He does not have the right to take property belonging to the the tenant. He in particular has no right to his passport. It's a very very serious matter as technically your passport belongs to the government that issues it and not yourself.

Not paying your rent on time is one thing but holding on to a passport that is not yours is a whole other thing.

There are reasonable, legal ways to deal with late rent payments.

OP, please contact the Gards.

gizmo81

Bad advice with a side of casual xenophobia.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The guards are unlikely to pay much attention to a foreign student in a tizz over a language misunderstanding. (Thats how they'll see it).

Go and see the intetnational students officer (or whatever they're called there) in WIT tomorrow.