Having trouble with Landlord

Fox Hound

So I just want to see if anyone has any info on this,

I had a bit of trouble recently with a landlord and had to move out after four months,
Landlord says that he doesn't have to be registered with PRTB or pay tax on the rented property as the property used to be a part of his house and he has converted it into two buildings, my apartment has its own entrance, and is completely separate now, is this really the case? does anybody know more about this as I have been searching online and cant seem to find any info on this
,...he also doesn't let me have bills in my own name and hands me a bill every two months which he has done up in excel, I thought this was dodgy but gave him the benefit of the doubt, after first 2 months bill came to 400 euro
as he lives on the property he would be waiting for me when I came home form work and used to hand me bills instead of just putting it in the mail box,
I also emailed him a few times about leaks coming in from the window and again he would be waiting for me when I came home,..(*he never replied to any of my emails), and would ask could he look at the leaks, I just felt that he could have gave me a heads up, he looked at the leaks and there was mold starting to form around the windows, he said he would fix it but never did,
he also used to harasses family and friends when they arrived, he would come out of his house every time we had a visitor asking who they where and who they have come to see?, and he wasn't asking them just to be polite...it was more quizzing them,
another day  I had planned to get broadband in and when the guy came to install broadband he kicked him off the property and rang me and said I cant allow you to have it I don't want you getting a phone line, I explained to him that we had been told we could get a phoneline by the lettings agent and he just replied no you are not allowed,
that night I came home from work and yet again he was waiting for me at my door, he asked me was 'I happy here?' and I said no and then he said 'well I will pay you back your deposit and you can leave!' and that was it I left,
it all was a bit strange and I see it up on daft again, I feel so sorry for the next people that move in their, ....or am I wrong here? to be honest either way I am glad to be out of that place,

goz83

Two buildings....one rented....he must pay tax and he knows it. You could call the PRTB and go from there. Good thing you're out of there.

The_Conductor

goz83 wrote: »

Two buildings....one rented....he must pay tax and he knows it. You could call the PRTB and go from there. Good thing you're out of there.

One building- converted into two separate units- potentially, if the landlord left a connecting door between the two- would in fact qualify under the rent-a-room scheme. The fact that the second building has its own entrance is neither here nor there- but it has to be connected to the first.

There is a relief for this scheme- which is currently worth up to 14k for owners (it increased from 12k to 14k in the last budget). The 14k is the gross income an owner can get under the scheme- inclusive of all bills etc.

Providing the property can be shoehorned into the scheme- and the description the OP has given does not necessarily preclude this, the owner could in actual fact be correct in their assessment- and the 'tenant' may in fact be a licensee rather than a tenant.

I wouldn't like to definitively say the landlord is wrong- from the description the OP has given- its not clear that this is the case.

Fox Hound

The_Conductor wrote: »

goz83 wrote: »

Two buildings....one rented....he must pay tax and he knows it. You could call the PRTB and go from there. Good thing you're out of there.

One building- converted into two separate units- potentially, if the landlord left a connecting door between the two- would in fact qualify under the rent-a-room scheme. The fact that the second building has its own entrance is neither here nor there- but it has to be connected to the first.

There is a relief for this scheme- which is currently worth up to 14k for owners (it increased from 12k to 14k in the last budget). The 14k is the gross income an owner can get under the scheme- inclusive of all bills etc.

Providing the property can be shoehorned into the scheme- and the description the OP has given does not necessarily preclude this, the owner could in actual fact be correct in their assessment- and the 'tenant' may in fact be a licensee rather than a tenant.

I wouldn't like to definitively say the landlord is wrong- from the description the OP has given- its not clear that this is the case.

There is no connecting door, its like a semi detached house,

Fox Hound

goz83 wrote: »

Two buildings....one rented....he must pay tax and he knows it. You could call the PRTB and go from there. Good thing you're out of there.

Yeah we are on to the PRTB, to be honest they haven't been that helpful,

The_Conductor

Fox Hound wrote: »

Yeah we are on to the PRTB, to be honest they haven't been that helpful,

Are you still there- or have you vacated the property.
Also- any chance you could PM me a link to the DAFT add please.

goz83

The_Conductor wrote: »

One building- converted into two separate units- potentially, if the landlord left a connecting door between the two- would in fact qualify under the rent-a-room scheme. The fact that the second building has its own entrance is neither here nor there- but it has to be connected to the first.

There is a relief for this scheme- which is currently worth up to 14k for owners (it increased from 12k to 14k in the last budget). The 14k is the gross income an owner can get under the scheme- inclusive of all bills etc.

Providing the property can be shoehorned into the scheme- and the description the OP has given does not necessarily preclude this, the owner could in actual fact be correct in their assessment- and the 'tenant' may in fact be a licensee rather than a tenant.

I wouldn't like to definitively say the landlord is wrong- from the description the OP has given- its not clear that this is the case.

From the OP...I got the distinct impression that had there been a door with direct access to the second building from the first, the LL wound have been using it and the OP would have mentioned it. The OP has confirmed this, but the clarification was needed, as I hadn't mentioned the rent a room scheme.

Michael D Not Higgins

What the landlord was probably referring to (and incorrectly) was the provision in Section 25 of the RTA for a self contained apartment which originally formed part of the landlord's home and may be exempt from the security of tenure requirements of Part 4. This must be stated in writing at the beginning of the tenancy but does not exempt the landlord from registering the tenancy nor paying tax on the rental income.

Edit: to the rest of the OP, it sounds like he did this without planning and is trying to operate under the radar. Did he ask for the rent in cash by any chance?

Fox Hound

The_Conductor wrote: »

Fox Hound wrote: »

Yeah we are on to the PRTB, to be honest they haven't been that helpful,

Are you still there- or have you vacated the property.
Also- any chance you could PM me a link to the DAFT add please.

I have left the property, couldn't stay their any longer, it just didn't feel right, when I used walk into my place  you had to walk past the landlords house and he didn't have blinds on the windows...so he could see everything that was going on, it was the oddest set up, I have just chalked it down to experience, It has turned me off moving into any place where a landlord lives on site,...shame really as I bet there is lots of landlords out there that are brilliant 
Not letting me have bills in my name was a dead give away something was up, I should have realised then,...the bills had his own rate and units all calculated up...he also took the remaining sum that we had to bills out of our deposit,,,I never in my life heard of doing that, has In the previous place i could just pay the bills to a proper provider after I left, currently homeless now and crashing with friends until a place turns up 

I have pm a link

Fox Hound

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

What the landlord was probably referring to (and incorrectly) was the provision in Section 25 of the RTA for a self contained apartment which originally formed part of the landlord's home and may be exempt from the security of tenure requirements of Part 4. This must be stated in writing at the beginning of the tenancy but does not exempt the landlord from registering the tenancy nor paying tax on the rental income.

Edit: to the rest of the OP, it sounds like he did this without planning and is trying to operate under the radar. Did he ask for the rent in cash by any chance?

thanks for all the info on this, No he did get the rent off me through direct debit, but that was That went into a different bank account, pretty sure his partners

Fox Hound

<snip>
we paid market rent, wasn't cheap and  including bills made it a lot more expensive, the place was lovely and the area was nice, I wanted it to work and gave him the benefit of the doubt,,,,,he also has about six more property on his land

pilly

Fox Hound wrote: »

<snip>
we paid market rent, wasn't cheap and including bills made it a lot more expensive, the place was lovely and the area was nice, I wanted it to work and gave him the benefit of the doubt,,,,,he also has about six more property on his land

Certainly wasn't cheap if the first 2 months bills came to 400 euro!! That should have set alarm bills ringing straight away.

Fox Hound

pilly wrote: »

Fox Hound wrote: »

we paid market rent, wasn't cheap and  including bills made it a lot more expensive, the place was lovely and the area was nice, I wanted it to work and gave him the benefit of the doubt,,,,,he also has about six more property on his land

Certainly wasn't cheap if the first 2 months bills came to 400 euro!! That should have set alarm bills ringing straight away.

I know I know...

EmoCourt

Get onto Revenue about him, and take a screenshot of the Daft advert to provide to revenue.

That kind of behaviour is just crying out to be punished.

Lumen

This reads simply like the landlord stretching the rent a room scheme beyond its limits.

Were there separate ESB and water connections?

The_Conductor

Lumen wrote: »

This reads simply like the landlord stretching the rent a room scheme beyond its limits.

Were there separate ESB and water connections?

Not just that- the 'landlord' has 6 other properties on his premises that he is letting in a similar manner?

Honestly- pursue this to its conclusion- this guy needs to be stopped cold in his tracks.

Lodge an official complaint with the RTB- insist on them taking an official complaint- and pester them for updates.........

Lumen

The_Conductor wrote: »

Not just that- the 'landlord' has 6 other properties on his premises that he is letting in a similar manner?

Ha! I missed that.

Can't believe someone hasn't been in with "his tax affairs are none of your business". :pac:

pilly

Lumen wrote:

Can't believe someone hasn't been in with "his tax affairs are none of your business".

I don't defend this guy in anyway but someone else's tax affairs are no-one else's business.

I also doubt 6 other properties, want to be a mini estate.

wordofwarning

pilly wrote: »

I don't defend this guy in anyway but someone else's tax affairs are no-one else's business.

Tax evasion costs us all money. I wish we were like the US, where if you report tax evasion and the IRS(the US revenue proves it), you get a cut of it. I imagine most of the people who against reporting tax evasion would suddenly be ok with reporting it

Look at the state Greece is in as people don't see the point of paying tax there

sk8board

As a landlord, I find it very surprising that something this obvious wouldn't be reported already?
The RTB add thousands of landlords annually, purely from (rightly) disgruntled tenants who eventually end up on the wrong side of the LL.
the LL needs to be a goody two-shoes with every single current and past tenant, as it only takes a simple phone call and the RTB have all the evidence they need for a site visit.
It's good for everyone to report here guys. Cash landlords are very much in the minority at this stage. There's too much awareness, especially with the market so expensive.