House In Bad Condition

BadLanTen

Hi all I will be as honest as I can be in this post. I am not seeking legal advice. I am seeking opinions on this situation.

I am renting a 3 bedroom house. I have part 4 tenancy. This is the situation and bare with me as it is tricky.

I moved in a year ago paid a deposit of 1500. After about a week I noticed the shower was leaking and the cooker not working. I brought these issues to the landlords agents. They refused to do them. A few weeks passed and the house started getting badly damp. Water pouring down the walls. I again notified the landlords agents. They refused to do anything.

I contacted the local council and they came out and said the property was well below minimum standards and had no ventilation, no microwave, fire blanket, the shower was leaking all confirmed by the council. The council issued an improvement notice. The landlords and the agents refused to do work.

I continued to pay rent and took a case to the RTB. The RTB made a determination order saying works had to be completed. Some of the work was completed and then came to a standstill and they refused to do anymore. The council made a second visit and confirmed the work was not completed and they put a prohibitation notice on the house. This prevents the property to being re let until the work is done.

Fast forward a year later and the property is so bad I can not live in properly. The shower is floodinh the kitchen and I cannot cook in it due to a broken cooker and I can't wash clothes due to the machine leaking and flooding the kitchen and the property next to us. I am now showering elsewhere, eating out and using a laundrette to wash clothes. This way of living is so costly I can not afford the rent anymore and have stopped paying as I dont have it.

Due to this the landlords agents tool me to the RTB for rent arrears and the notice was found to be invalid. The same day the landlords agent again issued a notice for rent arrears.

The insurance company came out and reported my place is damaged so bad and it damaged the house next door. The insurance person said my place needs major repairs.

Yet the landlord will not do them no matter what.

I have an RTB determination order, a council prohibitaton notice and insurance reports saying the property is so bad abd needs repairing.

Yet the landlord is issuing rent arrears notice and trying to evict me for rent arrears and the only reason I am in arrears is because of their property. I intend on not abiding by the notices and going to court if need be.

I dont know any other way to proceed. I offered to pay rent again as soon as I can live in the house and it is turned down.

Any opinions whether for me or against are welcome. I have an upcoming appointment with a solicitor.

Samuel T. Cogley

You have no option but to stop paying the rent, which you have done, and carry out the repairs yourself. You've done everything else you can do. Make sure to get three estimates for each job, keep the quotes and receipts and present them when you go in front of the RTB for non-payment and hope they are willing to look kindly on resorting to self help. Simply not paying the rent because you're eating out etc. is not the way to deal with this, a cooker is what €300?

The issue you may have is the LL may be unable to afford to repair the property at which point expect a receiver to become involved and an eventual eviction. Your other option and probably the soundest legally is to move now.

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BadLanTen

Thanks for taken the time to reply.

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

You have no option but to stop paying the rent, which you have done, and carry out the repairs yourself. You've done everything else you can do. Make sure to get three estimates for each job, keep the quotes and receipts and present them when you go in front of the RTB for non-payment and hope they are willing to look kindly on resorting to self help. Simply not paying the rent because you're eating out etc. is not the way to deal with this, a cooker is what €300?

The issue you may have is the LL may be unable to afford to repair the property at which point expect a receiver to become involved and an eventual eviction. Your other option and probably the soundest legally is to move now.

BadLanTen

....... wrote: »

Would it not be less stressful, less time consuming, less expensive and more productive to simply move somewhere else that meets your needs (and minimum requirements)?

I am looking in to this. Thanks for your reply.

Fian

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

You have no option but to stop paying the rent, which you have done, and carry out the repairs yourself. You've done everything else you can do. Make sure to get three estimates for each job, keep the quotes and receipts and present them when you go in front of the RTB for non-payment and hope they are willing to look kindly on resorting to self help. Simply not paying the rent because you're eating out etc. is not the way to deal with this, a cooker is what €300?

The issue you may have is the LL may be unable to afford to repair the property at which point expect a receiver to become involved and an eventual eviction. Your other option and probably the soundest legally is to move now.

If you go down this route you risk spending your own money and not being able to recoup it from the landlord. If he/she is underwater and doesn't have the money you won't get it back regardless of whether you are "entitled" to it. Your landlord could be facing bankruptcy, in which case the bank will get the appartment and other creditors likely to be left high and dry.

You should try to move.

Samuel T. Cogley

Fian wrote: »

If you go down this route you risk spending your own money and not being able to recoup it from the landlord. If he/she is underwater and doesn't have the money you won't get it back regardless of whether you are "entitled" to it. Your landlord could be facing bankruptcy, in which case the bank will get the appartment and other creditors likely to be left high and dry.

You should try to move.

You don't spend anymore than the rent each month. Frankly I've not a huge amount of sympathy as to replace a cooker would have meant one month of reduced rent not a complete stopping of payment for a period exceeding a month which is now what has happened.

A leak is almost certainly the waste or seals - again not expensive to fix. There's two moths and the lions share of the issues fixed.

On the other hand I stress that this is a unique situation where the tenant has already a) gone down the RTB route and got the various orders etc. b) stopped paying rent anyway. Usually one would need to make repairs out of pocket and attempt to claim them back, this one time piece of advice should not be taken as a blanket ability to withhold rent, you simply can't.

PS I think the OP would be delighted to be dry at this point :pac:

BadLanTen

Fian wrote: »

If you go down this route you risk spending your own money and not being able to recoup it from the landlord. If he/she is underwater and doesn't have the money you won't get it back regardless of whether you are "entitled" to it. Your landlord could be facing bankruptcy, in which case the bank will get the appartment and other creditors likely to be left high and dry.

You should try to move.

Thanks for your reply. And I am trying to move on its not worth the hassle.