Landlord asking for extra money

Lemonee_

Hi all, and happy Friday! I am just looking for some opinions/advice on my current situation, please.

Moved into a rented house in an RPZ approx. 5 months ago. The rent was advertised as €1400, this was agreed and was on the lease signed by all parties involved. A letting agent was involved on behalf of the landlord. An additional €200 was requested as a once off to fill the oil tank which was paid directly to the landlord.

The landlord has visited the house and rings about once a month to check everything is okay. In a recent call they mentioned dropping in to collect the €200. I explained this had been paid on x date. They replied that an additional €200 p/m is required for bills. I explained this was not the agreed price and we will continue to pay the amount in the lease, €1400. They replied that they had an agreement with the previous tenant to pay €1400 to the bank and the landlord collected the remainder directly. This is the first time this is mentioned, and I hope I am right in refusing to pay it. All bills are in my name and paid in full on time, eg. ESB, bins, TV licence, internet etc.

The heating had not been working properly and I had contacted the letting agent a couple of times who had not replied. I explained this to the landlord on the call and they very quickly arranged for it to be repaired which I am grateful for. They then asked for me to pay the.plumber. I explained the provision of adequate heating is the landlord responsibility, but I could pay and deduct from rent. They replied to not deduct from rent but send a receipt. I explained if I was paying they would not get the receipt as it is my bill. They replied that this is why they have the €200, so any bills/repairs can be deducted from that. We ended the call shortly thereafter.

TLDR; landlord seeking an extra €200 p/m on top of price agreed in lease. Also wants tenants to pay repair bills themselves and send receipt to landlord.

Just looking for some advice or opinions or if I am wrong in my view. Thanks in advance.

ted1

Bills should be in your name.
Rent is rent , 1200.
The Initial 200 is correct for a full tank of oil , just leave it empty when leaving
Landlord is on the wrong

You pay all the utilities yourself. You pay the monthly rent as agreed in your tenancy agreement. YOU DO NOT have to pay a top up monthly fee or pay for repairs.

Lemonee_

Thank you both for the quick replies. I thought the exact same as yourselves but just wanted to be sure. Thanks again.

dennyk

Are you on a fixed term lease? If not, you might want to hem and haw and delay a month or so before you tell the landlord to feck off, as you'll have Part 4 rights then and they can't boot you out for no reason. If you give them a hard no and demonstrate that you know your rights at this point and you aren't currently under a fixed term lease (that's longer than six months), they might give you notice straight away and gamble on finding a more easily cowed tenant. If you are on a fixed term lease and there's no clause allowing the landlord to terminate it before Part 4 kicks in, then you can tell 'em where to stick it straight away, though.

You owe them noting but the agreed rent money, period (and oil for the heater if you want to buy that from the landlord, but you could also arrange for an oil delivery yourself next time if you don't want to go through the landlord; wouldn't surprise me if they were padding the cost of that as well...). The landlord is responsible for the cost of all repairs to the place, unless it's damage that you or the other tenants caused yourselves (whether negligently or maliciously), and all utility bills should be in your name(s). Costs such as property management fees, insurance on the property, etc. are the responsibility of the landlord and should have been factored into the rent amount; if the landlord didn't account for those when setting the rent, that's their problem, not yours.

lawrencesummers

It’s clearly the landlord trying to avoid revenue on it. The same with the oil, he can claim the full amount for the fill that you have paid for.

Put it in writing to the agent and the landlord that you won’t pay the €200 Cash directly per month outside of the lease agreement and that the arrangement with previous tenants is a different arrangement.

Explain in the letter that You consider this matter closed and should it need to proceed any further you will involve PRTB and make a statement to revenue about it.

That will quieten em.

JustAThought

Could it be that the LL wants another e200
for the oil - heat - our oil tank at
home costs e800 per fill and the useage depends
on winter versus summer radiator heat - perhaps
with you (all ? - how many) being in the house more than usual and the heat being on the oil has been already used up - you say it has been a few
months. How many tooms are
being heated and how manh people are
in the house. Are you working from home & with the heat on? Big companies are saving a fortune in light & heat for this WFH period.

Do you buy your own oil?

Lemonee_

Hi all, and thank you for the advice and information. It is a fixed term lease for 12 months.

They put €200 worth of oil in the tank when we moved in, and asked for €100. We offered to pay the full amount which they declined. I explained to them that we would pay for the refills in future as we explained it is our bill and we are the ones using the oil, similar to electricity etc. They were happy with this.

I have put our position in writing to them and the landlord is now blaming the letting agent. However I explained that the landlord signed the lease after us and the terms and price are clear.

Thank you all again.

punisher5112

Don't entertain it at all....

If it persists put it to the RTB.

Is the rental registered with the RTB?

Keep records of everything and payments too, only contact through recorded channels such as email or text or registered letter.
Was the heating repaired?

punisher5112

lawrencesummers wrote: »

DELETED

That's illegal and fraud.