What to do about an unscrupulous landlord?

ryaner777

We've recently purchased a property and one of the homes on the street is being let to approx 16-20 people(if not more).

When we viewed the house initially, we could see they had a tent in the back garden. And now they've added a flimsy shed (with electricity) to house more tenants.

The people living there all seem to work and come and go at all hours of the day and night. They do not seem to interact with each other at all.

I really feel for these people especially the guys living in the tent and shed with the winter fast approaching. We can see from the windows that all rooms are packed with bunk beds.

The house seems to be run by one guy who never leaves and always hangs around the front door watching everything

I don't think this guy is the landlord, I get the impression he is managing the house on the landlords behalf or is secretly subletting all the rooms and beds.

My question is what can we do? Is it the RTB that would investigate this or some other government department?

I understand all the people living there will find it very hard to get somewhere else to live but it sickens me to see them being taken advantage of like this.

Tombo2001

Pretty bad if people are reduced to living in tents.

Yeah RTB.

Being honest when I saw 'unscrupulous landlord' I thought, some disgruntled tenant ....but if its what you say, then you are bang on....I would have thought RTB would be the place to go.

jumbone

Are any of the occupants irish?

I ask because this has a bang of modern slavery/human trafficking off it.

You know the stories of raids on houses full of migrant workers who were lied to and promised good jobs, but get a hovel, 12 hour days and the bossman holds all their passports etc

If it is this, screw the rtb and contact the guards

ryaner777

No, thankfully I'm not a tenant and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Having looked into it online it appears to be very similar set up system to one of the properties described in this RTE investigation https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/1102/916956-rental-accommodation/

L1011

RTB and the local council; neither is likely to move quickly.

My local council did an inspection and forced a cleanup and other changes (e.g. having curtains rather than cardboard or sheets across windows) on a rental property about 9 months after the initial complaint; and I don't think that was slow by normal standards!

ryaner777

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119857411#Comment_119857411

That would be a fear I would have as well to be honest. I don't think any of them are Irish.

They don't seem to be from one specific region/country. A few work as deliveroo/just eat cyclists and at least two work filling vending machines. (Their vans are parked outside)

That makes me think it may not be a case of modern slavery, just people with no other options as to find somewhere safe to live.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058271207/what-to-do-about-an-unscrupulous-landlord

I really feel for these people especially the guys living in the tent and shed with the winter fast approaching

If people are that desperate that they are sleeping in a tent in a back garden where do think they will end up if they are kicked out? It's not like there's a plentiful supply of properties for rent, living in a garden is a lot safer and better than the alternatives.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119857490#Comment_119857490

And you want to make them homeless, because they make your neighbourhood untidy. Nice.

If they were noisy, selling drugs, intimidating you - I would be sympathetic. But in the absence of that, get over yourself.

notAMember

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119857739#Comment_119857739

Ah now. 20 people in a small house isn't safe. We have fire and occupancy regulations for tenancies for a reason.

What happens if there is a fire from overloading sockets, or leaving heating appliances on? 10 or 20 people could die in there, and the hand-wringing of "Why didn't any neighbour alert the authorities" would begin.

Local Council is responsible for inspecting tenancies. But if it's not an official tenancy (owner occupier) then it would be one for the gardai I'd say.

Also, landlord mightn't have a notion this is happening btw.

endofrainbow

A call to local fire station might help. Health and safety issues would be a concern also.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119857739#Comment_119857739

Your posts here are rarely if ever constructive. Please seriously consider whether a post is worth making, or else we'll have to consider whether to remove or sanction them more often.

The house is unsafely overloaded based on the description.

accensi0n

How have you determined that the landlord is unscrupulous if you're not even sure that he's aware of the situation?

WealthyB

RTB won't be worth a shite. It's a fire hazard. Call the fire brigade and they'll get it shut down a lot quicker.

There is a possibility that they are in this position because they cant afford to rent anywhere else. Reporting it probably wont increase the standard of living for the person in the tent it will just result in them having to move.

In a lot of these instances the tenant on the lease is subletting.

MagicJohn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119858293#Comment_119858293

That wont be much good when the place goes up in fire because of over loaded plugs etc, not only is it a fire risk but it's also a sanitary risk.

OP, call the fire brigade and also Email the health and safety division of the council, the place is a death trap.

Mass immigration - ain't it wonderful.

Ginger83

It could be a big problem if there was a Covid case.

Unsupervised

why not mind your own business?

Im sure the people living there can decide what they want to do.

Considering they go out to work, they know where the door is.

coolbeans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119857739#Comment_119857739

What a take on this situation. You see no issue with twenty people in a house built for maximum four to five people? It's been said before but after 24000 posts you add absolutely nothing constructive to this or any other forums.

Del Boy

Go to landdirect.ie and pay €5 to find out who owns property. Send a letter to their address saying you're aware of the breaches. Or google their name/address and see if they own a company etc and perhaps you'll get a contact number. See if they act. You don't have to sign it.

Gumbo

Environmental Health section of the council. They are responsible for enforcing the minimum rental standards.

They will also loads with planning and fire for any add ins and over crowding issues.

Is it Dublin City?

maninasia

Get the place shut down its illegal

Unsupervised

The Occupants will be so thankful to the OP and others here when they are in sleeping bags down Dublin Quays in winter.

Hero’s don’t always wear capes

You will be all patting yourselves on the back for a good deed done.

Dont worry OP. Out of sight, Out of mind.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119859811#Comment_119859811

There is to be no more of this type of post on the thread. At all.

People are allowed have concerns about housing standards and are not to have this type of gubbins posted in reply to it

L1011

For 'new' users here - you do not reply to moderation on thread.

Dav010

Maybe try to find out why 20 people think they need to live in this house, and whether they are doing so with the landlords approval. I suspect few people chose to live in such circumstances but rather, do so by necessity. You could look to the State to sort this out, but the State has been known to place whole families in a single hotel room or overcrowded provision centres.

I suppose the question is whether your concern is altruistic, or whether it’s NIMBY thinking, let’s hope it’s the former.

dashoonage

Dont be so quick to jump at the landlord here, i know someone who rocked on to do a 6 monthly inspection on a 2 bed apartment and found 12 people living in it. it took over a year to get it sorted with the RTB

screamer

Thread title indicates this is the landlords fault when in fact we don’t know. From what I’ve read, sounds like the people living there are doing so out of necessity. You can report it to the council/rte etc but like someone else said, they’ll be slow to do anything. Rented out houses can be really painful to live near to or beside, even to figure out who owns it is difficult.

Mad_maxx

I’d encourage the reporting of this but wouldn’t be terribly confident that the relevant authorities address it in any sort of swift manner

ryaner777

To try and follow up and answer some of the points raised.

First of all I've no desire to see anyone out on the street and I as I said above, I do not know if this a landlord issue or someone subletting the rooms and beds. It's possible the the owner of the house has no idea whats going on and for the arguments sake, when I say "landlord" I'm referring to the person taking the money from the tenants (whoever that might be)

Also, all the tenants seem like ideal neighbors. They are very quiet and keep the place in fine order. It's seems they activley try and stay under the radar and avoid bring attention onto themselves or the house. If the house is up to safety standards and the authorities don't have an issue with the amount of people in there, then it's nothing to do with me.

My main concern was the people living in the tent (it's a big decatlon one with multiple little rooms) and now in the flimsy shed. At some stage, it's going to get very cold. Maybe they have a system worked out and they can go inside if it gets too cold? I don't know?

It doesn't sit right with me that some "landlords" are taking advantage of the horrible accomadation situation we find ourselves.

I'm a friend in the fire services that I'll speak to at the weekend and see what he suggests. Failing that I my try find the owner and see if he knows whats going on.

dartboardio

It's obviously a subletting situation. Young fellows coming in from countries as refugees or illegal and getting cash in hand work like as delivery drivers or in kebab shops etc, seen plenty of that before, all 'cousins' working for one or two men cash in hand, they don't mind all being squashed in together as they just make money for their family at home. The bad thing is the person whos making all the money off of this, probably charging each of them a couple hundred euros a month. The lads probably don't have a choice as they may not have any legal status in the country.

This happens everywhere in the world whether we know about it or not

Random example but look at UAE is 10x worse they actually still have labor camps nowadays. With 10-15 men in one bedroom and often don't even have AC in 40 degree heat, getting paid 200-300 euros per month and their passport taken away.

Ireland should not have this problem as we are a modern society unlike UAE that has only mentally developed in the last 15 years and still has modern day slavery etc.