Notice to quit after 20 years.....property evaluation

walterking

Unless you live in one of the main cities, it won't be as difficult as you think to get a property especially if you have an excellent record as you seem to have.

The agent selling the property is an ideal person to find you another property - so offer coffee/tea & talk to them and ask if you can be contacted for anything that would be suitable. He/she will have direct contact with your current LL so can give a new LL a very concrete reference.

They will now other agents too, so may also be able to steer you in the right direction. Many rentals never come on the market as agents have lists and in many cases someone with as strong a record as you have, is ideal as the more professional LL's are looking for long term easy to deal with tenants

dragona

Thank you all!

Quite frankly, I am getting to the point of hysteria....

When I, or rather we, moved in, I made it clear as I had 3 young children, that I was looking for a long-term let, ie at least 5 years, and never imagined we would be here as long as we have! Things are different though, as now I'm on my own.

I have treated this house as my own, it was empty apart from a dishwasher and a cooker. I have since replaced the dishwasher at least 4 times, without bothering my landlord about it. It died, we just got a new one. The cooker is still here but really on its last legs. The shower has died a good few times, but we just replaced it as we went along.

I asked at the beginning if we could redecorate, put shelves up, etc, and was told that was fine, to go ahead and do as we pleased, as we had to live here. So I have! Just last year I spent a fortune on paint😥 Now I need to ask......do I need to paint everything magnolia before I pitch my tent? Can I take my expensive dishwasher with me? For example, a wooden curtain pole in a bedroom just crumbled....so I bought a new nice one. Do I need to leave it behind? I'm not the kind of person that would contact my landlord for stupid petty things, in actual fact, he has only ever bothered to come to the house 3 times in 20 years. There was a massive leak from somewhere, and the floor had to be replaced 6 years ago, and that was the last time I saw him other than just recently.

What is considered wear and tear after nearly 20 years? Obviously, there are a few things, such as the window sills paintwork being a bit not great, do I need to repaint all the skirting boards? I can't find all the keys to the bedroom doors 😥 and am panicking.....

Deeec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120078366#Comment_120078366

Absolutely bring your dishwasher with you. You are not responsible for getting the house ready for sale so don't do any paintwork etc. You are there 20 years and have been a good tentant. I'm sure the landlord will be reasonable.

Panjandrums

I would recommend looking for a new place to rent now rather than wait until July. If you moved out early the landlord would be delighted and any issues relating to lost keys etc would be quickly overlooked.

dragona

Believe you me I've been looking since the end of October! Nothing nothing nothing 😭

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120078708#Comment_120078708

Where are you looking to live? Is it Dublin? As someone mentioned above, if not one of the big cities, you should be fine.

dragona

No, I'm in Mullingar area, not a cupboard available!

Murt10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120068719#Comment_120068719

Ahh the Good Old Days!!!

We didn't half stigmatise women back then. To be a widow was respectable, but other than widows we also had Deserted Wifes Allowance (DWA), Prisoners Wifes Allowance (PWA), Unmarried Mothers Allowance (UMA) and another one if memory serves me, Single Womens Allowance (SAA) (where the woman was over a certain age but had no kids and had no income, often would have been caring for a relative or parent at home and then that person died).

Also in the case of Deserted Wifes Allowance, there was such a thing as Volition. The woman was interviewed by the Department and had to have a good reason for leaving Spouse, violence, infidelity etc., She wasn't entitled to payment if she just took it into her head to leave him. Her husband was also interviewed to get his version and to verify her version of events, and if there was a different story, she wolud be reineterviewed and asked for comments on what her husband had said. .

Girl Geraldine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120078366#Comment_120078366

Your land lord is selling the house. 99.9% of sales and buyers will want the house vacant and empty. They don't want second hand stuff like appliances and furniture and so on lying around. Plus you bought the appliances so they are yours. Anything that is yours take it with you. Anything that is not yours just leave it behind for the landlord to deal with. The only thing to be left in a house for sale is the fixed fixtures like the fitted kitchen and the bathroom ware.

As for curtain rails and so on. It is trivial item and not worth anyone's time to be either fixing nor taking with you. I'd say just leave it as is. Sure what are you going to do with it anyway if you take it? Only another piece of junk.

Don't even think about painting anything. There is no need. For selling a house, it really doesn't come into the equation. It makes no difference to value. It will be the buyers job to do whatever painting up they want.

All you need to do is pack up whatever stuff is yours and vacate on the agreed day.

Girl Geraldine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120077142#Comment_120077142

Don't worry about neutradol or any of that. Auctioneer's don't care about any of that. They are not coming to look at your living situation nor do they have any interest in your or what you have or don't have in the house. They are looking at the structure of the house itself, how many rooms, the sizes, layout etc. That is the stuff that is important in a sale, not whatever a vacating tenant is up to.

You are getting yourself too involved in the sale part of it. It doesn't concern you and it isn't any of your business. So all you need to do is agree to facilitate reasonable access and viewings and vacate as agreed when the time comes.

You need to focus your mind on your own business, ie, getting a new house sorted for yourself.

dragona

Ah about the neutradol haha I've 2 small dogs, and landlord knows him, so apparently he's going to keep me in mind if he gets any properties available.... Just didn't want him to think I kept a stinking dog house :)

Anyway he was here all of 5 mins, went upstairs, had a minimal look and that's it!

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120070483#Comment_120070483

I can assure you this is still a payment given out but is closed to new applicants since 1997. So it hasn't ceased

Sleepy

Just a point - have you mentioned your disability to the housing officer in the council? It's one of the factors that can get you prioritised on the waiting list. If you've been on HAP the entire 20 years, frankly I'm surprised you haven't had an offer of alternative accommodation from the council yet.

Squatman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120078366#Comment_120078366

dont worry about any of this. Take the good, leave the ****. your landlord wont give a continental as he will be selling as opposed to looking for new renters. 20 years should expect quite an amount of wear and tear.

dragona

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120094056#Comment_120094056

No, I have only been on HAP since July, husband left in May.I only have disability so was forced to apply for it.

The council have been informed of all my problems, but somehow I don't think I'll be offered anywhere to live by the end of July?

If I don't find anything I've no idea what happens or where I'll go.

Sleepy

The absolute worst case scenario is that you don't find anything by the move out date, report to the council as homeless and they'll have you put up in temporary accommodation (most likely a hotel) until such time as they, or you, can find a suitable rental so don't be worrying about finding yourself out on the street.

You mentioned wear and tear etc. as well. Remember - any decorative upkeep (e.g. those window sills you mentioned) were your Landlords responsibility to keep on top of over the past 20 years, not yours. So if they're looking a bit shabby, it's not on you to correct it in order to get your security deposit back.

The estate agent could be your best bet here as in order to sell the property and make they're commission, they need you out and while you've given us no indication you plan to over-hold, he/she doesn't know you won't do that if you struggle to find another rental ;)

dragona

Actually, I have always been confused as to whose responsibility is what.

I assumed that the paintwork and upkeep of the interior was mine, ie to keep the paintwork fresh etc and that the outside house things were his. Other than the garden of course.

Nowhere on my lease is there any mention of anything. For example, keeping the gutters clean, and the boiler serviced, etc.

The gutters have been cleaned sinonce, and I paid for that, years ago though. No one in 20 years has ever looked at the boiler outside. In actual fact, only ever seen the landlord 4 times in my life!

dennyk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120104703#Comment_120104703

Your landlord is entirely responsible for upkeep, maintenance, and repair of the entire property. It's not uncommon for long-term tenants to have some informal agreement with their landlord to take care of certain things themselves, especially if their landlord is sound, but legally the responsibility would ultimately be the landlord's; they can't force the tenant to cover the costs of upkeep or repairs, unless the tenant's own actions or gross negligence caused damage beyond ordinary wear and tear.

dragona

I see..... So servicing the boiler, maintaining the chimney, cleaning gutters, replacing non working taps etc, has never been my responsibility. Interesting, thank you.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106144#Comment_120106144

Did the landlord raise the rent many times in 20 years?

Were you paying the market rate?

dragona

No, he did not. Which is why we saw to most of those things ourselves.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120110974#Comment_120110974

This is interesting, sine of us have pointed out this that many small LL up to the imposition of RPZ's did not rise rents at all. Here we have a case where all did not rise the rent for twenty years.

This property was at probably 20-40% of true market rent. Boiler maintenance was not regulated until about 3-4 years ago in the 2019 act.

When you got passed for HAP there would have been a regulatory inspection within 12 months. It might have been unviable for the LL to bring the property up to specifications, 5-10k minimum might have been needed. It made more sense to look for it return and to sell or even to leave vacant.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120113572#Comment_120113572

The requirements to pass a HAP inspection are very light. In my experience so long as the ceilings aren’t falling in and you have a lagging jacket on the hot tank you’re fine. I had HAP in a few places before I started working so YMMV this is just my personal experience. Same with rent supplement when the CWO came to inspect the house, all he did was come into the kitchen and we signed a form 😅

Oh and smoke alarms. They never did test them though…

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120114555#Comment_120114555

I have a property with HAP tenant in it. The house was an old farm house that was completely done up, new windows, doors, dry lined new stove etc. I had to get a periodic electric cert, they checked the date on the alarms ( I know a friend that had to replace same), they wanted vent put in the walls and an eternal vent from the cooker hood( there is a special charcoal filter in it so no vent required) boiler service, if you have not got monoxide arms they require them as well in any room with a fire, they wanted 4'' vents ( this is a house with 24'' stone walls) from every room in the house. They also wanted a chimney breast that was white washed painted because you could see a historical water stain through the white wash.

I had a tenant previously in another house where I had a problem with mould in the bed room upstairs. There was an issue with the insulation on the slips of the roof. I got insulation put back in. The issue still remained. I had washed the wall with a special solution to get rid of the mould. When I painted it I added an additive to the paint. It ca.e back again. That tenant damaged the house so I got her out.

Before I relet it I completely repainted the whole house.I waged the mould, used the additive and there is no issue with the new tenant. He says he gives it a wipe if he see mould anywhere but it not much. I can only put it down to the last tenant was unemployed and was probably virtually living in that bedroom 20+ hours a day 5-6 days a week.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120114694#Comment_120114694

Yeah I’d say it depends on the council in fairness, our crowd obviously don’t give a bollix.

Mind, that’s hardly a shock.

dragona

This is very interesting. HAP payment is so minimal, if it were an option I'd be willing to come off it and stay where I am :(

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120119535#Comment_120119535

Have a chat with him especially if you were paying him cash.