The eviction ban

I'd say most of those getting out are people who were in negative equity after the crash and never wanted to be landlords and now is probably a good time to get rid of the property as it is no longer in negative equity.

Also the current vilification of landlords and renters thinking the being a landlord is like being a charity and that the properties should be let out where the landlord loses money.

I only just started to read this thread, so apologies if I write anything that has been covered. We are in our sixties and built our house in 2001 close to the cottage we lived in for years prior to that. We live on an acre in a rural area. The cottage was and is going to be for our daughters if they would ever like to live in it. We have rented it out to a single male tenant for seven years who is on HAP, we started out with a rent that was 20 euro over the HAP limit in our County and the tenant asked after the first month after moving in if we could lower it, which we did. He has paid 350 euro for a 3 bedroom cottage which we lovingly renovated and extended for the entire tenancy, except for the first month where he paid 20 euro more. Our oldest daughter had asked if she could move in after coming back from studying and working in Dublin (where we paid for her a rent of 550 euro for a bed in a twin room in digs) but we didn't make a decision until I saw the photos of an inspection carried out by the agent looking after the place. That certainly made up my mind.

We served him in April last year with his notice, we had to go to a solicitor to sign an affidavit that we needed the property back for our family, as our daughter would like to move in. She is currently paying 950 euro more than he does a month, only a 15 minute drive from here (rural area also), because his rent has been fully paid by HAP for his entire tenancy. He said he would move out despite the eviction ban, but we could see that nothing was being moved out of the property. When the agent rang, he just said to her: "Well, am I not entitled?". Which clearly was true by law.

We were delighted that the eviction ban was lifted recently. We know he is not going to be homeless, as he stays overnight once a week with his mother in a nearby town. She owns a big house. Our daughter has given notice to her landlady and she said she is not going to overhold if her landlady has found a new tenant to move in. This means that she will have to stay with us until such time our tenant is being moved out. The latest information we are getting is that he was going to stay in a friend's house when a room became available, but that fell through. What is so different in staying with his mother then? He says he can't find anything suitable, but when the agent quizzed him in more detail what he was looking for he said he was looking for a property in the same price range, e.g. 350 euro. I have taken screenshots of properties that have become available over the last month that are in the 800 to 900 euro price range, but he maintains he can't find anything despite looking everyday. Our next move is RTB and solicitors, but just found out that his mother works for a solicitor firm in the town she lives in, so he probably was told to overhold and milk us for every penny he can get. I spoke with someone in housing re HAP and they said he hadn't submitted his notice to quit (not sure if that is the right terminology)

The maddening thing is that he is on HAP and receives DA benefit, due to a problem with his joints, but gives drumming lessons and plays it for long periods of time.

Just had to get this off my chest. I have no doubt there are genuine cases of people becoming homeless, but this would not be the case for our tenant and as a small landlord it sure feels we have no rights to our own property any longer when we need it back for our children.

Does anyone have any timeline on a Determination Order being issued by the RTB these times? Also, has anyone had any luck getting their solicitor involved in similar cases?

You have to move on with the process. Empathy and businesses are poor bedfellows. Forget about what he is telling you. Start the RTB process as everything is now time consuming.

Hi @[Deleted User] thank you so much for your reply. I did find out he didn't have any liability insurance since starting renting, so I forced him to take it out recently. It was mentioned to him he can not give lessons from home.

With regard to losing HAP, I did not realise he would lose it if he stayed with his mother (I don't think she would charge him any rent). I might just get in touch with Housing and check with them.

Sofar we have not spoken to him since my husband brought him the notice last year that his tenancy was ending. We let the agent deal with him. We are worried it could be construed as undue pressure as the moratorium is not to expire until in 5 days. Once his date to move out has passed without him moving out, can we legally put more pressure on by contacting him regularly to ask him if he is moving out?

Thanks @Bass Reeves for replying. I think we were naive that we were letting the cottage at such a low rate until one of our daughters intended to move into. This was always the plan, but we now realise that we have provided him a cushy lifestyle for many many years and he is not lightly going to give that up. We are starting the RTB process and I am meeting with our solicitor this week. Thanks again!

Hi @dumb_parade, thank you for your reply. We felt bad at raising his rent, thinking he would move out. But we realised a few weeks ago, that we had to do it, if we want him gone. We informed our agent that we are raising the rent to 950 euro, but that doesn't kick in until June I think (90 days notice).

Course you wouldn't consider being a landlord if you rented your property at a third of it's rate. Madness

When did I say charging the market rate outside of Dublin is greed? If you can find anything like that then I'll put my hands up and apologize. What you did was unfair anyway , tripling someones rent in one go. Rotten behaviour.

Thank you again @[Deleted User] for your help. Much appreciated!

Very unlikely isnt it?

I would have thought he makes a contribution to the HAP and HAP then pays you but you would only see the HAP payment. His payment would not be visible to you.

I have heard of HAP being increased above the HAP limit if the rent goes up and the tenant is at risk of losing his home. Not sure if the tenants contribution would go up in this case. Probably not by much if he's on disability allowance.

Ah its always a waste of time when the government are forced to defend their handling on a major issue like housing. Tell us when is it not a waste of time? Also if roles were reversed and FF and FG were in opposition that you think they wouldn't be doing the same?

It's a mess isn't it! We have submitted an application for Determination to the RTB and tomorrow I will be going to a solicitor. Unfortunately, a lot of small landlords who are letting one property are not staying in the housing market due to increasing rights for tenants (even if they are overholding) and less rights for landlords as a consequence.

Oh id say it will be hardly anyone who will re-let after they get their property back now. And id anyone ever got a taste of dealing with the RTB they will never let their property again.