dodgey landlord or am i entitled too.....

mivec

right im not sure where to start ive too issues really i need advice on, to start at the begining i moved into a house in south dublin renting at €1400 with two of my friends, the house is in a nice area so we were happy to get our first place, now that we've been here about 18 months we have seen how out dated allot things are in the house but we still march on even tho we all feel we should be getting more for our money but thats another story,

the first issue is that in our lease it states the we must cut the grass both front and back obviously to make sure the place looks well, now the landlord called up and supllied a manual roller cutters for the grass the type we had in the old days before petrol mowers and electric mowers now bearing in mind that my rear garden is 400 square feet roughly thats a days work and a broken back, am i entitled to ask for a proper reasonable mower (nothing fancy) just something even basic as ive looked in the argos and for maybe €10 the cheap-sake could have gotten an entry level flymo its sickens me or is it tough look on my part as he has supllied something regardless of what sort it was? the reason i ask now at this point is as its has seized up recently from the rain etc over the summer (as we have no storage area or shed) and he complains that we should cut the grass or rent a petrol mower out of our own money were do i stand on this?

my second question is we moved into a furnished house as within the last month a spring popped in my bed not the matress but the bed, then about a week later another went followed by another so now when i lie in bed im swallowed by my matress turn upwards into a V shape, i mentioned it to the landlord that this had happened and he laughed at me in a joking way suggesting i inflicked this on it which i didnt as each time i was there for a spring breaking/popping i was lying on the bed watching tv, so to summary this its only 3 springs but the bed is beyond a joke there is not structure damage at all to the bed or matress but ive more or less been told its my own problem..... can i not go to him and demand its fixed or repaired?

anybody know where i stand on these, as part of me was nearly gonna take the stance of fix it or ur not

SimpleSam06

Just rip up the entire garden and replace it with astroturf, then withold rent until thats paid for, although you could just sell his topsoil. If he has a problem with it tell him to contact threshold.

He sounds like a typical prat of an Irish landlord though - with one boob, I walked into the house to take a look at it, and he was already turning around and pointing out cracks in the wall asking if I had done it - the problem is you did sign a contract to keep the garden, and really its hard to have sympathy with someone who signed something without understanding it fully.

As for the bed, if the mattress came with the house, then its up to him to repair it or replace it. On a semi-related note, landlords who are not registered are usually not registered with the revenue commissioners either.

the_syco

If you said you'd cut the lawn, cut it. He has given you the means. You want a quicker way, get it yourself.

Jack Bauer999

the_syco wrote: »

If you said you'd cut the lawn, cut it. He has given you the means. You want a quicker way, get it yourself.

you should read what the OP says ( the mower has seized up recently ) before you put ur 2cents in.

firsty OP lesson learned, check the lease before you sign it next time.
if a landlord wants his lawn cut tell him to do it himself or pay you to do it!

he sounds like a right cheap skate, i wouldnt be surprised if there's a clause
in there to paint his house as well at ur expense!!

our landlord pay one of the neightbours to come in and cut the grass every
so often.

Either way theres no way you should pay for a lawnmower out of your own
money, if he's refuses to replace the current broken mower then tell
him cut his own bloody lawn!

he should also replace the matress, that what the landlord is meant to do.

the_syco

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

you should read what the OP says ( the mower has seized up recently ) before you put ur 2cents in.

A bit of oil would fix it.

Although not on the landlords side, I would like to point out that the OP mentions that they don't have any storage facilities, so they couldn't store the

manual roller cutters for the grass the type we had in the old days

and it has now seized up, yet they want the landlord to buy something that will also be left out in the rain? OP, you could buy a small second-hand electric one from the buyandsell for €30, but with nowhere to put it, it'll stop working very quickly, after being left out in the rain.

Maybe look into seeing how much a cheap petrol lawnmower and a cheap wooden shed is, so that you could have somewhere to put it. With this information, the LL may look at it in a better light.

SimpleSam06 wrote:

Just rip up the entire garden and replace it with astroturf

That may be viewed in the same way as you putting wallpaper up in one of the rooms: it may look nice, but if it goes against the lease, you may be billed for works to put it back to the original state.

SimpleSam06

the_syco wrote: »

Maybe look into seeing how much a cheap petrol lawnmower and a cheap wooden shed is, so that you could have somewhere to put it. With this information, the LL may look at it in a better light.

This landlord doesn't sound like the kind of person that would spend money on anything, tbh. Besides, why bother with the shed, is it so hard for the landlord to drop up the mower in his car when hes collecting the rent and pick it up later on? Oh right, that would involve lifting a finger.

the_syco wrote: »

That may be viewed in the same way as you putting wallpaper up in one of the rooms: it may look nice, but if it goes against the lease, you may be billed for works to put it back to the original state.

It would be awfully funny though.

Calina

Therein lies the issue. In a lot of other countries it is entirely possible to decorate a rented property because the lease provides for you returning it in the condition you got it in, or, changes being made subsequent to negotiations with the landlord.

Unfortunately, in Ireland, with the "temporary" nature of rental, the lack of security of tenure and the general mistrust in the system, this is not possible.

antoinolachtnai

If you feel the house is bad value for money generally, and you aren't happy with the terms of the lease, why not give your notice and move out?

Victor

I don't think you are entitled to anything here. You have to cut the grass.

For the bed, well beds break from time to time. You've had 18 months out of it. I would suggest you either get an upholsterer to look at it or get a sheet of plywood to lay between the matress and base. If you want, buy your own base, but take it with you when you leave. Correspondingly, don't allow the landlord deduct anything for damage to the bed.

Jack Bauer999

Victor wrote: »

I don't think you are entitled to anything here. You have to cut the grass.

For the bed, well beds break from time to time. You've had 18 months out of it. I would suggest you either get an upholsterer to look at it or get a sheet of plywood to lay between the matress and base. If you want, buy your own base, but take it with you when you leave. Correspondingly, don't allow the landlord deduct anything for damage to the bed.

its the landlords responsibity to ensure the items in his house are to a
suitable standard, if a bed is broken then its the landlord who needs to
replace it, unless of course if it was the tenants own fault that it broke
or the house was rented unfurnished.

Normal wear and tear is the landlord's job, its his bed not your,
demand the landlord replace the bed and if he wont then replace it yourself and take the money out of the next months rent.

Ste.phen

Jack Bauer999 wrote: »

its the landlords responsibity to ensure the items in his house are to a
suitable standard, if a bed is broken then its the landlord who needs to
replace it, unless of course if it was the tenants own fault that it broke
or the house was rented unfurnished.

Normal wear and tear is the landlord's job, its his bed not your,
demand the landlord replace the bed and if he wont then replace it yourself and take the money out of the next months rent.

I wouldn't be so forceful from the get-go as the landlord might get pissy and look for an excuse to get them out, but the bed its definitely the landlord's problem barring any exceptional damage.

On the lawnmower I don't agree with the OP, regardless of whether there's a lawnmower there or not, it's the OP's responsibility to keep the place tidy

Electric

Why don't you pay someone to cut the grass for you? Surely it would be easier to hand over €20 than do it yourself? Where my parents live there's a young lad that has his own lawnmower and cuts the entire estates lawns every Sunday. Makes a tidy few bob out of it too!

As for the bed, well the landlord should be the one to replace it. When I moved into my house all the mattresses needed replacing so we got onto the landlord. These things come under wear and tear. If he won't replace it tell him that you are going to order a replacement and withhold the cost from your rent. There's no way I'd sleep on a horrible saggy mattress!

Gobán Saor

Sounds like a stereotypical miserable tightarse. Check with the PRTB to see if he has registered the lease. If not, tip off the Revenue.

Also, you could buy a 5L drum of roundup and spray lightly on the lawn. Will kill the grass for about 2 months.