Ex housemates looking for rent

LegacyUser

Hi everyone. This is a tangle of a story, so I'll just tell it in chronological order.

During the last two semesters of college (from september to may) I was renting a house with two of my friends. I signed all contracts and the lease. Because my friends were planning on going home for the summer I had to look for a new house to stay in, as the landlord rents the whole house (as opposed to letting by room)

Near the end of my first lease my neighbour (who is a contract holder from the same landlord) asked me to move into an empty room in their house. Since they live literally nextdoor and it is a good location and would be easy to move all my things in, I accepted and moved in at the start of June.

There were four of us in the house altogether and one of the other tenants was already planning to move out in August. On moving in I signed no contract and payed no deposit.

In my two months of living there their dogs have chewed and urinated on my belongings causing around €30 of damage, and one of them damaged a hamster tank of mine by accident (which is worth more than €100) Because my neighbours don't work very long hours (one only works one or two days a week and the other has only recently found a full time job) I didn't ask them for money for those damages at the time.

At the start of July I met with the landlord and he gave me back my deposit from my previous house. I asked him to keep it to cover the new house, but he informed me that the deposit for that house had been payed in full as far as he was concerned and said that we could sort it out amongst ourselves. I decided not to offer my housemates any money as they have dogs in the house and significant damage had been done to the property before I moved in. Also I thought that they would ask for too much and I'd never see it again even if I caused no damage to the house.

In mid July I decided for definate to move home, as I couldn't get enough hours in work to sustain myself and I didn't feel comfortable living in the house any longer. The other tenants are constantly making racist remarks about our neighbours and have even shouted abuse out the window at a foreign pizza delivery man. They are also homophobic, which means I can't have some of my friends over to the house. Aswell as this I don't feel comfortable leaving my belongings in the house as they have told me that they have stolen wine from a shop while I was living there and I heard from someone who knows them that they stole a guitar too.

I informed the lease holder that I would be moving out in the last week of July. I offered to put an ad in the paper and asked her whether the other tenant wanted to include her room in my ad so that we wouldn't have to pay twice when we could save a few bob. They never got back to me about this, so I never put the ad in the paper.

They seemed to have no problem with this until a few days ago, when they told me by text message that I'd have to find someone new for the room or the rent would fall on my shoulders.

I rang the landlord to let him know that I'd moved out of the house so that he wouldn't be looking for my rent, and he told me that the lease holder had texted him and told him that I'd be late with my rent as I was away for a few days. I was a bit shocked at this, as I had told the lease holder that I would be moving out and she knew that my belongings had been removed from the house.

I then got a text from the lease holder that said that I owed them €300 plus €360 deposit, that I had to find them a new housemate and that contracts were involved so they would take legal action if I didn't. (as I said before, I didn't sign any contracts moving into this house)

I'm going down to collect the rest of my belongings and to give them the key tomorrow. I'm just looking for advice really on what to do. I am willing to put an ad in the paper for them, but I'm definately not paying their rent.

I think I should contact the landlord and ask him to do an inspection on the house, so I can pay for whatever damage I have caused to the house.

Thanks for any advice.

Ian Beale

First off go get your belongings but don't go alone bring 1 or 2 friends with you.Do not put an ad in the paper either for your room thats their problem not yours you offered and they gave no reply.Do not pay 1 single cent either and don't call the landlord,to be honest I can't understand why he even let you move in without getting your name on the lease.

Collect your items and ignore any texts or calls,no contracts so they can't do anything, their pushing you for it because they know they messed up with not getting any contract signed at it is the lease holder that the rent will fall on too.If your worried that the landlord will come looking for money don't be he hasn't a leg to stand on.

Shorten this down a bit,collect your belongings with a friend,don't pay any money,don't contact the landlord,ignore any threats of legal action-they haven't anything to stand on!

Enigma365

Completely agree with the above poster. You have done nothing wrong. You have signed no contracts so you have zero obligations(to the best of my knowledge). From a legal standpoint, it sounds like you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

From a moral standpoint, it sounds like you did everthing right, you gave them plenty of notice when you had no legal requirement to do so and you offered to find a replacement again when you had no such obligation. If you got on well with your housemates and they were decent people, you might want to make the effort to find a replacement as an act of decenty. But these guys sound like complete assholes so if I were in your position, I would get my stuff quickly, and ignore any further communication with them or your landlord.

Maybe you feel you should pay for any damages caused, but I think the situation is too messy(due to no fault of yours) and you're much better off just completely extracting yourself from it.

78eigs

I agree, count their damage to your stuff as your payment of any damages you have done.

Go into the house at 5 am,or something when you know they wont be awake and quietly take your stuff,bring a friend if possible.

then ring your land lord and ask him for his address,post him the key.

then tell(text) this person(lease holder) and tell them you have talked to the land lord and given him the key and he is happy you owe him nothing,and that you are under no contract to pay anything,goodbye.

you wont make friends out of these people but that does not sound like a loss anyway.

tom_ass19

I know this sounds stupid but I was told to do this before. I was in a similar situation. Take a few good quality pictures of your room when everything is moved out so if they decide to wreck the room when you leave and blame it on you and tell the lanlord you have proof that it wasnt you. Other than that I agree with the replys you've had. good luck with it

LegacyUser

I went to the house today to collect my belongings and give my room a clean. It's on the other side of the country to me so the drive takes almost four hours. I brought the hoover from home and some other cleaning equipment with me to clean out my room. On the way there I got a text from the lease holder telling me not to come as they were having guests over. Obviosuly I told her I wasn't turning around at that stage as I had arranged to come down two days before and we were already halfway there. I let her know when I would be arriving and that was grand.

So when I arrived I entered the house (I'm technically still letting there until Friday so I still have my key and can enter the house when I want) I went upstairs with the hoover to find my bedroom door locked. This was a bit surprising as I had asked the lease holder for the key to my room when I moved in and she told me there was no key to the room. I went back downstairs to find the other housemate who is moving out in the sitting room. She told me that the lease holder had locked my room and had gone to work (when she gave me the impression that she would be there) So I couldn't clean out my room and I couldn't collect my stuff, thus rendering the journey a pointless waste of time.

Anyway, I told the housemate who was there that I wasn't going to pay for their rent and she was fairly cool with it, as she's moving out too. She didn't want a confrontation over it. She also told me that the lease holder had locked my room so that I couldn't get my stuff back until I had found them a new housemate.

After alot of wandering around I called in to my landlord and told him about the whole situation. He confirmed to me that I owe him nothing and told me that he'd get my belongings back.

I'll post again when it's all resolved.

Thanks for the advice about taking photos of the room, I took my camera with me but obviously I couldn't take photos because the room was locked.

A word of advice from my experience: ALWAYS sort out ALL contracts etc. with the people you are moving in with before you even move in. That way everyone knows where they stand.

Ian Beale

Just some further advice dont wait on the landlord to retrieve your things call the leaseholder tell him/her to open up/leave the key there and if she refuses tell her you'll call the guards as you've sorted it all with the landlord.
Or break the doors lock

zero19

Personally i'd get a locksmith in at the door, get my stuff and go.

BigCon

If it was me, it would be a size 11 to open the door, collect my belongings and give the landlord the cost of getting the lock/door fixed...

78eigs

since epople do lose the keys to locked internal doors,
Most key cutting shops will give you a complete set of basta/union keys 2 lever keys(most internal door locks in this country.) so you can keep trying them until you find the right one.you will have to give them a deposit 20€-100€ and they will charge you something aswell.around 10€ normaly.depending on the place.

i know its not much good to you now,but it might help someone in the future in this situation.

4Xcut

Helpmeout wrote: »

On moving in I signed no contract and payed no deposit.

(as I said before, I didn't sign any contracts moving into this house)

I'm going down to collect the rest of my belongings and to give them the key tomorrow. I'm just looking for advice really on what to do. I am willing to put an ad in the paper for them, but I'm definately not paying their rent.

I think I should contact the landlord and ask him to do an inspection on the house, so I can pay for whatever damage I have caused to the house.

Thanks for any advice.

Take your stuff and just leave them to rot in what quite honestly sounds like a complete hole. No contracts - no comeback.

Caoimhín

Please be careful OP. This lot sound like nasty s*its. Bring someone with you if you go back.
Might do no harm to report this to your local Guards. They probably wont do anything but they will have a log of it.

cjmcork

next time, bring a screwdriver so you can unscrew the door handle and take your stuff - those people are bad news - good luck OP

LegacyUser

a screw driver will not unlock a locked door,
it will just let you take off the handle,the lock will still need a key to be opened.