New Place A Bit of A Disaster

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Folks,

As some of you may know myself and the missus moved from our apartment partially due to how noisey it had become. We went looking for a new place and looked at some houses in quiet locations. We looked at a place in Kirwan Street cottages but ruled it out as we could hear the neighbour in the house next door. We stressed to the letting agent who was with us that we needed somewhere quiet. The next day we met her again to view a small house in Prussia Street.

The new place seemed ideal. It was down a cul-de-sac about 30M away from the road, it was detached and double glazed. We were viewing it in the evening and there was relatively little noise from the road. We again mentioned to the letting agent that one of the reasons we were moving was that our apartment had become noisey and we wanted somewhere quiet. She assured us that the house was quiet. All seemed great so we signed the lease on the Wed 28th and moved our stuff in.
Our first night there was the friday and it was a disaster. At night you'd swear the cars are right outside your window and the letting agent either neglected to tell us/or didn't know that one of the houses by us is full of students, so on the saturday night we were worken up at 4am by lots of drunken shouting. The floor in the bedroom isn't level, you wouldn't notice it so much standing up but it becomes really evient when you're lying down and we found it difficult to get a good nights sleep. Downstairs in the living room there is a massive gap between the window and the window frame which is letting in lots of cold air.

The house is pretty cool and it's nice to have two levels but I'm really disappointed that it's so noisey, we specifically made a point of this with the letting agent. I'm going to go up and see them during lunch and see if we can get our deposit back. I'll be flexible and offer to try and get new tenants in, as the place looks alot better (and cleaner) since we moved in a few days ago.

What do you think my chances are of getting our deposit back?

Kintarō Hattori

I don't mean to be impatient but does anyone have advice as I hope to go see the agent during lunch time.

Victor

Sorry, only seeing this now.

Make sure the bedroom window is properly sealed (make sure there is some ventilation) and add a heavy curtain.

Assumming the floor isn't going to collapse, can you add something under the bed to make it level.

sorella

Best to move.

We had similar issues in a house still now advertised as "peaceful"; it is a bare hundred yards from a main trunk road that is hllly and the night traffic is shocking.

It was a while before we could find anywhere else and never a night's sleep.

See the agent; you do have rights and were misled.

Call "Threshhold" and talk to them? They will advise.

http://www.threshold.ie/

Victor wrote: »

Sorry, only seeing this now.

Make sure the bedroom window is properly sealed (make sure there is some ventilation) and add a heavy curtain.

Assumming the floor isn't going to collapse, can you add something under the bed to make it level.

Kintarō Hattori

Thanks for the replies guys. We sealed up the window but I'll give the landlords handyman a call to come out and have a look at it. We put something under the bed to even it out but as I think the room slopes from corner to corner it doesn't completely solve the problem.

I went up to talk to the letting agent yesterday and was told that because I had signed the lease it was legally out of their hands now and I'd have to take it up with the landlord. I rang the landlord (huge construction company) and got through to the lady who I presume is in charge of lettings. I mentioned the issues and said that we'd try and find someone to replace us. She mentioned she couldn't make a firm decision as the landlord was away for the week but she couldn't see a problem so long as we got new tenants. I asked her what if we couldn't find new tenants but she couln't give me a firm answer on that one.

sorella

Please, call Threshold? see what they say is right; there are tenancy laws now. This does not sound right or fair.

There are minimum standards a let must have.

If need be they will negotiate for you with the landlord.

Blessings

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. We sealed up the window but I'll give the landlords handyman a call to come out and have a look at it. We put something under the bed to even it out but as I think the room slopes from corner to corner it doesn't completely solve the problem.

I went up to talk to the letting agent yesterday and was told that because I had signed the lease it was legally out of their hands now and I'd have to take it up with the landlord. I rang the landlord (huge construction company) and got through to the lady who I presume is in charge of lettings. I mentioned the issues and said that we'd try and find someone to replace us. She mentioned she couldn't make a firm decision as the landlord was away for the week but she couldn't see a problem so long as we got new tenants. I asked her what if we couldn't find new tenants but she couln't give me a firm answer on that one.

jackal

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Hey Folks,

As some of you may know myself and the missus moved from our apartment partially due to how noisey it had become. We went looking for a new place and looked at some houses in quiet locations. We looked at a place in Kirwan Street cottages but ruled it out as we could hear the neighbour in the house next door. We stressed to the letting agent who was with us that we needed somewhere quiet. The next day we met her again to view a small house in Prussia Street.

The new place seemed ideal. It was down a cul-de-sac about 30M away from the road, it was detached and double glazed. We were viewing it in the evening and there was relatively little noise from the road. We again mentioned to the letting agent that one of the reasons we were moving was that our apartment had become noisey and we wanted somewhere quiet. She assured us that the house was quiet. All seemed great so we signed the lease on the Wed 28th and moved our stuff in.
Our first night there was the friday and it was a disaster. At night you'd swear the cars are right outside your window and the letting agent either neglected to tell us/or didn't know that one of the houses by us is full of students, so on the saturday night we were worken up at 4am by lots of drunken shouting. The floor in the bedroom isn't level, you wouldn't notice it so much standing up but it becomes really evient when you're lying down and we found it difficult to get a good nights sleep. Downstairs in the living room there is a massive gap between the window and the window frame which is letting in lots of cold air.

The house is pretty cool and it's nice to have two levels but I'm really disappointed that it's so noisey, we specifically made a point of this with the letting agent. I'm going to go up and see them during lunch and see if we can get our deposit back. I'll be flexible and offer to try and get new tenants in, as the place looks alot better (and cleaner) since we moved in a few days ago.

What do you think my chances are of getting our deposit back?

If I am reading it right, you went to view the place and decided on the basis of the viewing to rent it. I don't think that you have much of a case for feeling hard done by. Its not like you rented the place on ebay and it turned out to be something completely different to what you bought. You saw it with your own eyes!

It is common practice to go by an area on a Friday or Saturday night and see what its like for yourself before making judgment on a place. You are not going to find "Noisy drunk students and traffic noise complement the cosy sitting room" in many letting agency brochures or sales talks.

The letting agent is letting the house, not the noise levels of the area and is not responsible for students next door, or people driving their cars outside.