Landlord Refusing to pay arrears!!!!

braf89 · 29-04-2009 5:40pm #1

Hello, I am a student in Dublin and I was living in a house with 11 other people. The house started out ok but then since Christmas has got progressively worse. It went so bad I decided thats it and gave the landlord my notice because he was not looking after the house ie. shower pouring into the downstairs kitchen for 6 weeks and not being repared, rats all around the house outside and non payment of refuse collection, which was part of his agreement. He now owes me 2 weeks rent and 4 weks deposit and is refusing to pay. I do not have his home address so I cannot bring him to the small claims court, so Im told. What can I do. There was NO lease signed but he maintains the rent book is the lease which I know is not true. Could I get any help. Also I have his registration number for his van, is there anyway I could get his address from this and if so HOW?

Thanks.

stapolinhosting · 29-04-2009 5:57pm

You can go to the Garda Station and give them the registration number, they should be able to tell you the registered address. What your landlord has done is basically stoll your money, which I think you should also say to the garda.

If you can, you should try and find out if he is a registered landlord and does he pay his taxes on the rental income. You can do this by phoning the tax office, the addresses of the rented house (your old place) should be enough info to find out. If the address is not on their system you can assume he is not paying tax - which can also be reported to the garda as tax fraud.

You should call the landlord and just mention that you are going to the garda to report him. He will either ignore you, or it could be enough to frighten him into giving you your money back....and when he does, report him for tax fraud just to pi*s him off. lol people like him are just money hungry feckers who think they can walk all over you and think you wont do anything about it. So, do something about it and put him in his place.

By the way, how many rooms were in the house to hold that many people.. he must be making a fortune on rent!

braf89 · 29-04-2009 6:06pm

Thanks Ill try that so hopefully theyll be able to help me. Theres 12 rooms well if ya'd call them rooms 1 is a bathroom converted to a room it still even had the frosted window. I have pictures off the state the house was in so that should help. Thanks for your reply.

cushtac · 29-04-2009 6:16pm

stapolinhosting wrote: »

You can go to the Garda Station and give them the registration number, they should be able to tell you the registered address. What your landlord has done is basically stoll your money, which I think you should also say to the garda.

There's no point going to the Gardaí with this as it is not a criminal matter. The OP is having a civil dispute with their landlord, the Gardaí will not investigate it and they will definitely not give out the address to which his vehicle is registered.

stapolinhosting wrote: »

If you can, you should try and find out if he is a registered landlord and does he pay his taxes on the rental income. You can do this by phoning the tax office, the addresses of the rented house (your old place) should be enough info to find out. If the address is not on their system you can assume he is not paying tax - which can also be reported to the garda as tax fraud.

I would be very surprised if the tax office would give out information on someone's tax status to a third party, and tax fraud is investigated by Revenue rather than the Gardaí.

stapolinhosting wrote: »

You should call the landlord and just mention that you are going to the garda to report him. He will either ignore you, or it could be enough to frighten him into giving you your money back....and when he does, report him for tax fraud just to pi*s him off. lol people like him are just money hungry feckers who think they can walk all over you and think you wont do anything about it. So, do something about it and put him in his place.

If the landlord has any cop on he will know that the Gardaí can do nothing about this.

The OP should consult the Private Residential Tenancies Board, Threshold also have some advice on tenants rights. Failing that they should consult a solicitor.

braf89 · 29-04-2009 6:23pm

I have contacted PRTB already and they said they would need his address. Im just wondering is this not theft? Why would it not be treated as if it was? Is there any point getting a solicitor if I dont have the landlords address?

Our man in Havana · 29-04-2009 6:26pm

Yes. Contact a solicitor.

FX Meister · 29-04-2009 7:02pm

Solicitor will cost you a fortune I'd imagine. You talked about the small claims court in your first post, this doesn't apply to you regardless of whether you have his address or not. Small claims court is for someone who has an issues with the sale of goods or services. If you gave notice then how come he owes you two weeks rent? Has he said he owes you the rent? What reason is he giving you for not paying? Do you still have keys to the place?

stapolinhosting · 29-04-2009 7:43pm

cushtac wrote: »

There's no point going to the Gardaí with this as it is not a criminal matter. The OP is having a civil dispute with their landlord, the Gardaí will not investigate it and they will definitely not give out the address to which his vehicle is registered.

I would be very surprised if the tax office would give out information on someone's tax status to a third party, and tax fraud is investigated by Revenue rather than the Gardaí.

If the landlord has any cop on he will know that the Gardaí can do nothing about this.

The OP should consult the Private Residential Tenancies Board, Threshold also have some advice on tenants rights. Failing that they should consult a solicitor.

I had similar problem with landlord many years ago, and a seperate problem with cars blocking a lane I used to live down. The garda helped me in both cases. They got me name and address of a car owner who blocked the road and I got in toutch with him and he was out an hour later and moved the car.

And when it came to tax fraud, informing the garda ensures that there is a record of your cliam on file which will help later on.

cushtac · 29-04-2009 8:54pm

braf89 wrote: »

I have contacted PRTB already and they said they would need his address. Im just wondering is this not theft? Why would it not be treated as if it was? Is there any point getting a solicitor if I dont have the landlords address?

It's not theft as you're involved in a dispute over the terms of the agreement you made with the landlord. It is a civil matter, not a criminal one. A solicitor would have more means of finding the landlord than you would, so it is at least worth talking to one.

stapolinhosting wrote: »

I had similar problem with landlord many years ago, and a seperate problem with cars blocking a lane I used to live down. The garda helped me in both cases. They got me name and address of a car owner who blocked the road and I got in toutch with him and he was out an hour later and moved the car.

Blocking access to your property is a Garda matter, though I'm surprised they gave you the info & didn't do it themselves. You're not actually entitled to this info.

stapolinhosting wrote: »

And when it came to tax fraud, informing the garda ensures that there is a record of your cliam on file which will help later on.

It won't help later on. Since Gardaí don't investigate this sort of thing it won't be recorded on PULSE as anything more than a minor complaint, if it is recorded at all. You would be told to contact the Revenue Commissioner, since they have responsibility for this. There would be absolutely no advantage to talking to the Gardaí on this matter.

focusing · 30-04-2009 3:52pm

Your students' union would be a good place to start for assistance and advice. In particular they'll want to make sure no more of their members are sent to that landlord.

focusing · 30-04-2009 3:59pm

Sorry, should have pointed out for the sake of completeness that the landlord is clearly in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act in terms of how he has acted.

Have you confirmed that the lease of the property has not been registered with the PRTB?

If registered, they will have his address and can deal with a complaint against him.

If not registered, he has committed a criminal offence and either the PRTB or the Gardai should be investigating it.

braf89 · 30-04-2009 5:03pm

hi was talking to the gardai they said they dont know what to do they said go to either threshold or citizens information. the landlord is not registered with PRTB so i pressume he's also not paying the right tax on the property etc., also theres 12 tvs in the house is he liable to pay for 12 tv licences? if so ill be reporting him because hes only a cowboy.

stapolinhosting · 30-04-2009 6:19pm

braf89 wrote: »

hi was talking to the gardai they said they dont know what to do they said go to either threshold or citizens information. the landlord is not registered with PRTB so i pressume he's also not paying the right tax on the property etc., also theres 12 tvs in the house is he liable to pay for 12 tv licences? if so ill be reporting him because hes only a cowboy.

I think one TV licence covers the property, unless each room is like a bedsit or something and each have their own address like in a block of apartments. If thats the case then one is needed for each seperate 'address'.

Yep, he sure is a coybow, and is probably making a small fortune. Time to feed him to the dogs me thinks. Not paying tax on his rental income is basically tax fraud as far as me knows.

Report his ass to everyone!

braf89 · 30-04-2009 6:42pm

hes making €1450 a week on the house and he has another one the same with loadz of rooms around the corner so cudya imagine gettin almost 3k a week and then his normal daily job on top of that. Its ppl like him that have the country the way it is.

stapolinhosting · 30-04-2009 7:14pm

braf89 wrote: »

hes making €1450 a week on the house and he has another one the same with loadz of rooms around the corner so cudya imagine gettin almost 3k a week and then his normal daily job on top of that. Its ppl like him that have the country the way it is.

oooh! hes got alot of back tax to pay!! or maybe he needs a little holiday with very little sunshine.

You know what, if he is making that kind of money every week, he should have no problem paying you back your deposite and rent he owes you.

He probably only has a day job to keep the tax man happy.

As said before, get onto the student union and report the property to them so they can make sure its not on their list of recomended properties.

stapolinhosting · 30-04-2009 7:29pm

cushtac wrote: »

Blocking access to your property is a Garda matter, though I'm surprised they gave you the info & didn't do it themselves. You're not actually entitled to this info.

I dont know why either but they gave me the details anyway. Maybe I just got him while in the middle of a cuppa or something. lol

Landlord Refusing to pay arrears!!!!

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