Will we lose our deposit?

TheCommy

Ok, so....

We 3 friends moved in to a 3 bed apartment at the end of Jan. When we paid our deposit and the landlord left us too it we immediately noticed place was disgustingly dirty and had obviously just been given a "once over" for showing...there was a thick layer of grease covering everything in the kitchen and we spent 2 days cleaning before we could move in. All of the cooking and eating utensils were rusty and not usable. We replaced everything but none of us being very ballsy.....we never mentioned any of this to our landlord.

He won't let us lodge our rent in to a bank account and insists on collecting the rent in cash once a month - sometimes 2 weeks after it is due with a few hours notice.

He seemed really nice at the start, and we have NEVER hassled him or called him about anything but one of the girls we moved in with lost her job and had to move out, we also bought a couch for the apartment when we moved in first because all it had was a basic 3 seater - which for 3 of us was a bit too cosy, and as we are a bit broke and the other girl is gone we asked him if he would consider swapping her months rent for the couch which we are happpy to leave behind (and cost more than our friends share) - he declined, fair enough - we were chancing our arm anyway.

Anyway, we have since noticed that a lot of the other 3 bed apartments in this complex are now priced lower than this one.

I was on thresholds website and it said that the lease should state what the deposit is for.

The lease is for 12 months and states that the deposit was paid to ensure we fulfilled tenants obligations?

Is our obligation staying the full 12 months? Or can we give a months notice and move acrosss the way where the rent is cheaper?

Any advice?

Cathmandooo

If you've signed a lease for a year then you're obligated to pay the agreed rent for the term.

Have you asked your Landlord for a reduction in rent yet? No harm asking.

Has he been giving you a rent book? You need proof that you've been paying your rent every month if he's insisting on doing it by cash.

tbh he sounds a little shady. It's a shame you didn't pull him up on the dirt of the place at the time, you'd probably need photographic evidence and receipts of the cost of cleaning to get any compensation.

jhegarty

Cathooo wrote: »

If you've signed a lease for a year then you're obligated to pay the agreed rent for the term.

True.

However , I would imagine the treat of a call to the revenue might encourage him to let you out it.

Then report him anyway once you have your deposit back.

Cathmandooo

jhegarty wrote: »

True.

However , I would imagine the treat of a call to the revenue might encourage him to let you out it.

Then report him anyway once you have your deposit back.

*possible stupid question alert*
Is it illegal to take rent money in cash?

oneway

Is he PRTB registetred? - this is now a legal requirement.

http://www.prtb.ie/Landlord_Tenant/English%20Tenant.pdf

Alos, have you done the back-of-the-envelope cost/benefit analysis of moving to another unit in the complex with a more *normal* landlord: if another unit is E200 cheaper and the deposit is E1,000, then even if you lose the deposit you'll still be clear in 6 months.

have fun...

TheCommy

Yea we've thought about this oneway...It's true alright but in an ideal world we'd like to get the deposit back

As for the PRTB...I only looked it up when i was reading through our lease. It's mentioned on our lease that he is supposed to register it, but as far as I can work out he hasn't.

I downloaded the Dublin 15 list of properties and ours is not listed?

Whats the next step? I would like to do this without threatening him if possible?

The_Conductor

Cathooo wrote: »

*possible stupid question alert*
Is it illegal to take rent money in cash?

It might not be advisable, but its in no manner illegal. You can pay for your rent in Yak milk if your landlord is amenable to it- but the transaction still has to be accounted for.

astrofool

Are you claiming rent relief? If not, why not? Legally you're obliged to see out the tenancy. You are entitled to a rent review once a year also.