legal advice for issues with landlord?

personguy

hi forum.

been having major troubles with a very careless not-actually-landlord landlord (evidently "taking care of the mortgage for his friend in switzerland") over the past couple years. he leaves the house a total kip, literally swabbing a lick of paint over major plumbing issues only when the house inspector comes around. the last two winters we've had working heating in the house for a total of about 20 days during all those nights of very cold weather, and none of the windows are even slightly insulated. (when he would finally do something about the heating, it would work for a couple days, then break again, and we wouldn't hear from him for another month.) we reverted to seperate mini electric heaters in our rooms, to fight the cold, and last february this non-landlord had the nerve to call in to the house to rave and scream about us chalking up a 900 euro electricity bill! (we never see the bills, by the way, he just tells us how much each is to pay, based on when we moved in, etc.).

talking with a neighbor on halloween, they said the building inspector had told them that our house was just a money hole, raking it in (6 tennants paying just under 500 a head, yeah, i'd tend to agree).

i stayed because it was a good location and made friends in the house, but i've finally had enough and have told him i'll be leaving by the end of this month.
now, of course, he's trying to get as much money out of me as he can. the thing i'm wondering is, i never signed any agreement for anything in the house, and neither has anyone else who lives here. normally i'm a very honourable person, avoiding debts but paying them back as quickly as i can when incurred. but this guy has screwed us over so many times, i'd really rather not give him any more than i have to. he said that before i leave he wants me to sit down with his solicitor and enter a legally binding agreement to pay him the money that's owed.

so, short version, i'm wondering where i stand legally if i turn around and tell him: show me, show me where it says that i owe you this money.

thanks a mil.

pg

jhegarty

What money does he claim you owe ?

personguy

rent from the last few months. i was trying to leave by the end of october but didn't get organised quickly enough. my deposit was one month's rent, so that would only cover one. plus the bills, which is just a shady issue all together. i expect to pay my part of the bills, of course. but i had a friend move in upstairs for about 5 months, and when he left this 'landlord' hit him with a bill for 600 euro. astronomical.

Victor

If you owe rent, you owe rent, but be wary of signing anything now.

If you have paid tax over the last few years, make sure you have receipts and and sign form RENT_1 from www.revenue.ie

Is the property listed here? www.prtb.ie/PublishedRegister2009/county_dublin_09.htm

The best people for advice are www.threshold.ie

personguy

cheers. thanks for the tip, victor.

haven't seen my place on the list yet, but it's a massive list (hasn't even loaded down to dublin yet )

i'll look in to threshold, though. thx again.

personguy

hi there. just a quick bump with a brief question about threshold.

i sent them an email a few days ago and tried calling a couple times today but still haven't been able to get through.

i'm heading into town today and was just wondering if anyone knows if one must make an appointment with them to be seen, or if i could just call in to their stonybatter offices and get in a queue of some kind.

thanks.

pg

Fey!

Ask to see the relevant bills for the period you were there, and ask for a receipt for all the monies paid toward bills and rent; €900 for an ESB bill, which would be 2 months, sounds crazy.