Rent deposit / find persons address

kaveman

Hi,

My landlord has absconded with my deposit. I have submitted my case to the PRTB (Private Residential Tenancies Board) but they have told me they cannot take the case any further because he is not responding to the address that they are mailing. The PRTB have put the onus on me to get his address.
The landlord has also left the letting agent in the lurch and they cannot contact him.
Anybody have any idea how I can track a person down (without spending a fortune)? I obviously have a name, I also have bank account details, mobile number and the address of a property that he is currently renting to someone else.

Thanks,
kaveman

jimoc

Have you tried speaking to the person at the other rental property and explain the situation to them?
If he's gonna do it to them as well then it would be good to have them prepared for it, and also they could withhold the rent, tell him that he needs to come collect it in person and you can then wait there with them.

Random

Call to the property that he's renting to someone else and ask them if they have contact details for him?

kaveman

Thanks guys,
I shudda mentioned this but that was my first port of call. I informed the current tenants of he situation. They have no contact details for him - rent is paid into bank account.

thanks.

dudara

Moved to Acomodation & Property

dudara

Cadiz

That sucks kaveman.

Could you check him out on the land registry? (this will cost you but not more than €10 AFAIK). This might yield a home address maybe. www.landregistry.ie

Also could see if he owns any businesses on the companies registry website: www.cro.ie it might help to track him down. (again this costs some money).

Was the property you rented an apartment? If he owes you money he probably owes the property management company money. Perhaps they might help with his contact details if you ask nicely. Newer estates also have property management companies.

antoinolachtnai

How does the PRTB know that he isn't at the address they have? Just because he doesn't respond doesn't mean he isn't there.

I would speak to threshold on this, they might have some idea.

jimoc

Have you called to the address that the PRTB has?

Lorelei

if he has took off with your deposit then he's probably committed a crime (embezzelement) with the details that you have such as bank account you might be able to get the Gards to do something.
good luck

Winty

Hi Kaveman

Publish his name and last know address here in the thread and the power of the people will find him, somebody will know him

Lorelei

IDEA !!

kaveman

Thanks for all the replies guys. After doing some door to door enquiries of the house that I previously rented I got an address. I called to the address over the weekend. I found that his sister was living there. She would not give me his address but said she would "take care of it". She also confirmed that he was using her house as his contact address. I have not had any further updates yet. I will give the PRTB the address of his sister and hope they can do something with it.
The whole situation with the PRTB seems a bit farcical to me. I know for a fact (from speaking to the current tenants) that he is collecting his mail from the address that the PRTB have. Also he still is using the same phone number (confirmed by his sister). It appears that he is either ignoring mail from the PRTB or just returning it to sender. It just doesnt make sense that the onus is on me to get his address. This makes it incredibly easy for a landlord to get away with anything - it seems all they have to do it move house. (I have put this point to person handling the case at the PRTB to no avail. Citizens Information or Threshold could not give me any help either).

I dont know if I should name the guy here on the forum. I would love to but could that damage my case at the PRTB? If the case goes dead at the PRTB then I wil definately name him.

Thanks again.

Lorelei

OK you know he hasn't took off, you know he's collecting mail.

Withhold the rent - as previously said keep the rent so that you can pay him when he finally sorts things out.
Send him a letter (recorded delivery) then you can prove that the letter was delivered to his address telling him that you will withhold the rent until such time as the matter is sorted.

This must be so easy to sort out, its just a matter of his providing ESB with proofthat the old tennant has gone. I am shaking my head in disbelief. Whatever happens I think is this happened to me I would be looking for somewhere else.

ztoical

Lorelei wrote: »

Withhold the rent - as previously said keep the rent so that you can pay him when he finally sorts things out.

As the OP is looking to get their deposit back and have stated someone else is now living in the property I assume they have moved out already so theres no rent to withhold.

Lorelei

Quite right aren't I stupid.
Refer to my previous posting he appears to all intents to have kept the deposit illegally go to the Gards.

kaveman

thats right, I moved out 6months ago. I haven't formally made complaint to Gardai but a friend Garda has told me Gardai will be very slow to get involved until PRTB have made a judgment, and they want an address for landlord from me before they make the judgement.
"This must be so easy to sort out" ==> I know you would think so - I am tearing my hair out with frustration. It would be so easy for the authorities to track him down. I could get a private investigator and solicitor but for the amount involved its probably not worth it. PRTB have taken over from small claims court for these matters so it looks like that avenue is closed to me too.

Lorelei

hope you didn't misunderstand my comment "must be easy" etc, I'm on your side all the way here.
I would still go to the Gards in your position, during my time with Wet Yorks polcie quite often (rightly or wrongly) so called minor or low value offences would be more or less left. However if a name kept coming up then action would be started, so try that and then perhaps think about debt recovery agencies.
Cant think about anything else, how did you return the keys to him?

Victor

Lorelei wrote: »

if he has took off with your deposit then he's probably committed a crime (embezzelement) with the details that you have such as bank account you might be able to get the Gards to do something.
good luck

Probably not embezzlement and the Garda is unlikely to be interested.

Winty wrote: »

Publish his name and last know address here in the thread and the power of the people will find him, somebody will know him

Do not.

I think talk to Threshold and write a letter to the PRTB explaining what you have found out.

Lorelei

It is embezzlement it is a crime he has taken money which was held for a specific purpose it is the same background as if you gave a builder a deposit of 50k to build a house and he took off with the money.
The Gards might not be interested buy why not give it a go. He might be "known to them", one offs very rarely occur with criminals.
What has OP to lose by going to the gardai - 20 minutes!!

kaveman

Hi Again,
Threshold have advised that Gardai will not get involved as this is a civil matter. I think I might just end up trying anyway as it seems I have nothing to loose at this stage.
I dont think a letter to PRTB will do any good at this stage. I have spent ages on the phone going over absolutely everything with the person dealing with my case and its like banging my head off a brick wall. They cant/wont do anything with his sisters address.
Victor, why do you say not to give his name here?
Lorelei, I didnt misunderstand your "must be easy" comment at all. I know what you meant. thanks for you contributions.

antoinolachtnai

I would ask a TD at this point. He will put a PQ if you want to the Minister for Environment, who will look into the thing for you and that might give some guidance.

Technically speaking, I would say that there is a legal remedy to this - basically, the PRTB isn't giving you a proper opportunity to vindicate your rights. But I would say this would end up costing you a lot more time and hassle than your deposit.

eth0_

Lodge a case against him in the small claims court. If he ignores the request to appear in court you will automatically win the case and the sherrif can force him to pay, involving bailiff's if necessary.

kaveman

Thanks, but the PRTB have informed me that the small claims court is not open to me as this is a tenancy related issue. The PRTB have taken over from the small claims court for all tenancy matters.
Today I called Threshold again. This time I met an extremely helpful person. She said that Threshold may make a representation to the PRTB for me. I need to send her the info first.

Lorelei

I'm not convinced that this is a civil matter.
If he was arguing that he is retaining part of the deposit because for example the house needed cleaning or repairs (which were not fair wear adn tear) needed to be carried out and you (OP) argued that the house was clean or repairs were down to fair wear and tear then yes it would be civil.
But hes not he is witholding money which is not due to him, and I'm pretty sure that fulfils embezzlement just as if the treasurer of a lottery syndicate collected money from the members and then used it himself.
Its a ridiculous situation the civil courts say go to PRTB, they say we can't find him therefore tough!! Its a pity you surrendered the keys before getting your money back otherwise you could have changed the locks and told him he gets keys when you get money (which is also wrong, I know) being a bit facetious.