Apartment problems - Grounds for term lease?

Dublin21

Hi,

Looking for some advise,

We took out a 12 month lease on a city centre apartment in November.
We have been here 3 months paying rent on time however since we moved in our water has gone 5 times. Including almost 2 weeks over Christmas.
The boiler leaked and on 2 or 3 seperate occasions the boiler stopped working completely (We had no hot water)

Also there is a very large damp spot in the kitchen which i pointed out when we first moved in and i have pictures of it getting bigger which i have sent to the rental agency.
The patch is leaking onto our kitchen counter and black/green mould has started to grow on it.

The agency we go through is reqesting we get a contact number from the apt upstairs so that the can get a builder out to see if any leaks are there etc. Prob is we cant get a hold of our upstairs neighbors.. We have knocked numerous times and left notes but heard nothing, meanwhile the dampness is getting worse and to be quite honest i am afraid to prepare food in there.
We are in an apartment and the kitchen links to the living room so it also puts me off sitting in there due to the mould growth.

At the moment we are living with that and no water.

When we tell the agency this they usually get a plumber out straight away but to be honest at this stage its gone so many times that we are fed up and want out.
Is the above grounds for us to terminate the contract or can we be penalised?

I realise we signed a 12 month contract but that was obviously under the assumption we would have livable conditions!

Any advice greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

Victor

Do you have heating?

How big is the damp area?

The property need to be habitable for them to enforce the lease. The damp and lack of hot water is going against that. I suggest you talk to Threshold first and then write to the landlord / agent and tell them that if they don't sort it within 7 days, that you will consider them in breach of contract and will be making complaints to the PRTB and the housing department of the council

www.threshold.ie
www.prtb.ie

Dublin21

Thanks Victor,

The damp patch is pretty big now approx 3ft wide/2 ft long, water from it is leaking down to the kitchen counter and there is fungus growing on it.

We have 1 storage heater in the living/Kitchen area that is pretty much useless, we have had to buy 2 electric heaters just to make the room bearable. We didnt raise this as a complaint as we felt we were constantly on about the water and didn't want to be a nusiance (I realise now we should have!)

I have had a look on thresholds website and the first line in their 'standards' section is that the home should be free from Damp and have hot and cold water...The damp patch was there when the agency showed the apt to us.

I know if we tell them the water isnt working tomorrow they will get someone out this week to fix it but to be honest i am fed up with the fact it keeps going. For example it went yesterday and it wont be fixed now until at least tuesday - this isnt reflected in the rent and at this stage i don't want to wait for it to happen again i want to cut my losses and get out but i am unsure if this will be possible?

I will write to Threshold though and see what they think! Thanks again

Victor

It is possible, but you need to give them one last chance to fix it. Putting it in writing makes it very clear to them. Make sure you mention that you want them to take the loss of amenity and disruption into account.

They can't hold you to the lease if they are breaking it.