Burglary in rented accommodation

MILF

Hi all,

I am posting for a friend of mine who needs some advice.

Two weeks ago she came home to find her rented accommodation had been burgled. She works from home and the burglars got a lot from her. She is only living there three months. There is no alarm on the house. The burglars jimmied the back door of her conservatory and used a crowbar to open up the windows into the house. She now says that the windows are like putty and don't close properly.

The Landlord was sympathetic towards her and said that they would fit an alarm. This was 2 weeks ago and she has not heard anything back from them. They are renting out the house for a year and then after the year they are gutting it and starting afresh and plan on living there themselves after the house is finished getting refurbished. My friend thinks that they have no plan on fitting this alarm as they wouldn't waste the money for 8 months security, only for it to be dismantled and taken down when the house gets refurbished.

Anyway, my friend no longer feels safe in the house. Under the terms of her Lease, she is not allowed any animals so she cannot get a dog. There isn't even a doorbell on the house! She asked the Landlord if he could check with his insurance company to see if cash is covered under it (some policies make you cover the first €125, say, and after that they cover the rest). He said he would and hasn't come back about that either. She would ideally like to approach the Landlord and say that she no longer feels safe, he hasn't followed through with any of the things he said he would and can they call it a day and her to get her deposit back as it didnt work out. She just feels that she might have been targeted as she works from home and would prefer to move on to somewhere a lot more secure.

Any advice at all on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Paulw

She should get herself her own contents insurance.

The landlord has no real obligation to get an alarm system installed.

Some alarm companies (such as Eircom PhoneWatch), when you buy the system, you own it. So, when you move, you can take the alarm system with you (the wire-free system). Many people do this.


The windows really should be fixed properly though.

January

Well first of all any money in the house won't be covered because it belonged to the tennant and not the landlord. She needs her own contents insurance for that.

MILF

Yea, she though that all along in regards to the money that was taken. She's more concerned about the possibility of exiting the premises and getting her deposit back. She just feels so insecure where she lives. Fair enough, he might not be legally obliged to install an alarm system but surely he is obliged to secure the premises to such a standard that she feels safe?

D3PO

Landlords policy doesnt cover any of the tennants items as already mentioned so if she didnt have her own insurance then shes at a complete loss.

regarding an alarm there is zero obligation for the landlord to fit one. If he does great but he doesnt have to. I think your trying to insunuate that your friend wants to terminate the lease becasue "she doesnt feel safe" thats not a reason to break the lease so she is locked in.

As for the windows if there broken they should be fixed but Im not quite sure that they are broken. what does the window is like putty mean

D3PO

MILF wrote: »

surely he is obliged to secure the premises to such a standard that she feels safe?

no hes obliged to have it habitable. if she doesnt feel safe thats not his problem. You might think its harsh but thats how it is. You cant have tennancy law saying that if you dont feel safe you can break a lease.

How do you define safe ? That would be the easy excuse for anybody to break a lease if it was law.

MILF

The windows are like putty means that the burglar did such a good job in bending the frame back to get in, that they can now be easily manipulated without major force.

D3PO

MILF wrote: »

The windows are like putty means that the burglar did such a good job in bending the frame back to get in, that they can now be easily manipulated without major force.

so to clarify are you saying the windows can be opened from the outside with your hands ? if so he has to get that fixed.

if you mean dont need major force i.e a claw hammer or screw driver will open it Im not so sure what the situation would be. It could be determined that if somebody needs tools to open the window then its secure. Im not really sure where your friend would stand in the latter case, but if its the latter Id contact the landlord again to try and get it sorted if your getting nowhere you could do worse than asking Threshold for some advise on the situation

MILF

Yes you absolutely have a point. I think though that as a Landlord he is obliged to have his property secure and of good quality. The fact that there was a successful break in shows that it wasnt as secure as it could have been and now, as a result of the break in, the house is in poor quality because of the state of the window frames. Fair enough if she can't terminate or break the lease, but surely he should attend to the windows asap to stop a further break in happening?

MILF

D3PO wrote: »

so to clarify are you saying the windows can be opened from the outside with your hands ? if so he has to get that fixed.

if you mean dont need major force i.e a claw hammer or screw driver will open it Im not so sure what the situation would be. It could be determined that if somebody needs tools to open the window then its secure. Im not really sure where your friend would stand in the latter case, but if its the latter Id contact the landlord again to try and get it sorted if your getting nowhere you could do worse than asking Threshold for some advise on the situation

She already tried to sort it with him and it can't be welded or fixed so he was going to fit an alarm and, to date, nothing has happened.

D3PO

MILF wrote: »

Yes you absolutely have a point. I think though that as a Landlord he is obliged to have his property secure and of good quality. The fact that there was a successful break in shows that it wasnt as secure as it could have been and now, as a result of the break in, the house is in poor quality because of the state of the window frames. Fair enough if she can't terminate or break the lease, but surely he should attend to the windows asap to stop a further break in happening?

some of this I agree with. The fact there was a successful break in doesnt show it wasnt secure. In fairness if somebody wants to break in somewhere you wont stop them so I disagree with this.

However I do think the landlord should look at the window situation. Most windows have locks on them I assume these ones dont. I think your friend should get the landlord out to look at the windows again and see if he will agree to repalce them. Perhaps hes waiting on the insurance payout to replace them ? But it would be good to know the situaiton. Would also be good to understand if hes going to follow through with the Alarm

If hes not going to do anything like I said you could do worse than contacting Threshold to understand if your firend has any rights based off off the security level of the windows

Victor

Its going to be difficult to get the landlord and their insurer to take responsibility for what was taken. Your friend could write off the business loses against any tax due.

I think chase up the landlord and try to do it face to face, not over the phone.

Del2005

MILF wrote: »

She already tried to sort it with him and it can't be welded or fixed so he was going to fit an alarm and, to date, nothing has happened.

If the window can't be repaired as you imply above then fitting an alarm is a waste of time. If the outside isn't secure then all the alarm will do is annoy the neighbours.

Your friend definitely needs to be more assertive in getting the window sorted ASAP, but the alarm is a long shot and not really any good unless monitored IMO.