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Issues with Landlord - Unpaid Rent

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    #32
    shoegirl
    Registered Users Posts: 2,018 ✭✭✭shoegirl


    Mixupat wrote: »
    I moved into 3 bed semi rental propery in Oct 08 on 1 year lease. House is owned by a builder and is currently for sale as brand new house in unsold line of houses.

    Had issues since day 1 including Radiators not working, Toilet not flushing in main bathroom, non maintenance of gardens plus 3 or 4 other things.

    Chased landlord on issues with little response. After paying 4 months rent, in Feb 09 wrote to landlord saying i was withdrawing rent until issues were sorted, asked for compensation on rent paid and review of rent also as market crashed in this time...No rent paid since Feb09.

    13 months rent owed, 5 without any lease. We need to come to agreement.
    Willing to move over this now as plenty of options but probably need rental house in area for 1-2 years.

    Monthly rent was 650pm. while in lease. Current rents pm in area are around 500 - 550 pm.

    Ok
    1. The fact that the house is "for sale" is of no consequence to your case.

    2. Market rents "crashed" after you signed a lease: your lease is a legally binding document and the landlord is under no account bound to reduce your rent until the lease expires. You can ask for a rent review at the end of the existing lease, which is now. Market rents at the end of the lease could give you a PRTB review, not sure if tenants have been using PRTB to enforce their rights to reduce in line with the market - I'm assuming the onus would be on you anyway to prove that the market is genuinely gone down and not just a portion of it.

    3. As I noted in the above post, staying after a lease expiry without a) a new lease or b) notification of part 4 tenancy is "overholding." What this means in practice is debatable. If the tenant is continuing to pay rent I would guess that legally the conditions of the original lease apply aside from possible breaks - that would probably apply as for part 4 (a lawyer would need to confirm this).

    4. Repairs etc, even where stated in the lease, in practice CAN be a grey area. As far as the law is concerned unless the place is completely uninhabitable through no fault of yours, there would be an expectation you continue to pay rent.

    5. I get where you are coming from in withholding rent. This used to be the only way to get things done in the bad old days when there was little regulation and no enforcement. With PRTB, this is no longer considered acceptable. Especially not for a year. Unfortunately you are 100% in the wrong on this and whatever you signed the original lease for is what you legally owe.

    6. As for minimum conditions, I'm sorry to disappoint you but these are so basic and minimal you really would find it difficult to get all but very extreme cases through. Most of the concern at the moment is about tenement standards in conversions. See here
    http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/housing/renting-a-home/repairs-maintenance-and-minimum-physical-standards
    In practice, however, very little enforcement takes place and it can be difficult to establish exactly what is required. Again, it is not considered a justification to staying long term without paying rent.

    I'd suggest you talk to Threshold about your situation and if standards are not being met ring the county council or corporation and ask to speak to whoever is in charge of private rented housing standards inspections. The bad news there is many councils haven't been doing this properly, and in most cases they only check the worst cases.


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    #33
    useruser
    Registered Users Posts: 269 ✭✭useruser


    shoegirl wrote: »
    Actually if I am reading correctly, if your lease expires and you don't sign a new one or notify your landlord in writing of your intention to continue the tenancy as a Part 4 tenancy, you are technically "overholding" or overstaying your lease. Not sure however what they means in technical legal terms.

    As I mentioned above, the PRTB website implies that once a fixed term lease expires without notification the Part 4 rules apply. This is not direct wording from the act so could be incorrect although it is one of the PRTBs' publications so I imagine we can rely on it somewhat. There is an additional stipulation that the tenant could be liable for compensation if the landlord is somehow out of pocket.


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