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Housing problems and questions

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  • 05-03-2010 11:18pm
    #1
    Matthewthebig
    Registered Users Posts: 5,217 ✭✭✭


    Right this is a long story so please bare with me.

    Myself and 3 friends (me, 'Alan', 'Barry' and 'Colm') moved into a house for college last June. House was fine when we moved in.

    The lease was signed by Alan, and just him.

    Alan ended up moving out a few months later, but we were able to find a replacement ('Donal') so there was no issue. AFAIK the lease was never transferred.

    It was around this time we started noticing mould in 3 of the 4 bedroom. Under the window in each case. There had been mould in the bathroom for a while, but we could deal with it, as it wasn't used much and a bathroom tends to be damp enough.

    We informed the landlord and he told us to just wipe it off in our rooms, however this to me seems to be dealing with the symptoms and not the problem itself, as the mould will just come back.

    Eventually Donal decided he wanted to move out, he gave his month's notice etc etc. That was fine. He has not been replaced.

    Then Barry decided he wanted to move out at the end of the same month, and just left. 2 days notice to us. He rang the landlord and the landlord said he'd take his last month's rent out of the shared deposit.

    This left us with a problem as we were unable to fully cover the rent for this month as we were down two people. So myself and Colm just paid the €725 that we owed.

    Also the lease expires in 3 months. So trying to find someone to fill the space is going to be hard.

    We are unable to afford to pay more than we have, being students.

    Now I come to my questions:

    Is there anything we can do with regard not being able to pay all the rent?
    Is there anything we can do in regards the huge amounts of mould in our bedrooms?


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    #2
    Treehouse72
    Registered Users Posts: 1,003 ✭✭✭Treehouse72


    Well, the first thing I would do is meet the landlord to set out the case. It seems to me you have a very solid moral argument:

    > The mould problem was unbearable and unacceptable
    > You asked the LL to fix it and he didn't. This probably contravenes the lease, which would usually say the house must be fit for habitation. A mouldy house is not a healthy house. The LL fell short in dealing with this issue.
    > In addition, the mould lead you to lose housemates. It could be argued that the LL's failure to fix the mould made the tenants feel their living conditions were unbearable and warranted immediate vacation.
    > The LL already knows that one of the housemates just bolted with no notice - that is hardly your fault and he must know it came as much as a surprise to you as him
    > There are only 3 months left on the lease
    > €725 is a perfectly reasonable amount of money for any property. It's not like you're offering him €50.

    All in all, you have moral right on your side IMO and any reasonable person should accept your plea if set out as above. If the LL won't accept this he's a dirty swine.


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