Help and Advice needed mean landlady!!

lametisse

Hello all

I am in arrears with my rent that should have been paid on the 21st of June for month of July both myself and my husband lost our job to unfair dismissal with solid cases we told our landlady that the rent will be paid by the 6th of july which at first she was very understanding, all of a sudden yesterday I received a text message at midnight telling me I have to leave the house on the 14th of July.

We never receive any written notice telling us about the rent and sort out the payment or even 35 days to leave the house, she works as a para-legal and told me she will be suing me and to make sure I am out on the 14th as she has already book a locksmith for the 15th of July to change all the locks in the house, and that her father will be inspecting the house this weekend which I told her I wont be there as her mother is not very nice and am afraid it gets heated and worsen everything, she then told me that it doesnt matter her father has a key of the property and do not require my permission as it is her house.

I am living in fear since yesterday as she knows the laws and I do not know, if we had the money to move we would do it straight away, we are not on rent allowance and it never happen to us before we are both spanish nationals and have been living in ireland for 10years now, we are renting an unfurnished 3 bedroom house in mallow for 800euros and we know now for a fact its too expensive but thats not the point, we cant go back to spain as we do not have any money and ireland is our home. we need help please thank you:o

Glastofarian

Contact treshold.ie
Threshold was founded in 1978. We are a registered charity whose aim is to secure a right to housing, particularly for households experiencing the problems of poverty and exclusion.
http://www.threshold.ie/menu.asp?menu=68

RentDayBlues

First of all - did you inform her of the rent issue in writing and secondly did she confirm it in writing?

Regarding the "text" to leave, inform her you know your rights too and you need to get in contact with Threshold immediately.

There are numerous things here that are wrong and illegal, so call threshold and let them advise you [FONT=Times New (W1)]021-427 8848[/FONT]

lametisse

thanks dear but the problem is she is saying that because we broke the lease as we are in arrears so we cant do nothing i am afraid that we end up on the streets and with 3 children under the age of 4... i never thought we will be getting that low as facing homelessness.

D3PO

well shes not following a correct eviction process. She should start by notifying you of 14 days to payback the arrears.

however if you wont be able to do that as you have said yourself you have no money your only prolonging the enevitable.

You need to contact threshold as mentioned by another poster. You also need to contact your local Welfare officer to see what they can do for you, in terms of getting rent allowance etc.

id start by contacting threshold and follow it up by letting your landlady know that you will sue her if she continues with illegal evition proceedings and she is doing right now.

best of luck

lametisse

thanks Rentdablues
ill quote one of her messages " get a solicitor that can explain to you a lease is a legally binding agreement which means we can sue you for the remainder of the agreement for rent unpaid and lease broken!"

I have always paid her with at least 2 weeks in advance everytime why didnt she sue me when I done that and I send her an email to tell her that the rent will be paid on the 6th of July.

We did not get anything in writting from her as notice of 14days to pay the arrears or a notice to quit or anything just a text last night as she moved to australia since december to tell us to leave the house on the 14th of July and we paid her half of the rent last night and again told her the rest will be put in by the 6th of july the latest

lametisse

my biggest worry is if the locksmith comes on the 15th what will happen? what can I do? I do not have anyone to move in with as we have all our furniture no one can take us with our furniture + we have 3 babies.

tricky D

Not enough notice and not in writing.
Changing locks while you're there, illegal.
Inspection without permission, possibly criminal trespass.

She must be a very unprofessional paralegal as it would be a miracle to get you sued or legally evicted by the 14th and also it looks like she's the one who'll be paying you damages sometime in the future.

Contact Threshold

D3PO

lametisse wrote: »

thanks Rentdablues
ill quote one of her messages " get a solicitor that can explain to you a lease is a legally binding agreement which means we can sue you for the remainder of the agreement for rent unpaid and lease broken!"

This is true but who cares ? Your not asking to break the lease to its drivvel. Ignore it.

lametisse wrote: »

We did not get anything in writting from her as notice of 14days to pay the arrears or a notice to quit or anything just a text last night as she moved to australia since december to tell us to leave the house on the 14th of July and we paid her half of the rent last night and again told her the rest will be put in by the 6th of july the latest

as I said this is illegal what shes doing. Retort her threats by reminding her that shes following an illegal eviction process and you will sue if this continues.

stop texting or calling her. Put everything in writing by registered post and have a copy of everything and i mean everytyhing.

D3PO

lametisse wrote: »

my biggest worry is if the locksmith comes on the 15th what will happen? what can I do? I do not have anyone to move in with as we have all our furniture no one can take us with our furniture + we have 3 babies.

call the gardai if and when he arrives. The locks cannot be changed on you.

lametisse

Ill keep all of you posted I have just been told that the citizen advice has free legal lawyers tonight so I will go tonight and will go to threshold 2morrow, I am someone who is high risk diabetic and I cant deal with all that stress, she had used so much at first promising us that she will do rent to buy with us as she was moving away that is why we took the house bought our furniture when she saw we bought the furniture she said we pay her mortgage for 5 years then after the 5 years we buy the house at 270,000 which my husband refused but we already signed the lease and spend all our savings in furniture.

She is a mean person thats all I can say, I just cant deal with the threats as I am a sick person and since last night my blood sugar is at 16.4 if anyone knows diabetes its very high!!

ricman

Contact threshold see www.threshold.ie , she has to give you 28days notice to move out, you should go see the welfare officer in your area.IN the hse health center ,usually open at ten pm to 1pm, friday is the day ,tommorow for critical ,emergency rent or other problems.Google your area eg hse health center coolock dublin ie.
CROSSCARE cathedral st dublin 1 ,off o,connell st also help people with financial or rent /accomodation problems.
if necessary the welfare officer will help you find new accomodation or give you financial help to pay the rent.BRING id Identification and a letter from the landlord if you have one.
if you call the gardai, they will likely say a landlord,tenant dispute is a civil matter.THRESHOLD and the welfare officer should be able to sort this out.
see www.prtb.ie for tenant info, or info on eviction procedure.
she is not following the legal process for evictions, contact threshold tommorow.
if both of you are not working ,you will be entitled to some financial help from the welfare officer.Go there be4 12 noon as the welfare may leave if theres no one in the queue to see her.The receptionist will tell you which officer to see, they each deal with various estates ,roads in for example coolock.

Blizzard

If your landlord is a paralegal and seems to be spilling all sorts of legal terms to you, then she should be more than familiar with the PRTB and the terms it holds for landlords and tenants - and she doesn't appear to be following these. Due to your health issues, I feel for you and would tell you not to worry so much as legally she is not dealing with this appropriately, easier said than done I'm sure. How long are you living in the house? Depending on the length, there is a definite amount of notice she would need to provide you with. Check the PRTB website for details and learn more about your rights - I'm wondering if she ever registered with the PRTB, if not, she could be in further trouble.

Xiney

Just think of it this way - if she evicts you illegally it'll be like winning the lottery - you'll get a judgement against her for tens of thousands of euro.

lametisse

newest addition now am suppose to be evicted for anti-social behaviour for a barbecue organised by neighbours in APRIL when the rent was paid!! That she can prove I had loads of parties!! I just had a birthday party for my daughter of 3 years old!!! Do anyone knows about anti-social behaviour?? please am getting sick of it now to me its looks like diffamation ... really need your help!

lametisse

Does anyone of you knows if an email is valid as a notice to quit and for rent arrears?

MonicaBing

Lametisse, read back over the replies to your post, you are being offered advice, sound advice from everyone. Do as you are being advised, go to PRTB, Threshold, Social Welfare etc and have your mind put at ease, i truly understand that you are worried, but you have been told what to do and where to go, you have to help yourself now!

This person has not got a legal leg to stand on, its all on your side, so get your self sorted and let us know how you get on.

Good luck!

not even wrong

lametisse wrote: »

Does anyone of you knows if an email is valid as a notice to quit and for rent arrears?

Termination notifications are supposed to be in writing, which means written/printed on paper. Anyway it doesn't matter because 12 days is not enough notice to quit, even when rent is not being paid. See the PRTB's leaflet "Termination of tenancy for non-payment of rent" at http://www.prtb.ie/disputes.htm:

Landlords must serve a valid 14 day notice for rent arrears and subsequently a valid 28 day notice of termination

So legally 26th June + 42 days is the earliest you could be evicted, assuming you hadn't paid the rent in the meantime.

it doesnt matter her father has a key of the property and do not require my permission as it is her house.

newest addition now am suppose to be evicted for anti-social behaviour for a barbecue organised by neighbours

From an ordinary landlord this behaviour could just be ignorance but from someone who supposedly has legal training this can't be anything other than malicious, she must know that none of this is legal and is just trying to bully you.

wyndham

Did you pay a deposit? If you have paid a months deposit and the rent is a couple of weeks late i don't see what her problem is, as she is covered by this to an extent anyway.

From a quick look on daft, there are beautiful brand new 4 bed homes to let in Mallow asking €650. You could probaby get one for about €550 so its time to start packing anyway.

www.daft.ie/2815579

lametisse

I did pay for a deposit 800euros and 1600 euros for the rent of january and february in cash before moving in the house

quozl

Lametisse.

What she is doing is illegal.

In order to evict someone for not paying rent she has to send you a carefully worded notice of 14 days to pay arrears or she will evict you. Assuming you fail to pay she has to send you a carefully worded notice of eviction with a 28 day notice.

She hasn't done those things.

If she changes the locks on you, you will be awarded thousands of euros in compensation from her.

Stop panicing and for gods sake take the repeated advice from everybody and just go talk to threshold. Everything she has said to you so far is bull****.

TALK TO THRESHOLD

ricman

A LEGAL eviction takes at least 6 weeks, she has to send you letter,stating you have 14 days to pay all arrears, first,ring threshold TODAY.
go to welfare officer on monday if you need or financial help,theres plenty of homes for rent,that take rent alowance tenants ,they have a list in crosscare every day.

Dymo

I seen plenty of these cases in the past and what everyone is saying is right. She must legally evict you, but if you decide not to go than that's another matter she then has to go through the court process to get you evicted which can take anything from 3 -12 months of which you will be rent free unless she takes any form of payment and then the process starts again.

All a lease is a set of guidelines and rules and its the residential tenancies act that really matters. A lease isn't really worth much at the end of the day and if locks are changed the lease is still in place its even more trouble for the landlord. She trying to evict you on unsociable behaviour grounds but it's the same deal. That's why bad tenants are a nightmare.

She trying to confuse you with her legal talk, paralegal my arse who even uses that phrase in Ireland more like someone who works in a solicitors office who think they know it all.

mprop

Dymo wrote: »

She trying to confuse you with her legal talk, paralegal my arse who even uses that phrase in Ireland more like someone who works in a solicitors office who think they know it all.

The PRTB negotiation service is a long and arduous process for landlords. If they step one little bit off the legal course dictated by the Act in 2004 (as set out in the PRTB rules) she will lose and be liable for damages.

You can stay on there by the sounds of it but if it was me, I would rather move than have to deal with a landlord like that. Just dont let yourself be bullied.

If she is a "paralegal", she is a very bad one who doesn't know anything about the law when it comes to residential leases.

Dymo

The PRTB only gives judgements they can't enforce them only a court to do that, if either the tenant or landlord chose to ignore the judgement then they can be pursued in the circuit court which is more time and hassle and even at the end of this if a proposal was made to the judge to pay €50 per month for back rent and regular payments month to month for the rent the Judge would grant that. Or even if an eviction order was granted they would be given 2 months to find a new home.

This "paralegal" probably knows this and is guessing the tenants don't so is bullying her position.

Having looked at decisions,

if landlord evicts tenant illegally / changes locks etc., big fine 6 k - 15 k.

keeping a crappy house / failure to keep up repairs etc ., approx 1500 fine.

Also publication on the PRTB "list"

lametisse

thanks to all of you guys it touches me to see that people do care about us, we are going to Threshold monday as its the earliest appointment we have got and just to make you smile she started telling the lady at threshold she is the only victim and the woman is threshold is not on the lease and cannot represent me in that matter!!

I never thought she was that silly ...just to be polite

lametisse

If there is any " wonderful" emails again from her during the weekend which am sure of Ill keep you all posted! Thanks to all The email with the notice for anti-social behaviour is not valid as I have contacted the threshold AND having a barbecue and a 3rd year old birthday party is not ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour!!

lametisse

Hi all we went to threshold and as you all said she is trying to evict us illegally and as she sent us a text Saturday night telling us to pay the arrears now and its not to late if we still want to stay in the house its ok to stay so we went to threshold showed the message to the person there and the person of threshold told her that we were happy to stay but could she reduce the rent as its very expensive for an unfurnished house, she said if she reduce the rent we might not be able to pay ( but we can pay 800euros..:p) and she doesnt want rent allowance as it is too much hassle for her!!

Now her newest thing is a house inspection and what we think she will try to do is getting us kicked out for things to do with the house so If anyone of you know what does a normal house inspection consists of as I never had any problems before with landlords they didnt even go upstairs in bedrooms and stuff or check anything really as the house was always clean and tidy even with 3 babies and a dog at the time...I thank God that my wonderful dog is not here anymore as he would have been blamed for so much thing!!
Please do help and let me know as the inspection is friday! thanks to all

gussieg

yes I would listen to what the woman in Threshold tells you to do re the house inspection, I have gone to them several times in the past and they have always helped me out, but in every case I ended up leaving the property as the stress of a hostile environment is too much for me and I'd say most people to bear. Chin up, as other have pointed out there are a plethora of empty houses in Mallow and other pretty places in cork, so keep your options open. Try and keep in touch with Threshold by phone if you cant get in to the city in time for an appointment.

lametisse

we definitely thinking of moving out but still waiting for the 14days notice and 28days notice to quit, as if we move out by our own little selves she will sue us for the rest of the contract and its a lot of money til december!

We just want to know what will be considered as being too much in a house inspection.

westcoastgirl

Hi- Ive had bad experiences with the last 2 landlords in Mallow! They were horrible! I finally found a gem of an local estate agent though. He expalined to me that the inspections are not looking at like houskeeping or normal wear and tear but of like breakage or damage. And if there is i would then have to repair it , but its not grounds for eviction or anything as long as i did so. Best of luck!

lametisse

Thank you so much westcoast girl well at least theres nothing broken or damaged

lametisse

This is the email I have just received that she send to the person of threshold and please let me know what you think about it!!
Please note a text and/or emails are written forms of communication.

"Just to confirm the inspection will take place this Friday at 2.00pm. "MrTreshold" has confirmed he notified ye. As per teh lease I will instruct my agent to gain access if ye aren't there. Appropiate notice has been given. The balance of the overdue rent still has not been paid and you are leaving me no option but to issue a notice to quit. U will have 28 days from 15 June on the expiry thereof the locks will be changed"

A formal Notice to Quit will be sent/hand delivered to your clients in the appropiate way before the 15 June confirming that they have 28 days to vacate the premises from that date. I must re-itterate the locks will be changed on 13 August 2010 (the expiry of 28 days) after this time your clients will no longer have access to the property and will owe in excess of Euro1350.

Also, you may relay to your clients I will be seeking specific performance of the lease until the expiry thereof 21 December 2010, I will be applying to the District Court under a Summons for Debt/Liquidated Money Demand for Judgment in the sum of the remainder owning on the lease. This judgment may be signed by the Registrar of the District court and takes 14 days to obtain. Once Judgment has been obtained I will seek that the County Sherrif seize assets to the value of the debt as per the Judgment.

Of course I don't want to go down this road, if your clients simply pay the outstanding rent (by 14 June), keep to their side of the lease by paying their rent on time and communicate with me in an effective way they are more than welcome to stay.

We simply cannot afford to have tenants in our house who do not pay their rent and if we were to leave Mr and Mrs (us) in our property the way things stand, it would not be us that would requiring that they vacate the property it would be the bank due to repossession. As you can imagine I cannot let this happen.

lametisse

Does anyone have a clue what she is on about??!!

gussieg

did the person at threshold not tell you what it means ? seems she is attempting to baffle and confuse, but as you say she is out of the country it sounds like she is panicking and somebody is misinforming her regarding the arrears. ITs unfortunate but landlords more often throw up tyrants and dictators as it gives them a place to exercise power over other peoples lives. So hopefully in future you find a benign and friendly one

mickm

Best of luck hope everything works out ok, i am in a simular situation

ricman

IN plain english you have til july 14th to pay the arrears ,otherwise you,ll get notice to quit the house.That note is very badly written.GO to welfare officer for your area, ask ,am i entitled to rent allowance .She will tell you how to apply for it if you want a new home.Theres plenty of landlords that take rent allowance.To be frank ,i have never seen a unfurnished house advertised in dublin ,99 per cent of renters do not buy their own furniture,it makes no financial sense.Unless you have a ten year lease on a house .
i am almost sure you will get rent allowance .
if i was giving formal legal notice to someone ,id use registered mail , not email.

xoxyx

ricman wrote: »

IN plain english you have til June July 14th to pay.

FYP. No - really!
This error came from the landlord anyway. Sounds like she's winging it completely!

The_Morrigan

lametisse wrote: »

This is the email I have just received that she send to the person of threshold and please let me know what you think about it!!
Please note a text and/or emails are written forms of communication.

"Just to confirm the inspection will take place this Friday at 2.00pm. "MrTreshold" has confirmed he notified ye. As per teh lease I will instruct my agent to gain access if ye aren't there. Appropiate notice has been given. The balance of the overdue rent still has not been paid and you are leaving me no option but to issue a notice to quit. U will have 28 days from 15 June on the expiry thereof the locks will be changed"

A formal Notice to Quit will be sent/hand delivered to your clients in the appropiate way before the 15 June confirming that they have 28 days to vacate the premises from that date. I must re-itterate the locks will be changed on 13 August 2010 (the expiry of 28 days) after this time your clients will no longer have access to the property and will owe in excess of Euro1350.

Also, you may relay to your clients I will be seeking specific performance of the lease until the expiry thereof 21 December 2010, I will be applying to the District Court under a Summons for Debt/Liquidated Money Demand for Judgment in the sum of the remainder owning on the lease. This judgment may be signed by the Registrar of the District court and takes 14 days to obtain. Once Judgment has been obtained I will seek that the County Sherrif seize assets to the value of the debt as per the Judgment.

Of course I don't want to go down this road, if your clients simply pay the outstanding rent (by 14 June), keep to their side of the lease by paying their rent on time and communicate with me in an effective way they are more than welcome to stay.

We simply cannot afford to have tenants in our house who do not pay their rent and if we were to leave Mr and Mrs (us) in our property the way things stand, it would not be us that would requiring that they vacate the property it would be the bank due to repossession. As you can imagine I cannot let this happen.

OP, you said that your landlady works in the legal profession, yeah?
That is the most horrendous piece of correspondence I have ever seen in my life - completely unprofessional for a notice of arrears/notice of termination.
But yes like everyone else is suggesting, Threshold and the local welfare officer need to be involved in this.
I can't believe someone could be so nasty towards a family that are down on their luck!!

D3PO

terribly constructed letter.

OP the fact she has June on it makes it invalid. Of course you dont have to point this out to her.

also Im not 100% sure but I believe if you are evicted then your lease is null and void so she cannot try and enfore it until december.

Where is JO King when you need him/her ?

if your landlady works in the legal profession pigs can fly. :rolleyes:

Xiney

lametisse wrote: »

This is the email I have just received that she send to the person of threshold and please let me know what you think about it!!
Please note a text and/or emails are written forms of communication.

"Just to confirm the inspection will take place this Friday at 2.00pm. "MrTreshold" has confirmed he notified ye. As per teh lease I will instruct my agent to gain access if ye aren't there. Appropiate notice has been given. The balance of the overdue rent still has not been paid and you are leaving me no option but to issue a notice to quit. U will have 28 days from 15 June on the expiry thereof the locks will be changed"

A formal Notice to Quit will be sent/hand delivered to your clients in the appropiate way before the 15 June confirming that they have 28 days to vacate the premises from that date. I must re-itterate the locks will be changed on 13 August 2010 (the expiry of 28 days) after this time your clients will no longer have access to the property and will owe in excess of Euro1350.

Also, you may relay to your clients I will be seeking specific performance of the lease until the expiry thereof 21 December 2010, I will be applying to the District Court under a Summons for Debt/Liquidated Money Demand for Judgment in the sum of the remainder owning on the lease. This judgment may be signed by the Registrar of the District court and takes 14 days to obtain. Once Judgment has been obtained I will seek that the County Sherrif seize assets to the value of the debt as per the Judgment.

Of course I don't want to go down this road, if your clients simply pay the outstanding rent (by 14 June), keep to their side of the lease by paying their rent on time and communicate with me in an effective way they are more than welcome to stay.

We simply cannot afford to have tenants in our house who do not pay their rent and if we were to leave Mr and Mrs (us) in our property the way things stand, it would not be us that would requiring that they vacate the property it would be the bank due to repossession. As you can imagine I cannot let this happen.

Yesterday was the 7th of July - she has to give you 14 days to pay from the date of notice so you have until the 21st July. Then you get 28 days to leave.

Threshold will sort it out for you.

latenia

lametisse wrote: »

We did not get anything in writting from her as notice of 14days to pay the arrears or a notice to quit or anything just a text last night as she moved to australia since december

Little Miss Paralegal has left you with an open goal here. You are not in arrears. As a tenant of a non-resident landlord you should have only been paying her €640 per month since she went away. Write back to her explaining that you are withholding 20% of the rent as per Revenue requirements and that you should have been doing so since December.

At the end of the year you will then forward €1920 to the Revenue for which she'll receive a tax credit. This gives you plenty of time to catch up.

I also suggest that you explain firmly that any further threats of eviction will be considered harassment and that you will be taking legal advice.

The only downside of this is that you won't be able to see the look on her face when she reads it. :pac:

D3PO

latenia wrote: »

Little Miss Paralegal has left you with an open goal here. You are not in arrears. As a tenant of a non-resident landlord you should have only been paying her €640 per month since she went away. Write back to her explaining that you are withholding 20% of the rent as per Revenue requirements and that you should have been doing so since December.

thats not exactly true. You dont know that the LL hasnt got an acting agent from a tax perspective. Living aborad isnt default withold 20%

latenia

D3PO wrote: »

thats not exactly true. You dont know that the LL hasnt got an acting agent from a tax perspective. Living aborad isnt default withold 20%

Well maybe the OP will clarify whether the rent goes into the landlord's bank account. From what we've heard I presume this to be the case.

lametisse

She is not registered with PRTB and she told me before everything was like that she cant do the Rent to buy yet as she just bought the house since 2 years because of Stamp Duty does anyone knows about that?
She is harassing us so much at the moment that I have started to have panic attacks and I do not even leave the house to go to buy food just in case someone comes and change the locks all we are asking is she does the legal way of serving the notice we want to move out.

And I am certain she is not paying any tax on the house!

lametisse

I pay directly to the Landlord's current bank account and gave her 800 deposit cash and 1600 cash for the month of january and february, She doesnt want Rent Allowance as its " too much hassle" , we know for a fact she didnt register with PRTB .

D3PO

ok so shes not PRTB registered and shes renting before owning for 5 years ?

So possible fine for no PRTB registration (unlikely but hey), she potentially owes the revenue stamp duty as a clawback, she may not be paying NPPR and she may not be tax compliant.

your hand is just getting stronger and stronger here

I think you could do worse than calling your local Co. Council and advising them this address is being rented out so they can check if NPPR has been paid.

A quick call to revenue aswell wouldnt go astray.

Informing your landlady that your planning on doing so might change her attitude to terminating the tennancy

lametisse

The latest news she will not talk to the person of threshold anymore as the person is wasting her time and tomorrow I will be getting both notices the 14 days and 28 days together!

ricman

She has to give you 14 days to pay the arrears, then give you notice ,if she wishes on day 15 , notice to quit , if you do not pay the arrears.see prtb website .tell her ,email her look on the prtb website.she is supposed to be registered with the prtb as a landlord.

D3PO

lametisse wrote: »

The latest news she will not talk to the person of threshold anymore as the person is wasting her time and tomorrow I will be getting both notices the 14 days and 28 days together!

shes a muppet she cant issue notice to quit until after the 14 days. If she provided both at the same time it invalidates the whole process.

lametisse

As promised the update about the situation, she doesnt want us to move anymore so we told her that if she doesnt want to lose us if its ok to reduce the rent which she did after a few days...we are still in the same house as we cant move out due to the fact she is not throwing us out and if we do leave we will have to pay until the end of our contract and I have got a job its not anything glam but its a job!
Thanks to all , may god bless you:D