Eviction Question

gossipgal08

I am living in a house, there are 3 people in the house and each person has an individual arrangment with the landlord. I have been in the house for over 4 years. Yesterday we found out (by accident) that the landlord is renting our house out to the council. He is 'unsure' when this will be happening. Someone came yesterday to view the house and this is how we found out. LL initially lied to us about the suituation and when we confronted he told us very little refusing to answer most of our questions giving us vague non committial answers to the rest. I guess I have two questions
A) How will this affect my moving out period
How will this affect my deposit.

Have a strong feeling he will keep deposit

triskellion

From the scant information provided, it sounds as if you're in your further part 4 tenancy cycle. If you're in occupation 4 years - 4 1/2 years you should get 112 days notice & deposit back subject to excessive wear & tear clause.
If it's over 4 1/2 years he will need grounds to evict. Refurbish, change of use, move back in himself etc. Renting to someone else is not a grounds for eviction.
In this latter situation, however if he has been offered more rent for the house then he can review the rent to the higher figure with you guys.
If you're uncomfortable there as a result of this, you can give him 56 days notice - or shorter if you both agree. Same conditions regards deposit.

gossipgal08

It is about 4 years and 2 months since I moved in. I am guessing that the LL has entered in to an arrangment where the council will rent the house at a fixed price for a set number of years. If this was the arrangment would the LL have any dealings with the council tennent? What defines excessive wear & tear given that I have been here 4 years. I had some posters pinned (with tumbtacks) to the wall and there are small holes. However the room clearly needs to be redecorated as the last time it was done it was left unfinished (part of one wall is two different colours)

triskellion

Rule of thumb - paint scuff etc = normal. Holes in walls are not. Fix the holes in the wall, get the tacks out & repair them.
If you did the redecoration, you'll have to get it back to the state it was when you moved in. if the landlord did the botch job then it's his problem.
Also, if you have the inventory of contents when you moved in, make sure it's still correct - amount of plates, lockers, lights etc. Any discrepancy can be taken from deposit.
You will have 112 days notice to get a new place but as most new landlords won't hold a place that long get serious about a month before you have to go.
Either that or you can give your landlord the 56 day notice now yourself.
Make sure to get a good reference in writing for the next place. Staying that long in a house will put you in good sted with any new landlord.
Finally, remember you will have to put down a deposit on the new place before you get yours back on the old so you will have to put some savings together in the interim.
Best of luck.

gossipgal08

LL hired a painter sometime before I moved in over 4 years ago and they never finished the job. If I fill the holes (do I need to repaint) can i expect the deposit back? Can the LL show the house before they have given us notice? Would the LL be showing the house to potential council tennents before they have agreed is and when council will take over. I have been told it is happening but he doesn't know when. No date to be out by and nothing said to other two tennents by LL ( I have told them what LL said)

triskellion

gossipgal08 wrote: »

LL hired a painter sometime before I moved in over 4 years ago and they never finished the job. If I fill the holes (do I need to repaint) can i expect the deposit back? Can the LL show the house before they have given us notice? Would the LL be showing the house to potential council tennents before they have agreed is and when council will take over. I have been told it is happening but he doesn't know when. No date to be out by and nothing said to other two tennents by LL ( I have told them what LL said)

Yes, you will have to paint / patch over the holes.. Yes the landlord can show the house (with notice obviously)
Considering the notice period involved you shouldn't see any viewings until you're formally notified but the landlord may arrange inspection visits to do BERs etc.
Just fix the holes, sort the inventory and sit tight till you're all formally informed or decide to move yourselves.
Give the place a GOOD scrub (clean carpets, empty fridge, presses, steam cooker etc) when you move to make sure you have no issues.

convert

It would also be a good idea to take pictures (date stamped, if possible) of the place when you're leaving so that you have evidence of the condition of the place when you moved out.

spaceHopper

He can only kick you out if you are a bad tennant, or if he or a close family member is moving in or he's selling the house.

He can't kick you out to rent to the council, read your rights on http://www.threshold.ie/ .
If he tries to kick you out get on to the to the PRTB http://www.prtb.ie/ and complain, let him know that he can't just rent to the council. As for the deposint the PRTB will help.

You hold all the cards, if it were me I'd tell him to get stuffed so he looses the counclil as a tennant then a while later give notice and move.

Or line up somewhere else and tell him you want you deposit back before you move.

But as it stands you don't have to move

gossipgal08

We have been given no notice to move out yet.

LL lied about who the person coming to look at the house was and gave less than 12 hours notice. We were told they were inspecting the house, not viewing it as a tennent.

spaceHopper

gossipgal08 wrote: »

We have been given no notice to move out yet.

LL lied about who the person coming to look at the house was and gave less than 12 hours notice. We were told they were inspecting the house, not viewing it as a tennent.

The council do inspect rented housed to make sure they aren't dumpes - maybe that's all it was. Has he told you the council are going to rent it.

gossipgal08

spaceHopper I spoke to the person who told me they were renting the house through the council and they were the tennent. I spoke to the land lord who after skirting around the question admitted thet the person would be the tennet. This was not what I were told in the message thet was left for me. Someoe called several months ago to do an inspection as well

Treehouse72

Hundreds of thousands of empty properties in the country, and CC's are still making these deals with LL's, and sitting tenants being moved on? I hate this country so much these days it's frightening.

the_syco

Treehouse72 wrote: »

Hundreds of thousands of empty properties in the country, and CC's are still making these deals with LL's, and sitting tenants being moved on? I hate this country so much these days it's frightening.

TBH, it sounds like the LL is at fault, and not the CC. I have no doubt the LL told the CC a rake of lies to get them to use their house. Why he wants to get rid of long term tenants like the OP is unknown, but anhoo's.

Oh, and where does one apply for the CC to use their house? I'd give them a ring, and let them know that the LL is kicking long-term tenants out... to see what they'd say.

=-=

OP: The best advice I can give you is to take down all posters, get a paint-roller, and a tin of paint. A paint-roller uses less paint than a brush would, and does a far better (and quicker) job. You can often rent a paint-roller from your local DIY, but could probably pick one up cheap enough. Try to get one with a extendible handle, and get a smallish brush fro painting around the light switches, doors, and the edges. Also, please ensure you have newspaper along the walls, to catch any drips.

gossipgal08

The bedroom needs painting any way. In fact it needed painting 4 years ago when I moved in. It would make me sick to repaint it. Could I just paint over the holes? Given that one wall is a seperate colour and not by design

the_syco

gossipgal08 wrote: »

The bedroom needs painting any way. In fact it needed painting 4 years ago when I moved in. It would make me sick to repaint it. Could I just paint over the holes? Given that one wall is a seperate colour and not by design

Painting over small spots is noticeable, as the paint will wane over time due to the sun. The landlord may suspect damage, and dock you for it. Painting the entire wall would be less noticeable, but if the LL sees a freshly painted wall, they could ask why it was a different colour than the rest. It may make you sick, but seriously, 3 hours, and maybe €20 for a tin of paint, or half your deposit when the LL gets in someone to do the work for them?

Victor

Hang on, you used thumb tacks, not nails, yeah? In a room that needed painting anyway? I wouldn't worry about it.

Do I have it right that you are renting a room, not the whole property? This puts you in a slightly different category and I suggest you talk to Threshold to clarify things. www.threshold.ie www.prtb.ie

gossipgal08

I rent a room and have use of down stairs. As I said in my op there are 3 of us and we each rent seprate.

One wall has tumbtack holes and another wall is a different colour because the painter never came back to finish the job and LL did not get it finished. That was before I moved in 4 years ago.

LL has been in my room a few times and has seen the holes so knows they are there. But I am not paying for the whole room to be painted

Xiney

Don't paint the room - just fill in the holes. The paint job was half-assed 4 years back, even if it was perfect 4 years ago it'd probably still need to be done. Painting every four years (heck, every year with the crappy water based emulsion most landlords use) is definitely in the realm of "normal wear and tear"

Otherwise you really have to get the full story off your landlord and find out what exactly he's planning. Visit Threshold to get an idea of your rights as a tenant.

gossipgal08

Just got 28 days notice. No reason

convert

gossipgal08 wrote: »

Just got 28 days notice. No reason

If you're still worried about your deposit and/or anything else, I'd contact threshold or the prtb straight away and see what advice they can give you. I'm not sure how much, if any, difference renting a room only as opposed to the house will make, but have a chat with them and see what they say.

Definitely not a nice position in which to find yourself, but hopefully theshold and/or the prtb can help you. Best of luck!

Xiney

He can't give you 28 days notice, he needs to give you 16 weeks!

He needs to give you a reason, as well.

triskellion

Xiney wrote: »

He can't give you 28 days notice, he needs to give you 16 weeks!

He needs to give you a reason, as well.

He doesn't need to give a reason at the start of the further part 4 cycle.
The notice is between 6 mths and 4 yrs, and then 4 yr 6 mths to 8 yrs etc.
You are entitled to the longer notice though unless both parties agree to a shorter one.

gossipgal08

Spoke to Treshold. They were very helpful but on the issue of the LL entering the house with out notice. (Twice in one week) they said we were intitled to privacy and resonable notice. Nothing about 24 hours min. Can anyone post a link to where that is stated

You do not have the right to:

Enter your tenants’ home without permission

What I found was this
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/housing/renting-a-home/landlords_rights_and_obligations

Xiney

triskellion wrote: »

He doesn't need to give a reason at the start of the further part 4 cycle.
The notice is between 6 mths and 4 yrs, and then 4 yr 6 mths to 8 yrs etc.
You are entitled to the longer notice though unless both parties agree to a shorter one.

the appropriate time to give notice with no reason would have been after 3 1/2 years, as per the second link I posted.

Doom

gossipgal08 wrote: »

spaceHopper I spoke to the person who told me they were renting the house through the council and they were the tennent. I spoke to the land lord who after skirting around the question admitted thet the person would be the tennet. This was not what I were told in the message thet was left for me. Someoe called several months ago to do an inspection as well

Report it to the council, tell them your legally the tenant, and will not be forced out :rolleyes: