Oral lease agreement, terrible house. Please help

snowflakes

Hi there,
I am a student renting a house in Galway.
In March of 2010, myself and four others paid a deposit of 250 euro each to our landlord. He never asked us to sign a lease. We asked him for a BER rating but this never surfaced.
Everything was easy going and we said we would probably be renting the house from the end of September to sometime in May.

From the moment we moved in there were problems. The house is extremely cold, even with the heating on. There are single radiators in all the rooms and singled glazed windows.

We asked the landlord to fix the washing machine as it does not work at all. This did not happen. We asked the landlord to replace the front door as it was unsecure and water seeps in the door when it rains. This did not happen, although the landlord sent someone out to "look at it". Several appliances such as the toaster, hoover and kettle have stopped working as they are so old. There are no fire alarms on the walls and no fire blankets.

The house is so outdated, overpriced and depressing to live in.
Last week the landlord arrived and told us we had to pay for 39 weeks rent. He wrote down what each of us have paid so far and it is not near that. He is back dating the rent to the beginning of September and continuing it until the last week in May. I do not want to pay for the first few weeks or the last few weeks.

Should I write a letter? Should I give five weeks notice and move out at the beginning of May? I just checked the PRTB and the landlord's property is registered. However, we have paid 85euro cash everyweek from the beginning of the year (with heating and electricity extra).

Any advice on how best to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

amdublin

Backdating rent

What date did you move in?

snowflakes

Hi,

We moved in on the 21st of September. He originally told us we could start paying from the date we move in. Now he is backdating rent and saying we owe him rent from the 1st of September. I could understand if we signed a lease agreement from the 1st of September, but we signed nothing!

Brother Psychosis

it can be hard without a written agreement, but not impossible. definately try PRTB. what basis is he saying you owe 39 weeks rent, bank statements or....?

out of interest, where in Galway is it?

Reloc8

You want out of the property correct ?

Do a letter :-

When we moved in to this property as your tenants you agreed that the rental period would commence from 21 September 2010. You have since then be paid the sum of €85 by each of us in cash on a monthly basis amounting to in total [insert total] paid by us to you in that form.

Throughout this tenancy the following problems arose, which remained completely unresolved by you despite our numerous complaints :-

[insert your list]

We are now by this letter giving you notice of our termination of the tenancy agreement. We will have vacated the property on or before the 30th of April 2011 and will arrange to return the keys to you in advance of our doing so.

We note your recent insistence on being paid a further sum of [insert his demand] on an unspecified and to us ludicrous basis. Please note that if you persist in this claim we will have no hesitation in :-

a) referring the matter to the Private Residential Tenancies Board seeking compensation for disturbance, upset and inconvenience during the course of the tenancy, and
b) making the appropriate claim to the Revenue Commissioners for all reliefs available to us in respect of monies paid as rent to you.

We hope none of this will be necessary and look forward to an amicable conclusion of what has been unfortunately a most unpleasant experience.

Kind regards,

etc.


(I don't know whether you are in fact entitled to any tax reliefs but I don't think he'll like the Revenue Commissioners being mentioned)

If you do stay until the end of April you will have to pay the rent to him (you could claim compensation from PRTB later).

Alternatively if you want out now, amend the above letter, pack your stuff, hand him the letter in an envelope with your keys, and walk. NB take lots of good photographs of the property in the condition you're leaving it in so as to protect you against any claim for damages later.

GALWAYLAD777

snowflakes wrote: »

Hi there,
I am a student renting a house in Galway.
In March of 2010, myself and four others paid a deposit of 250 euro each to our landlord. He never asked us to sign a lease. We asked him for a BER rating but this never surfaced.
Everything was easy going and we said we would probably be renting the house from the end of September to sometime in May.

From the moment we moved in there were problems. The house is extremely cold, even with the heating on. There are single radiators in all the rooms and singled glazed windows.

We asked the landlord to fix the washing machine as it does not work at all. This did not happen. We asked the landlord to replace the front door as it was unsecure and water seeps in the door when it rains. This did not happen, although the landlord sent someone out to "look at it". Several appliances such as the toaster, hoover and kettle have stopped working as they are so old. There are no fire alarms on the walls and no fire blankets.

The house is so outdated, overpriced and depressing to live in.
Last week the landlord arrived and told us we had to pay for 39 weeks rent. He wrote down what each of us have paid so far and it is not near that. He is back dating the rent to the beginning of September and continuing it until the last week in May. I do not want to pay for the first few weeks or the last few weeks.

Should I write a letter? Should I give five weeks notice and move out at the beginning of May? I just checked the PRTB and the landlord's property is registered. However, we have paid 85euro cash everyweek from the beginning of the year (with heating and electricity extra).

Any advice on how best to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Walk away, look for another place, there is nothing he can do. other than that I would refuse to pay your rent until all items are fixed. make a list of what is broken or needs repairing etc. tell him you re not paying your rent until these necessary items are fixed. these kind of landlords want to take take take from the property that provides them with an income and dont want to put anything back in. this is also frustrating for owner occupier neighbours as they dont maintain the exterior of the properties either. there are plenty of other landlords that will be glad of the money that will accomodate your needs better. id say go to threshold but my sister was treated very badly there. they side with the landlord mostly... move on, that s my advice. you will find a nice place. you have to be streetwise to these type of gangster landlords. there are better landlords out there. they are not all bad.