Problems with landlord - advice needed...

sleepytom

Hello there, I'm having a bit of a situation with my landlord at the moment and would like some input (ie what would you do/how would you feel).

Here goes:

I was renting my own house up until April of this year when I decided to move into shared accomodation in order to save some money (saving up to move to Australia next year ).

Here's the deal:

I was to share the house with an older lady who works locally and uses the house as a "workbase" - she's only there for half the week. Good. The landlady said she didn't live there but that she would drop by occasionally to stay a night in the spare bedroom if she was passing through late at night etc. Ok. I said I'd want to stay for six months at least - no problem. I'd get the en-suite room in the 2 1/2 bed house at 250€/month...

As I'm on BTEA and the dept wanted proof of residency I got the landlady to sign a VERY basic rental agreement stating date moved in, deposit paid, monthly rent amount - that's it.

After a month in the place, the other lady moved out permanently to go live with and care for someone.

Two weeks after that, the landlady came by and said she'd like to rent the house out to a family and gave me 30 days notice - needless to say, I wasn't too happy. After a further period of deliberation, she decided that I could stay after all provided I was happy to live in the house on my own for a while and cover all of the bills until she found somebody else to move in. I agreed.

Shortly after, I found out that I would qualify for rent allowance and asked her to sign a form and to provide me with a lease as the CWO required this.

Lot of wish-wash followed: must run it past my accountant, must ask my solicitor...etc.

Eventually, I found out that she was operating a "rent-a-room" situation even though she was NOT living in the house to avoid having to pay stamp duty on her house. She said she's only sign those documents if I were to play along and say that she was living in the house full-time. She actually lives full-time with her partner in the next county.

Now, in the last week the old lady has moved back in again because "things didn't work out for her" and she asked whether she could have the bigger en-suite room and I'd get her old room - after a week or so of me deliberating about it I let her know yesterday that I wasn't willing to swap rooms and declined (I have a lot of stuff to store and have a girlfriend too so privacy etc).

Now this evening, the landlady rang me and said she'd give me 30 days notice again as she is unwilling to sign the forms after all and I'd be better off elsewhere.

Went on daft.ie there to have a look at new accomodation, turns out the old ladys room is being advertised on since this morning.

Looks to me as if I'm being forced out of the house because my request for lease and paperwork to be signed is bringing on some heat...

I feel like I'm the victim of some dodgy scheme fabricated by a selfish landlady and don't feel that it's right...I wasn't aware of any of this when I moved in. I'm gutted.

I reckon the landlady can't handle the stress of cheating the revenue out of stampduty and me asking her to leave a papertrail pushed her over the edge.

It's still not right. What would you do? Any input is much appreciated - apologies for the lengthy post.

Thanks. Tom

the_syco

Mention you'll have to inform Revenue when you move out that she doesn't live there...?

It's her house and she gave you notice, twice. Why don't you just move out, really? You can't want to live there with the hassle a landlady who very much wants you out anyway?

not even wrong

sleepytom wrote: »

What would you do?

"Quit hassling me or I'll call the Revenue on you."

(then when you do eventually move out, report her to Revenue anyway.)

bluewolf wrote:

It's her house and she gave you notice, twice

It may be the landlord's house but it's the tenant's home.

Yawns

It's probably not worth the hassle trying to deal with a landlord who doesn't want you there. I'd just start looking for a new place to be honest. I'd also not be very polite with her and let her know my feelings.

Make sure you get a printout of that room she has advertised before she takes it down. Report her to revenue, they'd love to get her. Then walk away smiling after you've found a nice trick on boards here

Monty Burnz

You might also want to ensure that you claim your tax allowance for renting (if that still exists). The more official paperwork on this, the better. You don't even need the landlord's signature, just submit the form without it.

not even wrong

not even wrong wrote: »

It may be the landlord's house but it's the tenant's home.

Yeah, but he's still renting. She gave 30 days' notice. That's how these things work, he shouldn't be running off reporting her to revenue just out of spite because she gave notice!! If OP is going to dig in his heels every time he is renting somewhere and gets the official notice period...

Yawns

Nah feck that bluewolf. She's kicking him out because of the forms basically. She doesn't want to fill the forms in as it could lead to her being found out. So he should just report her. He didn't know she was doing this until he asked for the forms to be filled in.

mickoneill30

sleepytom wrote: »

Shortly after, I found out that I would qualify for rent allowance and asked her to sign a form and to provide me with a lease as the CWO required this.

I'd just tell the CWO the landlady won't sign your documents and ask them what can you do. It's not vindictive. What the landlady does with her accounts is up to her.

But like a lot of others have said I'd be looking elsewhere also. You have notice so it's not really your choice and also you don't really need all the hassle that you're getting.

not even wrong

bluewolf wrote: »

Yeah, but he's still renting. She gave 30 days' notice. That's how these things work,

How "these things work" is you're supposed to pay your tax.

he shouldn't be running off reporting her to revenue just out of spite because she gave notice!!

He should be running off reporting her to Revenue because she's evading tax.

Ms. Chanandler Bong

I had been living in a house for the guts of 10 years renting & only found out about the tax relief for renters near the end of my stay. At the time, you could claim back for up to 6 years. Naturally I did as soon as I found out.
About 2 months after I moved, I heard that the landlady's daughter (who would have been 16 when we originally moved in & had gone travelling the world for 2 years after school before going to college) had been hit with a huge tax bill (over E10,000). It seems her parents had put the house in her name when they bought it & had claimed that she, the "owner", was living there & renting "a room"...
Obviously this wouldn't have as much impact on your landlady as you've only just moved in but...it could be a way of reporting her without actually reporting her

Monty Burnz

bluewolf wrote: »

Yeah, but he's still renting. She gave 30 days' notice. That's how these things work, he shouldn't be running off reporting her to revenue just out of spite because she gave notice!! If OP is going to dig in his heels every time he is renting somewhere and gets the official notice period...

I'd rather he reported it as a good citizen, so that this landlord woman can't sponge off the rest of us.

Monty Burnz

Monty Burnz wrote: »

I'd rather he reported it as a good citizen, so that this landlord woman can't sponge off the rest of us.

I didn't say he shouldn't report her, just not out of spite at being asked to leave

Graces7

Not registered with PTRB?

Or with tax?

By all means report this.

And yes, a place we rent IS our home. And that is protected in law. All paperwork needs to be in place, even retrospectrively, to protect following tenants also.

sleepytom

Hi guys and gals,

thanks for all the replies so far. To answer a few questions:

I like it in the house, it's very quiet, it's close to my girlfriends house (where I mostly stay anyways at night) - I mainly use it as a base to store all my stuff, have showers and that and just that bit of personal space.

When I first asked her to sign the Rent Supplement form and to provide me with a tenancy agreement, she said that "as she was renting a room in her house to me, there is and will be no tenancy agreement".

I did some research then and found that to be correct - that, by law, I have no or very very few rights and Irish tenacy law does not apply at all. But hey, even though she is not obliged to sign anything by law (unlike a normal landlord) or register with the PRTB or pay tax (if under 10k pa rental income or so) - one can surely sit down and ask for rights in the form of a private contract and if these are given, the law still applies.

Anyways, that would all be fine IF I had known this when I moved in (I suppose my naivety is my own doing) and IF the landlady was really living in the place (and renting under "rent-a-room - scheme") but she is not.

I don't know what I'm going to do yet - I wouldn't be too big on reporting to the revenue, karma karma, and the lot but I will defo let her know that I'm not happy. I reckon we get Sgt Gerry Boyle on the case...:D

Now, let's hope that I will get my deposit back.

Thanks, Tom

Monty Burnz

sleepytom wrote: »

I don't know what I'm going to do yet - I wouldn't be too big on reporting to the revenue, karma karma,

Tom, reporting her would be a good deed. If you believe in karma, you can expect a reward. I'd happily report a shoplifter or burglar so that the victims can get their stuff back. If she's pretending to rent a room, she's robbing the the taxpayer (i.e. real, actual people) twice - once by not paying stamp duty on her investment, and secondly by paying less for her mortgage (which is probably from a bank that we own ).

Reporting her would be bad for her, but good for the other 4 million people in the state.

OkayWhatever

You could give Citizens Information a call..? they'd be able to tell ya what your rights are and give you advice..