Scamming Landlord

myfatherrsson

Hi all,

Myself and 3 others have recently moved into a house in D7. While the house isnt in great nick the landlord seemed genuine enough and has promised to touch up a few things for us. No major problems so far. however....

The ESB is in the landlords name and we were paying into the ESB token box thing and after a bit of tinkering noticed a debt of 900e with a weekly debit of 13.60e being taken each week from what we were putting into it. We were obviously raging and rang/text the landlord - no response, so we rang the letting agents, hey-presto Landlord rings back within an hour! He said he 'knew nothing about it' and that he'll get onto the ESB to get it sorted. We rang the ESB ourselves anyway and they said they'd come out Monday, take away the box and put the bills in our name. This all happened last thurs/fri.

I have subsequently found out from a previous tennant who called to the house today that he did in fact know about the debt on the ESB because in the 3 months she had lived here by herself she paid 200e into that debt and was warring with him to get it back. She said he absolutely took her for a ride and refused to give anything back. She was furious with him and couldn't have given me a worse impression of him.

The conversation didnt last long and I didnt get many specific details, more of an overall impression of this guy. While we havn't had a major run in with him yet, the ESB thing, the conversation with herself and the first impression I had of the house (rubbish out the back, roof tiles missing, wallpaper peeling) are giving me a very bad feeling about this guy and I'm wondering do we have a leg to stand on if we want to get up and go? Considering he knowingly let us move in and pay off his debt and even watched us putting the tokens in when he was with us that day!


He's taken care of the rubbish and fixed the broken curtain rails but he's quite hard to get hold of and there are more things to be done to this house before I'm happy with it. There was also a debt on the dublin council bins, I've no idea if he's taken care of this though.

Any advice appreciated! I'm going to the letting agents on Monday morning to make a formal report along with photographs of the house and a copy of a bill from the ESB dated July 2011 with a debt of 1800e quoted on it.

Ray Palmer

I think that what you are saying suggests you are overly suspicious of the LL to the extent you are not acting within the realms of where you should.

Firstly if there is a letting agent you always contact them first not the LL. That is what they are paid for. LL isn't at your beck and call the letting agent is.

You don't really have the right to change the manner the ESB system that the LL has put in place. He may actually put it in place because the previous tenant ran up the bill.

The actual problems with the house are most likely from the previous tenant (with the exception of the roof tiles). Unpaid bins,electricity, broken curtain rails and rubbish left behind are all most likely a result of the person who has made you suspicious of the LL in the first place.

Yes the LL should fix the issues but minor repairs such as curtain rails and pealing wall paper are really what I would grade as general house keeping. I don't expect a tenant to do them as a LL but at the same time as a tenant I would expect to do them and wouldn't call the LL.

listermint

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I think that what you are saying suggests you are overly suspicious of the LL to the extent you are not acting within the realms of where you should.

Firstly if there is a letting agent you always contact them first not the LL. That is what they are paid for. LL isn't at your beck and call the letting agent is.

You don't really have the right to change the manner the ESB system that the LL has put in place. He may actually put it in place because the previous tenant ran up the bill.

The actual problems with the house are most likely from the previous tenant (with the exception of the roof tiles). Unpaid bins,electricity, broken curtain rails and rubbish left behind are all most likely a result of the person who has made you suspicious of the LL in the first place.

Yes the LL should fix the issues but minor repairs such as curtain rails and pealing wall paper are really what I would grade as general house keeping. I don't expect a tenant to do them as a LL but at the same time as a tenant I would expect to do them and wouldn't call the LL.

So because of this the new tenants should suffer?

Ray, come on now. The house should be fit for purpose and the Landlord was most definitely quite happy for these people to chip away at a debt that he had allowed occur on his premises. He should have resolved it before letting it again or made every effort to do so.

Actions of previous tenants do not and have never excused crappy management of ones property.

Ray Palmer

listermint wrote: »

So because of this the new tenants should suffer?

Ray, come on now. The house should be fit for purpose and the Landlord was most definitely quite happy for these people to chip away at a debt that he had allowed occur on his premises. He should have resolved it before letting it again or made every effort to do so.

Actions of previous tenants do not and have never excused crappy management of ones property.

If you read everything you would see I said they should be fixed by the LL. At no point has the property been stated as not fit for purpose.

The debit on the bill should not be charged by the tenant but at no point have we had any insight into the LL. Did he set it up while the place was vacant and forgot to change it for example. Overly suspicious and certainly no way for anybody to say he was definitely trying to pull one over on the tenant.

I have experience of trying to resolve bills run up by tenants such as gas,electricity and bins. The service companies quite often will hold the property owner responsible no matter who is on the bill. If you don't have the money to clear them you have to pay them gradually.

To call that crappy management is a little harsh nobody has any idea of the costs incurred by a previous tenant. A deposit can be worth very little compared to the cost of resolving what a previous tenant has done.

I don't know why people get so aggressive about LL issues but it seems to come down to the belief they are always out to get you. They aren't a special breed most people want a hassle free life.

headmaster

The landlord is soooo wrong. Stay until your deposit has run out, then go. He will not follow you up on it, don't worry. There are fantastic houses and apartments out there, i don't understand why you picked an obviously scruffy enough place. If in doubt, get out. Be careful with the letting agent as well, thay won't tell you to go, because they'll lose their weekly commission. I've given you good advise.

Ray Palmer

headmaster wrote: »

Be careful with the letting agent as well, thay won't tell you to go, because they'll lose their weekly commission. I've given you good advise.

You obviously don't know what you are talking about. No letting agent works on a weekly commission.
A lease being signed means you can't just leave. The landlord can chase you for the entire lease and the general advice to LL now is pursue it.

In absolute fairness the LL has really done little or nothing to warrant breaking the lease. You lot really sound like a Joe Duffy crowd.

froger

Buyer/renter beware, never take a place on the back of promises that they will do work etc to the house, if they left the place fall into such a state then what reason would they have for making it better once they have your money. Renting in Ireland makes you a second class citizen in housing terms, where you are expected to take crappy houses by really bad landlords.

You should not have touched a place with a token meter, it is there to recover debt from a previous unpaid bill, if it is in the landlords name, then it is the landlords debt not yours. Of course if it was a meter that you have to put money in this is illegal as the ESB do not fit these type of meters only ones that you have to purchase tokens from the shop and put in to the meter.

When renting a place always get the bill out of the landlords name and into yours, this way you will only pay for the amount of electric that you use.

If you have singed a contract then you are stuck in it.

wobbles

I remember reading almost this exact story on boards before. Wonder is it the same house/landlord

listermint

Ray Palmer wrote: »

If you read everything you would see I said they should be fixed by the LL. At no point has the property been stated as not fit for purpose.

The debit on the bill should not be charged by the tenant but at no point have we had any insight into the LL. Did he set it up while the place was vacant and forgot to change it for example. Overly suspicious and certainly no way for anybody to say he was definitely trying to pull one over on the tenant.

I have experience of trying to resolve bills run up by tenants such as gas,electricity and bins. The service companies quite often will hold the property owner responsible no matter who is on the bill. If you don't have the money to clear them you have to pay them gradually.

To call that crappy management is a little harsh nobody has any idea of the costs incurred by a previous tenant. A deposit can be worth very little compared to the cost of resolving what a previous tenant has done.

I don't know why people get so aggressive about LL issues but it seems to come down to the belief they are always out to get you. They aren't a special breed most people want a hassle free life.

Ray, if you read the OP he spoke with the last tenant and they found out the LL was effectively stealing money from them to pay a previous overdue bill, which was none of their concern. I seems to me that the landlord is happy enough to have current and future tenants pay off the bill in an underhand way until they realise what is going on.

I have no belief that all landlords are out to get people, but you cant defend the blatantly indefensible. And in this case this guy was obviously chancing his arm. Because he made a balls when some previous tenant didnt pay their bills and legged it. In this case the initial deposit should have resolved and the new tenants should be on a clean slate. If you dont agree with this I have no idea why. It makes sense.

Electric Ireland: David

myfatherrsson wrote: »

Hi all,

Myself and 3 others have recently moved into a house in D7. While the house isnt in great nick the landlord seemed genuine enough and has promised to touch up a few things for us. No major problems so far. however....

Hi myfatherrsson,

Just letting you know that if you want to PM me (or any of our reps on our Talk To forum), please don't hesitate to get in touch. We'll assist any way we can.

Thanks,

David

BostonB

froger wrote: »

Buyer/renter beware, never take a place on the back of promises that they will do work etc to the house, if they left the place fall into such a state then what reason would they have for making it better once they have your money. ....

Exactly.

Ray Palmer

listermint wrote: »

Ray, if you read the OP he spoke with the last tenant and they found out the LL was effectively stealing money from them to pay a previous overdue bill, which was none of their concern. I seems to me that the landlord is happy enough to have current and future tenants pay off the bill in an underhand way until they realise what is going on.

You see that is a series of massive assumptions. You can't even see how it is which is your problem. Bring it to the attention of the LL and it will most likely be rectified. You assume the LL is full aware and did so intentionally. I explained how that may not be the case

listermint wrote: »

I have no belief that all landlords are out to get people, but you cant defend the blatantly indefensible. And in this case this guy was obviously chancing his arm. Because he made a balls when some previous tenant didnt pay their bills and legged it. In this case the initial deposit should have resolved and the new tenants should be on a clean slate. If you dont agree with this I have no idea why. It makes sense.

As I stated a deposit would not cover such expenses. You don't know anything is blatant or intentional you are assuming.

If it was intentional it was wrong a lot of the views of the OP are based on the person who most likely built up the bills so are even less trustworthy.

No matter what the tenant will not have to pay these bills it just needs to be brought up and addressed. No big conspiracy or extortion needed.