Don't Know where I stand with getting my deposit

clearz

[All Names Changed]
Hi,

I had been living in a house in Dublin 15 for the past year. The landlord never gave us rent books, refused to give receipts apart from the first month I moved in and there was no contract. I was constantly bullied by him throughout the year. He would let himself in when ever he felt like it. For example; one time a pipe in in the bathroom which was next to my bedroom burst and started gradually soaking my carpet from the wall under my bed outwards. Meanwhile, for days it had been pouring through the floor into the bedroom below mine which belonged to another tenant, it was only when this tenant told me about his ceiling and walls that I noticed my carpet was soaking so then I proceeded to call the landlord. I basically got the blame for the whole thing "for not letting him know sooner" even though it was pouring down the other guys walls. This is only one example but similar situations would happen throughout the year. For some reason the tenant in the room below mine got special treatment and was the only one that could use the sitting room. My iPhone was stolen with only himself in the house and nothing was said or done. I would have left long ago if it wasn't for contracts in my name such as UPC TV/Broadband which I was obligated to stay with for 12 months. The shower which barely worked at the best of times had stopped working altogether for the last few months I was there.

The Rent for the following month was due on the 29th of each month. This suddenly changed to the 27th a few months back which didn't really make a difference while I was still there but when it came to paying my last partial months rent (29th-8th Oct) it would mean paying for two extra days. I had given my 30 day notice on the 8th of September. The following is a conversation by SMS between the landlord and myself on the 28-29th September even though rent wasn't due until the 29th.

27th September; 11pm

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Landlord:
Did you drop off rent to Sarah?

28th September

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Landlord:
just in case you didn't get my message last night I will need the remaining rent to be passed to Sarah today as agreed. Please confirm this will be done

Landlord:
Me please let me know if you will be paying rent today so arrangements can be made. This is the third text on this matter, if you do not reply i will assume you don't live there anymore.

Me:
Going to call up there shortly

Landlord:
what's happening with rent?

Landlord:
if you are not going to answer me then I will assume you are not returning. Please give back your keys if this is to be the case.

29th September

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Me:
Mick I was up in the house to sort that out yesterday.

Landlord:
Where did you leave the rent? I asked Sarah and she hasn't got it?

Me:
She didn't want anything to do with it so he told me to put it in my press. I'm surprised she didn't tell you that.

Landlord:
How much is there?

Me:
133 Euro

Landlord:
€108 will cover rent and I understand you owe €53.20 for bills so you still owe Sarah 28.20

Me:
My calculations put rent owed at 80 Euro

Landlord:
How did you work that out?

Me:
270 Euro x 12 months / 365 days in a year = 8.88 per day. Rent is due on the 29th for the following month. There are 9 days between 29th Sep and the 8th Oct. Therefore 9 x 8.88 = 79.90 which rounds to 80 Euro. Now I know you have started to think that the rent is due on the 27th for some reason but I have a good memory and know it to be the 29th. This is why you should always give receipts. This is also why I held onto the one and only receipt I ever got.
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I did not here back from him until 12th Oct. I had been trying to call him since the 8th October (the day I officially left) but kept getting a polish answering machine like the phone was diverted. Then yesterday(11th Oct) I tried texting him and got a reply. This was the conversation that followed.

11th October

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Me
Hi Mick just wondering what day you will be up in the house so we can meet up and I can get my deposit and return your keys. John.

Landlord
Return the keys please and we can talk then

Me
What is there to talk about? I need the €270 back. It is now 3 days after I officially left.

Landlord
3 days after you should have dropped the keys off

Me
Mick what is with the confrontational tone. All I want to do is finalise things. I have been unable to reach you by call but keep on getting a polish answering machine. Usually by convention, and In any other places I have rented, the keys and the deposit were exchanged at the same time.

Landlord
No confrontation need keys returned.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

I had been trying to contact Treshold and sent them an email about this time.

13th October.


Me
Hi Mick are you going to turn off divert on your phone so I can call instead of sending text messages

Me
Mick can you please call me or at least return my texts

Landlord
Like I said when the keys are returned we can talk

Me
Mick there is going to be no returning of the keys without you being there to return my deposit. This should have been done on the 8th Oct but you have been unreachable by phone call due to what seems to me, it has been set to divert all calls. So what day is suitable for us to meet.

Me
Can I please get a response? What day and time is suitable to meet?

Landlord
John I'm not going to repeat myself. Get your facts right my phone is not diverted and you have contacted me by text which was ok to do when I was looking for rent off you.

Me
I am contacting you by text because I am unable to get through to your phone. I have rang Sarah and she confirmed it is the same for him. If your phone is not on divert then how come I can contact you by text but not by call. Now I need a date and time that we can meet. It is now 5 days since I have left and you are still refusing to return my deposit.

Landlord
Again get your facts right. I have not refused anything. Again return the keys and we can talk.

Me
You have not directly refused but it is implied. No other landlord has ever acted this unprofessional. I was provided no rent book, no receipts, and no contract was signed and now you are blackmailing me to return the only thing that ties me to the house; the keys.

Me
Are you even in the country at the moment?

Me
Once I realised you weren't in the country I put 00353 in front of your number and it worked but you won't answer. Anyway Mick either you set a date when we can meet and you return the deposit and I give you the keys or I will be seeking legal counsel on Monday.

He texted me back saying if I tried to go to a solicitor not to contact him again and deal with his solicitor. I have not contacted him since then and I have been trying to contact Treshold for the past three weeks which has been a complete nightmare. I have sent two emails and tried calling them hundreds of times and get an answering maching saying they are fully busy and then hangs up I called every minute or two for an hour one day and the same. Do they even exist?
I don't know what to do. What is he trying to pull here? Why can't he just arrange a day where we meet up and I return the keys and he returns the deposit? The only evidence I even lived in the house are the keys and the receipt from September 2010 since there was no rent book or contract. He also refused to allow rent to be transferred to his bank account. That is why I'm a bit suspicious here. He was a very strange character. He tried to keep it so no paper or digitial trail tying anybody renting to him. Have you any advice for me on how I should proceed. If you managed to get this far thank you.

Regards,
John.

the_syco

clearz wrote: »

He also refused to allow rent to be transferred to his bank account.

So, no paper trail that he's even letting his apartment? I'd let PTRB know about his place at the very least. How many people live in the house, and how old do you think the house is?

Also, if he's living abroad, I'd wonder is he paying the taxman? If he lives abroad, you're meant to keep X amount of your rent to pay the taxman, but if you don't know he's abroad, how could you. In saying that, I'd wonder who does? Maybe this "Sarah" guy does?

athtrasna

There may be an issue in that as long as you have keys you may be considered not to have moved out. You do need to talk to Threshold - try calling one of their regional offices and give a generic query without giving your address.

Ray Palmer

He is defintely not exactley nice but it does look like you ignored some texts or responded to them late. I would have wrriten of the annoyance about informing him a about a leak as an just shooting messenger rather than bullying. The idea that only one person could use the sitting room seems odd.

Anyway it seems obvious that he doesn't want to return your deposit in full. As you haven't returned the keys you won't get it either. The longer you wait the likelyhood is he will replace the locks and deduct it from you deposit. The theft is completly unproveable and not many people would get involved in such an issue.

It should be noted that if you rent a place on a monthly basis you don't get to deduct day rate if you leave mid month.

It does sound like he didn't keep certain things in check such as the rent book it truely is a situation where you got to the prtb but you should return the keys so he doesn't claim he had to replace the locks. He isn't going to give you the cash anyway so you might want to do everything correct so your case stands a better chance but it won't be quick.

odds_on

He would let himself in when ever he felt like it. For example; one time a pipe in in the bathroom which was next to my bedroom burst and started gradually soaking my carpet from the wall under my bed outwards. Meanwhile, for days it had been pouring through the floor into the bedroom below mine which belonged to another tenant,

What kind of unwritten tenancy did you have - the house rented as a single unit or did you each have a tenancy for your bedroom, and then shared facilities such as kitchen, bathroom, lounge? If this is the case, the landlord has the right to enter any of the "shared" facilities whenever he wishes.

If it is the latter, then there is no use going to the PRTB - this type of tenancy is outside the remit of the PRTB.

zetorman1

hey can some1 help me