Landlord increased rent

molliesmum

I'm living in East Clare and I have no lease. The landlord lately asked for 100 euro a month increase in rent.
It was 110 a week.

The cottage is from 1970 or so , has no central heating, single-glazed windows, 1 bedroom upstairs and 2 small rooms downstairs that are quite damp and one bathroom that has black mould that covers the ceiling every time it is washed away.

The landlord got a grant for blow in insulation, put some vents in back rooms and a crap extractor in kitchen and more recently gravelled around the house. He said he put a lot of money in the place?

He says he has some letter from the council to say they need to check the house for standards or something and that his bank is breathing down his neck. He also says he can't put in central heating as the cats are breathing too much, he has worked out that a cat breathes so many cubic mls or something. He says they are causing the damp!

So now I am paying five hundred and eighty five euros a month for this cottage. He won't replace the glass on our stove that just cracked one night the fire was in, said he'll put some metal in it. gave me a cooker that has one ring that shorts out the sockets and the oven burns everything, still waiting for that to be fixed!

Should I get a lease, would I have more of a leg to stand on legally? The increase is way too much for the current market rental for a house of this type. Can I argue that?

I have cats and dogs and he knew that when I moved in and always seemed grand with it but know he's using it as some kind of thing to hold over me making out I'm lucky he puts up with them etc.


Thanks

Jagle

sounds like you just need to move. very far away

no lease, he wont have any come backs

smokin ace

Jagle wrote: »

sounds like you just need to move. very far away

no lease, he wont have any come backs

i would also agree with you
get out as quick as you can and if the house is as bad as you say no one with half a brain will move into it so he will get no rent for the place at all

Ian Beale

molliesmum wrote: »

I'm living in East Clare and I have no lease. The landlord lately asked for 100 euro a month increase in rent.
It was 110 a week.

The cottage is from 1970 or so , has no central heating, single-glazed windows, 1 bedroom upstairs and 2 small rooms downstairs that are quite damp and one bathroom that has black mould that covers the ceiling every time it is washed away.

The landlord got a grant for blow in insulation, put some vents in back rooms and a crap extractor in kitchen and more recently gravelled around the house. He said he put a lot of money in the place?

He says he has some letter from the council to say they need to check the house for standards or something and that his bank is breathing down his neck. He also says he can't put in central heating as the cats are breathing too much, he has worked out that a cat breathes so many cubic mls or something. He says they are causing the damp!

So now I am paying five hundred and eighty five euros a month for this cottage. He won't replace the glass on our stove that just cracked one night the fire was in, said he'll put some metal in it. gave me a cooker that has one ring that shorts out the sockets and the oven burns everything, still waiting for that to be fixed!

Should I get a lease, would I have more of a leg to stand on legally? The increase is way too much for the current market rental for a house of this type. Can I argue that?

I have cats and dogs and he knew that when I moved in and always seemed grand with it but know he's using it as some kind of thing to hold over me making out I'm lucky he puts up with them etc.


Thanks

First the thing in bold: I've read about some stupid excuses before but this one is in it's own category.
For your own health move out.

molliesmum

thanks for the replies. yes, it would be great if I could just move out straight away but with 10 cats and 2 dogs there are not many places that will take us and he knows this so is using that. It's like they are doing us a favour. Also the place is in a beautiful location on the lakeshore and so safe for dog walking and not too bad for the cats and I'm looking all the time and haven't found a place yet.

I feel stuck here for the moment so need to make it as comfortable as possible.

I think I need to meet with landlord maybe to renegotiate, he and his wife are quite good at making me feel like i'm the one in the wrong. The place was buillt as a holiday rental and is tiny and cold and not been maintained really. He said he spent over a grand on the digger and gravelling but why didn't he put that into the inside of the house.

The group of cottage owners got together and I think he is more concerned with keeping them happy by making it look nice outside as he said another reason he put up the rent was that they want to have a maintenance fund.

I'm attached to the place and it can be cozy in the front room with the stove minus glass blaring away. I suppose I've let them get away with murder and shouldn't have increased the standing order til the place was sorted!

Jagle

hold rent till he meets you and accepts your problems with the place, cats arnt gonna cause mold and that place needs to be fixed.

i know it can be annoying when its a lovely place to live and your attached but it cant be good for your health.

report to revenue or the prtb /ptrb whoever those landlord guys are

odds_on

If you have been paying rent, you have an unwritten/verbal lease. In this case you have a PART 4 lease and the landlord's and tenant's obligations are covered in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (copy downloadable from the PRTB site).

As regards the rent increase, the RTA 2004, Part 3, section 22 states:

22.—(1) The setting of a rent (the ‘‘new rent’’) pursuant to a review of the rent under a tenancy of a dwelling and which is otherwise lawful under this Part shall not have effect unless and until the condition specified in subsection (2) is satisfied.
(2) That condition is that, at least 28 days before the date from which the new rent is to have effect, a notice in writing is served by the landlord on the tenant stating the amount of the new rent and the date from which it is to have effect.
(3) Where that condition is satisfied, a dispute in relation to a rent falling within subsection (1) must be referred to the Board under Part 6 before—
(a) the date stated in the notice under subsection (2) as the date from which that rent is to have effect, or
(b) the expiry of 28 days from the receipt by the tenant of that notice, whichever is the later.

If you have not been notified in accordance with the above - the landlord cannot increase the rent. Make a claim with the PRTB. Also, a person making a claim with the PRTB cannot be penalized for so doing i.e. the landlord cannot force you to vacate, stop doing repairs, harass you etc.

As regards the cooking equipment etc., you should check out the following:
S.I. No. 534 of 2008 HOUSING (STANDARDS FOR RENTED HOUSES) REGULATIONS 2008 and the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses)(Amendment) Regulations 2009.

Some of the main points are:

7. Heating Facilities
7. (1) Every room used, or intended for use, by the tenant of the house as a habitable room shall contain:
(a) a permanently fixed appliance or appliances capable of providing effective heating,
(b) suitable and adequate facilities for the safe and effective removal of fumes and other products of combustion to the external air.
(2) The operation of any appliance referred to in sub-article (1)(a) shall be capable of being independently manageable by the tenant.

and

8. Food Preparation and Storage and Laundry
8 (2) Subject to sub-article (1), there shall be provided, within the habitable area of the house, for the exclusive use of the house:
(a) 4 ring hob with oven and grill,
(b) Suitable facilities for the effective and safe removal of fumes to the external air by means of a cooker hood or extractor fan,
(c) Fridge and freezer or fridge-freezer,
(d) Microwave oven,
(e) Sink, with a piped supply of cold water taken direct from the service pipe supplying water from the public main or other source to the building containing the house and a facility for the piped supply of hot water, and an adequate draining area,
(f) Suitable and adequate number of kitchen presses for food storage purposes,
(g) Washing machine, or access to a communal washing machine facility within the curtilage of the building, and
(h) Where the house does not contain a garden or yard for the exclusive use of that house, a dryer (vented or recirculation type).
(h) Where the house does not contain a garden or yard for the exclusive use of that house, a dryer (vented or recirculation type) or access to a communal dryer facility.
(3) All facilities under sub-article (2) shall be maintained in good working order and good repair.
(4) Responsibility for maintenance of facilities under sub-article (2) shall rest with the landlord.

ChuckProphet

molliesmum wrote: »

thanks for the replies. yes, it would be great if I could just move out straight away but with 10 cats and 2 dogs there are not many places that will take us and he knows this so is using that. It's like they are doing us a favour.

i think he is doing you a favour really...i wouldn't want 12 animals in my house p*ssing and sh*ting all over the place

odds_on

ChuckProphet wrote: »

i think he is doing you a favour really...i wouldn't want 12 animals in my house p*ssing and sh*ting all over the place

With trained animals it's not so much the "p*ssing and sh*ting all over the place"; the main problem is cats liking to sharpen their claws on the furniture. And OP has 10 of them!!!!

Nolan Properties

molliesmum wrote: »

I'm living in East Clare and I have no lease. The landlord lately asked for 100 euro a month increase in rent.
It was 110 a week.

The cottage is from 1970 or so , has no central heating, single-glazed windows, 1 bedroom upstairs and 2 small rooms downstairs that are quite damp and one bathroom that has black mould that covers the ceiling every time it is washed away.

The landlord got a grant for blow in insulation, put some vents in back rooms and a crap extractor in kitchen and more recently gravelled around the house. He said he put a lot of money in the place?

He says he has some letter from the council to say they need to check the house for standards or something and that his bank is breathing down his neck. He also says he can't put in central heating as the cats are breathing too much, he has worked out that a cat breathes so many cubic mls or something. He says they are causing the damp!

So now I am paying five hundred and eighty five euros a month for this cottage. He won't replace the glass on our stove that just cracked one night the fire was in, said he'll put some metal in it. gave me a cooker that has one ring that shorts out the sockets and the oven burns everything, still waiting for that to be fixed!

Should I get a lease, would I have more of a leg to stand on legally? The increase is way too much for the current market rental for a house of this type. Can I argue that?

I have cats and dogs and he knew that when I moved in and always seemed grand with it but know he's using it as some kind of thing to hold over me making out I'm lucky he puts up with them etc.


Thanks[/Quote

Hi there,I can't believe in this day and age a landlord would expect you to pay an extra €100 extra in the current climate. If you have no agreement with him, and your not happy with the place, I'd start looking around for another property, your obviously a pet lover like myself, there are landlords that will accept cats and dogs once you look after them and their property. In my opinion I certainly wouldn't sign a lease on your current conditions and terms. Regards Sharon

Mister Dread

What a chancer. The rental markets in rural locations are moribund. You could probably take the rent down by a hundred quid.

Kimia

You already increased the standing order and now you want to argue it?

Why are so many tenants afraid of standing up for themselves? Why don't you just say no? Why are you living like that? Broken oven? A black bathroom? :eek:

StillWaters

It does seem as if you are sort of stuck with each other. He will find it very hard to get a new tenant for substandard house, and you will find it hard to get a house with your pets. Having said that, he should have given you the appropriate notice of rent increase.
What is the going rate for similar accommodation in your area?

awec

The cat breathing excuse literally made me laugh out loud.