Notice of eviction

DraZyel

Hi there,

i'm looking for advice as i just received a mail from my renting agency.
Evicting me and my roomates in 28 days.

a little backstory : i moved in last january with a friend.
the agency advertised that the house had internet, satellite tv included.
it was false, and most annoying is that we had no hot water for most of january and february ( with continuous notice to the agency of the problem)
but we continued to pay rent on time, and it was finally fixed at some point after the boiler basically exploded.
we had leaks recently in the toilets and again we gave notice of the problem 4/5 times and nothing was done.
anyway my questions are :

is an e-mail a proper notice of eviction first off ?
then apparently the agency visited the house with the landlord without our consent ? she sent an e-mail last thursday to ask if anyone would be home on monday.
i didnt reply as i tought my roomate told her that we werent here when he payed the rent on the same day.

She added photos to her e-mail for proof. but the only reason it's that where messy and didnt tidy up as we didnt expect her to come in.
so is being (very) messy ( 4 boys ) is a good reason for eviction ?


thank you for your help

odds_on

Firstly, and very importantly, what type of accommodation do you each have:
1. You each rent a bedroom and share facilities, you pay your rent individually.
2. You all rent the property, and pay the full rent as a group.

Secondly, have you signed any type of lease?

Thirdly, when did you move into the property (exact date) and were there already other tenants there at the time?

christmas2012

ring threshold (look them up on the net or in the phonebook)and see what they can do,they are a renters rights agency mediator type thing..

DraZyel

odds_on wrote: »

Firstly, and very importantly, what type of accommodation do you each have:
1. You each rent a bedroom and share facilities, you pay your rent individually.
2. You all rent the property, and pay the full rent as a group.

Secondly, have you signed any type of lease?

Thirdly, when did you move into the property (exact date) and were there already other tenants there at the time?

we rent the property and share the rent as a group.
we were 3 to pay the deposit but one of us bailed and we where 2 left for the first month..
we signed a lease and moved in january 2nd.
and a third tenant arrived end of january to replace the one that bailed because we coudnt assume rent j

Lyn256

If you've signed a lease, you have very strong rights and evicting you on the basis of you being messy is not one of them as far as I know.
Best advice, get onto Threshold-they should be able to advise you.
(Then come back and let us know how you got on!)

Raladic

Given that today is the 9th of July, you are living in the flat more than 6 months, so the landlord has to give a reason for eviction and it has to be one of these:

• After 3 and ½ years
• If the tenant does not comply with the obligations of the tenancy
• If the property is no longer suited to the tenants’ needs (e.g. overcrowded)
• If the landlord needs the property for him/herself or for an immediate family member
• If the landlord intends to sell the property
• If the landlord intends to refurbish the property
• If the landlord plans to change the business use of the property (e.g. turn it into offices).

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/if_your_landlord_wants_you_to_leave.html

Also if it is indeed over 6 months, it has to be 5 weeks (35 days) notice and it has to be in writing, either via post, in person or left at your apartment.

If your landlord wants you to leave he/she must serve you with a notice of termination. In order to be valid a notice of termination must

be in writing
be signed by the landlord (or an authorised agent)
specify the date of termination
state the reason for termination (if a tenancy has lasted more than six months)
state that any issue with the notice must be referred to the PRTB within 28 days from the receipt of the notice.

The notice can be posted to you, be given to you in person or left for you at the property. The PRTB have published a sample notice of termination (pdf) that includes all of these points.

djimi

So she let herself into the apartment uninvited and now wants to evict you for no good reason? Get onto the PRTB; theyll have an absolute field day with this idiot.

djimi

Raladic wrote: »

Given that today is the 9th of July, you are living in the flat more than 6 months, so the landlord has to give a reason for eviction and it has to be one of these:

Thats assuming its not a fixed term lease. On a fixed term lease the landlord can only evict for serious reasons such as non-payment of rent, anti-social behaviour or serious and/or repeated breaches of the terms of the lease.

odds_on

DraZyel wrote: »

we rent the property and share the rent as a group.
we were 3 to pay the deposit but one of us bailed and we where 2 left for the first month..
we signed a lease and moved in january 2nd.
and a third tenant arrived end of january to replace the one that bailed because we coudnt assume rent j

I assume then that you signed a fixed term lease (for 12 months?).

With a fixed term lease, it is very difficult for a landlord to issue a valid Notice of Termination. Basically, you must be in breach of at least one of the terms and conditions of the lease.

If you are in breach of your obligations under the terms of the lease, the landlord/agent must advise you accordingly and give you a reasonable time to remedy any issue. Only by failure on your part to remedy any issue can a valid NoT to evict be issued.

Furthermore, a valid NoT must follow certain requirements:
• Be in writing
• Be signed by the landlord or by his/her authorised agent
• Specify the date of service
• State the reason for termination (where the tenancy has lasted for more than 6 months)
• Specify the termination date (the tenant has the whole of the 24 hours
of this date to vacate possession)
• State that any issue as to the validity of the notice or the right of the
landlord to serve it must be referred to the Private Residential
Tenancies Board within 28 days from the receipt of the notice.

IMHO,
1. an email does not satisfy the above conditions as it cannot be signed by the landlord/agent.
2. You do not appear to have received any notice to remedy a breach of your obligations.
3. The PRTB would not accept Notice of Termination as valid; does it comply with the all requirements as set out above. If not, forward a copy to the PRTB and advise them of same.

Again, the entry of the landlord/agent into the property was a breach of your rights as no day and time had been agreed. This was a breach of you quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the property. However, one of the tenants should have answered the landlord's request to inspect the property, so, you are also at fault here.

Finally, you say in your first post that you have continually/repeatedly informed the landlord/agent of issues in the property. When advising of issues that require repairs/replacements you should always put them in writing, giving the landlord a "reasonable time" to remedy the problem (a reasonable time would normally be about 14 days or less in serious circumstances). Failure to remedy the problem could leave the landlord in breach of his obligations.

TheDriver

either we are not being told something here or this is going to be very interesting how the landlord reacts to her abuse of procedure.
Is she registered with PRTB

DraZyel

thank you for your help
i'm going to give a call to treshold tomorow and explain the situation, we decided with my roomates that for the moment we will ignore the notice of eviction and not answer this e-mail until we get a proper notice of eviction.
One point that i have to add is that this her second visit in the last month. she asked to make a visit last month to check if everything was ok ( never had that in any other country's but i was told it was frequent in UK/ IRELAND at midterm lease), we agreed that time and we of course cleaned up everything on that day and everything went well. she didnt tell us anything.
but we did have a problem recently with bins, it was resolved actually this weekend.
we told her and ask advice on how we could get rid of it ( we had issues with bins ) so we hired a skip to have them all removed at once.
i will update this thread

The_Conductor

Be careful here.
You say you rented the apartment as a group- rather than as separate individuals. You also say that one person bailed- and the two remaining were unable to pay the whole of the rent, and it was a month before a new person was brought in. If you're renting the property as a group- you owe the rent as a group- and if one person bails, the other two are liable for their share of the rent and utilities.

Vis-a-vis satellite- lots of apartment blocks have a shared satellite facility. Essentially its a plug in the wall into which you connect your own receiver. You can use a Freesat receiver- or you can shell out for Sky. It would be most unusual for an owner to pay for a satellite package for you- but quite normal for them to supply a satellite connection (to a shared dish facility). You can't automatically assume they are in the wrong here without clarification.

If you did not pay the rent up to date (incl. the period for which one of your friends bailed)- you are either in breach of your lease to pay your rent on time- or you are not renting the property as a group, but as separate individuals- you can't have your cake and eat it- choosing whichever option best suits your case this week.

Ring Threshold by all means- but have the correct information at hand to discuss with them.

Regards,

SMcCarrick

BostonB

With all the problems why would continue to rent it?

DraZyel

smccarrick wrote: »

Be careful here.
You say you rented the apartment as a group- rather than as separate individuals. You also say that one person bailed- and the two remaining were unable to pay the whole of the rent, and it was a month before a new person was brought in. If you're renting the property as a group- you owe the rent as a group- and if one person bails, the other two are liable for their share of the rent and utilities.

Vis-a-vis satellite- lots of apartment blocks have a shared satellite facility. Essentially its a plug in the wall into which you connect your own receiver. You can use a Freesat receiver- or you can shell out for Sky. It would be most unusual for an owner to pay for a satellite package for you- but quite normal for them to supply a satellite connection (to a shared dish facility). You can't automatically assume they are in the wrong here without clarification.

If you did not pay the rent up to date (incl. the period for which one of your friends bailed)- you are either in breach of your lease to pay your rent on time- or you are not renting the property as a group, but as separate individuals- you can't have your cake and eat it- choosing whichever option best suits your case this week.

Ring Threshold by all means- but have the correct information at hand to discuss with them.

Regards,

SMcCarrick

Hi, we did pay the rent on time every singe time.
Basically we gave a deposit end of december for reservations.
and when we came back in january to move in we learned that one guy that was supposed to move in with us bailed out. we where two left to pay the rent, we managed to pay it for january but they where no way we could afford it in the long term ( + utilities ) that would be half of our income.
And eviction probably means that we loose this deposit also i assume ?

i have a screenshot of the add on my home computer i will post it tonight.
but basically was also advertised 4 double bedrooms ( when we visited the house for the first time the agency told us a lot of furniture was missing and will be added before we moved in, they never did )
and we had only 1 double bed and 2 single's. we got a third bed when we requested it 4/5 times and i had to find another double bed for myself ( has 2 bad singles was not suiting me )
i told her it was my understanding that a double bedroom had a double bed but apparently not : here's the copy of her message on the matter :

Doesn’t furnished double bedrooms means double beds in each bedroom ? - You asked me yesterday for one double bed. This is all that I asked the landlord for. You have 2 single beds in one room.
Why was it advertised by your agency that it had internet There is internet in the house but you have to set up your own account with whatever provider that you wish to use. This is standard practice.
cable television - cable television is available. Again you have to set up your own account with Sky Television. This does not mean that the landlord provides the tv for you.
and a house alarm - apologies but i did not know that the landlord had disconnected the alarm system. It is a very safe and quiet area.

I can provide you with the details for Sky Television, Internet connectors etc that we use all the time..

odds_on

I may well be wrong, but anything in an advert must not be taken a gospel (and usually agents will have a disclaimer to that fact). You should confirm everything when you view the property and ask lots of questions etc.

DraZyel

UPDATE :

as advised by you guys i contacted threshold.ie they where very helpfull and with all the facts i sent an e-mail to the letting agency and proposed another visit at another time that we would agree upon, where we would have cleaned up and be ready for it this time.
The letting agent replied aggressively and lied on some facts ( stating for example that i agreed when i came in to pay the rent ) but i actually didnt go my roommate payed on my behalf, and since then i received a few threats by e-mail. following further advice by Threshold i'm now filling to the PRTB.
i told her and she answer by other threats( apparently we opened the landlord mail that they discover when they visited ( lies ) ) So threshold contacted her on my behalf and hopefully i will be left alone for the time being. Since this was very stressfull, and with my work being very stressfull i barely got any sleep since the whole story started.
then was left today at my house another letter from the agency with a new notice of eviction ( this time for different reasons : we subleted a room without consent ) when the "sublet" was actually proposed by them and signed a lease ( but was not handed a copy )
he now left as he was only supposed to stay until he found another place to live.

so basically now im not responding to the agent, completly ignoring her emails. Saving everything and the PRTB will give us the final decision, until then we are to stay in the house.

DraZyel

ho and i forgot :

thanks to all of you for your help

fasttalkerchat

They were wrong to advertise internet and satellite TV unless that was included in the price. Also double room doesn't mean an empty room big enough for a double bed.

They wanted to deceive you and seem to be trying anything to get you out.

Just to clarify, have you or the other housemates ever failed to pay rent?

DraZyel

never ! always paid on time.
we did want to retain rent in february because we had no hot water and heating issues and taking a cold shower in winter was pretty bad on our mood and nerves especially since nothing was done ( they would send a useless incompetent guy that had no clue on what he was doing and how to fix the problem he ould stay for about 15 mins and find an excuse). this is a whole other story and we paid the full rent anyway

The_Conductor

Re: a double room having two single beds instead of a double bed- this is actually quite common, nothing too unusual there.

fasttalkerchat

smccarrick wrote: »

Re: a double room having two single beds instead of a double bed- this is actually quite common, nothing too unusual there.

That should have been advertised as a twin room.
Its not that much of a big deal but it adds to the inaccuracies in the advert that make it more misleading.