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Accommodation not as described...

  • 17-08-2012 4:02pm
    #1
    LemonWorld
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35 ✭


    Hello!

    Just wondering if there is anyone at all who could help me out with regard to the situation I've currently found myself in!

    I'm renting a bedsit in Dublin city centre. It's a basement apartment in an old Georgian property. When I viewed the apartment I was told by the agent that there was a shared bathroom between myself and two other bedsits, both of which he assured me only had one adult occupant each. I accepted the lease and signed a 12 month contract.

    Since then I've only been staying in the apartment one or two nights a week due to work. When I am staying there however, I've noticed that there's also another apartment on the basement which appears to be using the same bathroom. I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with this if it were only another single person living there, but there's a family with young children! They're clearly at the "toilet-training" stage too because the bathroom is left in a bit of a state after them :(

    I knew well the apartment was pretty basic when I signed up for it, but the location and price suited me so I went for it. I'm no princess and I'm not afraid of cleaning up my fair share either, but having to wipe the toilet seat and the surrounding floor of other peoples urine EVERY time I want to use the bathroom is a bit too much, no?

    I'm just wondering what my rights are on this issue, if any? I'm aware I'm in an awkward position as I only have the agent's word to go by, and there's nothing regarding the bathroom/number of people sharing it mentioned in the lease.


Comments

  • #2
    Quinnie007
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4 ✭Quinnie007


    That is awful!!
    The government passed a law a few years back requiring all new rented property to have their own sanitary facilities, this law does not apply to properties which were let at any time between 04-09 but the facilities still should only be shared between two units. Your landlord is breaking the law if there are four units to one bathroom, Call your local council and report him.


  • #3
    LemonWorld
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35 ✭LemonWorld


    Quinnie007 wrote: »
    That is awful!!
    The government passed a law a few years back requiring all new rented property to have their own sanitary facilities, this law does not apply to properties which were let at any time between 04-09 but the facilities still should only be shared between two units. Your landlord is breaking the law if there are four units to one bathroom, Call your local council and report him.

    Thanks for the reply!

    Yeah, I've just been scouring citizensinformation.ie to check where exactly I stand! I've just come across the legislation you're thinking of, it's from the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, 2008. You're right about the facilities being shared between two units, but there is an exception in the case of bedsits!

    According to citizensinfo there should be:
    "A toilet and bath/shower for every two flats, unless four single people are living in four single bedsits in which case all four may share a toilet and bath/shower"

    So the landlord is still going against regulations here, because there's more than one resident in the fourth unit.

    There's no window in the bathroom and the extractor that is there doesn't seem to work, so he has also failed to provide a properly ventilated facility too.

    I'll talk to him first before I go reporting him to see if we can come to any kind of conclusion, but if he refuses or fails to do anything to rectify the situation I am entitled to get my deposit back, yes?


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