Tenants personal property

Kungfu

A friend of mine has been renting a house to a tenant.

The tenant was in receipt of rent alloance from the Social Welfare.

My friend was contacted re a problem at the house and made arranements to rectify the problem. This seemed to have worked. However a few months later the tenant contacted my friend to say that the problem had recurred and that she was now giving notice that she was vacating the property.

However the last months rent which was due to my friend was not paid. The tenant told my friend that she could keep the security deposit which she had paid before moving in in lieu of the unpaid months rent.

The tenant had however damaged some furniture at the property and had put some of my friends furniture into storage, in order to make room for her own furniture. She had done this withoit notifying my friend.

My friend attempted to argue that the security deposit was paid to cover the landlord in the event of any damages to the property or the contents of it. However the tenant is still denying this and has still not paid the rent due.

I have advised my friend that if this person wishes to play hard ball then my friend should contact the Dept of Social Welfare to notify them that the tenant no longer resides at the address concerned, especially since the tenant had the gall to ask my friend that if anyone should enquire she did not vacate the property until a month after the date that she actually did so. This to me seemed highly suspect. I have suggested to my friend that this could be used to make a fraudulent claim for rent allowance relating to the rental of her property and that it would be a good idea to contact the Welfare rent allowance section to make it quite clear that the tenant was not there for any months beyond that date on which she vacated the property.

The tenant has even involved her mother, who has been on the phone to my friend making various unfounded allegations. To this I have advised my friend to no longer speak to the tenant or her mother and to inform them that any further correspondence should be addressed to my friends solicitor.

One other matter is that the tenant has left behind some furniture and other personal property. My friend has given her more than one notice to collect this property. If after giving notice to collect the property how long must my friend wait before any such property may be considered abandoned and disposed of by other means? The property is now rented out to other tenants.