Leaking and Mold - Landlord Lax with Repairs

nocheerleader

Hi All - looking for advice or personal experience on the following:

I moved into a house 16 months ago. 1 month after moving in (Jan 2012) we contacted the landlord about a roof leak that was coming through our ceiling, wall and window frame. I emailed the landlord at this time with the details including photos of the damp and mould.

The landlord replied that she was aware of the problem and she was working with a roof contractor to have it fixed as soon as possible.

The roof contractor never came. I followed up with phone calls and text messages over the last year. During the warmer months I let the problem slide but with it being Ireland every time it rained we are greated by the leaking into our room (quite a substantial amount too) and more mould and damp.

I have never paid rent late and have never caused any cause for complaint for the landlord.

I want to have this sorted amicably as I really like the house but the landlord seems to be fobbing me off.

In this case a contract was never signed, it\'s a shared house and it\'s the kind of situation where when one tenant leaves he replaces himself with a new tenant and gets his deposits directly from the new tenant. The landlord is never involved but is fully aware of the process as that is the way she requested it.

- Anyone have any experience of this or similar?
- Should I be withholding rent based on the fact that the bedroom is \'not fit for the purpose\'?
- Should I discuss the option of a deal with the landlord that I pay only a portion of the rent until it\'s fixed as I can\'t fully use the bedroom? (belongings are damp and mould, mould is causing health problems)
- Do I have full right even thought I didn\'t sign a contract?
- Is the landlady obliged to give me back my deposit if I give her notice even though I never psyically exchanged the money with her (I gave it to the exiting tenant, which the landlady is aware of)


Any advice really appreciated as I would like to get this dealt with civilly and remain living there, however I think the landlord is being a bit lax probably because I am not pushing hard enough for the repairs.

Ray Palmer

You can't withhold rent legally. Once you do that you are going to have trouble dealing with it with the PRTB.

Now apparently you can get the job repaired and deduct the costs from rent once you provide a receipt for the work. Somebody else will have to quote the appropriate law but a roof is major work so I think it would be pushing it.

In saying that I would only inform the LL you plan to do this if he doesn't do something within a month and see how you go from there.

I don't get why you put up with it so long if it is a health issue. You are a part 4 tenant at this point so have all those rights regardless of signing anything.

nocheerleader

Thanks Ray

Yeah I completely hold my hands up for not pushing this harder to have it fixed sooner. I was/still am trying to stay civil with the LL and not have to make it formal (although I don't know why I am being so nice about it anymore), it was kind of like I would email/call/text a complaint, then the LL would reply and say the roofer will be there by the end of the week, the roofer never shows but the rain has stopped so I let it slide until the rain and leaking starts again. So it was going back and forward.

The rent is cheap in a very good location, and I really don't want to move I just want a resolution and I wasn't aware of part 4 tenancy until today so I was worried about causing hassle with the LL when I had never signed a contract.

confusticated

In a similar situation to you but it's not going on as long, and I'd say your best bet is to get out. If she's known about a problem with damp for over a year and done nothing about it, she clearly doesn't care much about her property. Whatever about you letting it slide - this is her house that presumably is worth a bit to her (in rent or property value), you'd imagine she wouldn't want it falling apart.

I know you say it's a good location and cheap etc., but maybe that's the reason it is cheap?

sligoface

I have a similar problem, I am aware you can't withhold rent legally but you can't let out a mould ridden leaky property legally either. I also had belongings ruined. My logic was, if I move out the place will be empty because the mould and leak is so obvious no one would take it. So after several broken agreements to fix the problem, I stopped paying and lo and behold they got someone in to fix it now. Not advising you to do anything not legal of course. But for u, the situation seems to be that they want to put in zero effort as they let tenants do all the letting/deposit stuff. I would never hand over a deposit to a current tenant due to the risk of situations like this. You can't get someone else to take over now when the place is in disrepair and replace your deposit. I would just not pay for a month and see what happens, if they don't get moving on repairs, that free month can be used for your deposit on a new place. Given the way they operate they'll hardly bother chasing you once you are gone if it comes to that.