Unfair eviction

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MouseTail wrote: »

No one is disbelieving him. No one is saying he is having mad parties, but the facts as laid out in his posts and in the letters are that he has been harassing neighbours to the point that one is at the end of his tether, and another refuses to open the door and feels threatened enough to call the Gardai.

Rorie wrote:

Also I am not harassing anybody, I simply asked them politely to keep the noise down on 3 or 4 occasions.

please read the thread before responding

Rorie

I'd like to point out one more time - IF i could leave, I would, but I can't. When you do a search for places that accept rent allowance in Dublin you might be lucky to find one place. When you actually go to view the place you find you're in the running with 20 or 30 other people, so yes not impossible, but almost. Also I would like to clear my name since this eviction is (as the title suggests) unfair. To leave without fighting this case would be to admit that they are right, which they are not.
On the matter of the lady calling the guards - she made this threat the FIRST time I knocked on her door, and also shouted some weird comments that lead me to think she is a bit unhinged.

Clothy

Rorie wrote: »

I've been living in a flat in Dun Laoghaire for 2 years. I'm a considerate neighbour, have never had parties, have only had 2 friends in the 2 years visit my place, each on separate occasions and when I listen to music, watch movies or anything like that, I always wear headphones. There's virtually no noise coming from my place.

Some of my neighbours are very noisy a lot of the time and occasionally I have had to knock into them to ask them to keep the noise down late at night. One time I knocked into one guy and asked him to keep the noise down, he was very apologetic and friendly about it, shaking my hand and hugged for an uncomfortably long time? I went back to my place and the noise started again. I've since had to ask him to keep the noise down a few more times and each time he's gotten angry at me. A lady upstairs is constantly banging who knows what on the floor. I've had to knock into her too and she won't open the door to me, won't acknowledge she's been making noise and then threatens to call the Gardai.

I have never received any complaints from neighbours, never had anyone knock to my door to ask me to keep noise down and all of a sudden in August, I got a letter saying it's my first and final warning of getting evicted due to anti-social behaviour. 3 weeks ago I then got an eviction letter saying I have 28 days to leave the premises. I've attached the letters to this post.

I have in the past myself sent letters of complaint to the letting agency due to noisy neighbours, appliances not working, faulty electrical sockets etc. They have all been ignored and I only got any response after phoning the agency. I've asked to speak to the landlord and been refused his contact details and when I enquired about my neighbours making complaints about me, I asked if I could then make complaints about them due to the noise they make in comparison to me. The agency said they wouldn't allow me to make a complaint?

I'm half thinking that the agency may have made up the story of my neighbours making complaints and that it may just be them trying to get rid of me.

Just to add, I lost my job recently and I'm on rent allowance and it will be near impossible to find a new apartment, even if I had a job.

As you can see from the letters the agency sent, there's a lot of errors such as the dates, address and name amongst all the grammatical errors. There's also mention of the 8th of January for some reason?

If anyone can lend some advice as to where I may stand it would be appreciated.

The misspellings all over those letters mean they have zero legal standing. Just ignore them

Rorie

Clothy wrote: »

The misspellings all over those letters mean they have zero legal standing. Just ignore them

That can't be true. Although the first letter is dated 20113, so maybe that will become valid in 18,100 years?

Clothy

Rorie wrote: »

That can't be true. Although the first letter is dated 20113, so maybe that will become valid in 18,100 years?

Dun Laghaire doesn't exist therefore the first letter doesn't exist

Rorie

Clothy wrote: »

Dun Laghaire doesn't exist therefore the first letter doesn't exist

Also my name isn't Roire, it's Rorie so the second letter isn't even addressed to me!

Clothy

Rorie wrote: »

Also my name isn't Roire, it's Rorie so the second letter isn't even addressed to me!

Exactly. So these letters are of no standing

The_Morrigan

Clothy wrote: »

The misspellings all over those letters mean they have zero legal standing. Just ignore them

By virtue of the fact that the drafter is human and we have a tendency as a species to make errors, that does not void the legality of the letters, however it is highly unprofessional.

Rorie, ring the agency and set up an appointment to discuss these letters, stating that you think there has been an error.

Rorie

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Rorie, ring the agency and set up an appointment to discuss these letters, stating that you think there has been an error.

When I got the first letter, I called them and said there must be some mistake, but they didn't believe me. Then I called in to the office in person and explained yet again to no avail. I have been shouted at and called a liar by them over the phone once before when they said I hadn't paid the rent, but I did. I even showed them the receipt.

The_Morrigan

Rorie wrote: »

When I got the first letter, I called them and said there must be some mistake, but they didn't believe me. Then I called in to the office in person and explained yet again to no avail. I have been shouted at and called a liar by them over the phone once before when they said I hadn't paid the rent, but I did. I even showed them the receipt.

Time to contact their regulator then.

http://www.psr.ie/website/npsra/npsraweb.nsf/page/index-en

Contact threshold and the prtb with regards to your rights and the best options for you right now.

Rorie

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Time to contact their regulator then.

I've contacted the PRTB and I have a complaints form from the PSR, however they are not registered with the PSR. Do you know if I can still make a complaint to the PSR even though the letting agent isn't licensed by them?

The_Morrigan

Rorie wrote: »

I've contacted the PRTB and I have a complaints form from the PSR, however they are not registered with the PSR. Do you know if I can still make a complaint to the PSR even though the letting agent isn't licensed by them?

I would assume so, maybe give them a ring tomorrow prior to submitting the form.

Rorie

Ok, I think I have all the info I need. Thank you so much to everyone, you've all been extremely helpful (well, most of you anyway)

cerastes

Rorie wrote: »

When I got the first letter, I called them and said there must be some mistake, but they didn't believe me. Then I called in to the office in person and explained yet again to no avail. I have been shouted at and called a liar by them over the phone once before when they said I hadn't paid the rent, but I did. I even showed them the receipt.

This agent, are they the management company of the complex?
or are they the letting agents? Do they handle the lettings for the entire complex? or just some properties?
Letting agents usually either, arrange the letting take their fee and then hand over to the landlord,
others arrange the letting, take their fee, then collect the rent less a fee,
Im just wondering which one they are?

Rorie

cerastes wrote: »

This agent, are they the management company of the complex?
or are they the letting agents? Do they handle the lettings for the entire complex? or just some properties?
Letting agents usually either, arrange the letting take their fee and then hand over to the landlord,
others arrange the letting, take their fee, then collect the rent less a fee,
Im just wondering which one they are?

Hmm..I'm not sure. I guess they are the management company. The landlord is the owner of the company and the house/apartment block.

cerastes

Rorie wrote: »

Hmm..I'm not sure. I guess they are the management company. The landlord is the owner of the company and the house/apartment block.

Well, I would have thought that only the person (landlord) or their agent that has the contract with the tenant could issue such a notice that would evict someone?? hmmm, so who is your lease with? who is the other party on the lease, ie the landlord or a letting agent?

The management company presumably would be able to enforce the rules of the complex, but without proof or just on the say so of someone else, Im not sure how that would stand, and yet still how would THEY cancel a contract the landlord has with their tenant??

That the landlord owns the complex and then presumably runs or owns the management company then there seems to be some conflict and cross purposes being served by the management company?? maybe they are acting on behalf of the landlord (the owner) in the capacity as a letting agent, when they are the management company? for what reason Im not sure.

Maybe the landlord wants his property back and is prepared to not go through any proper legal procedure and is prepared to make accusations of anti social behaviour to get it, its hard to speculate on the motives, maybe they have been fed information and believe it to be accurate, without even investigating it, certainly being accused of not paying rent when you had is not on, among the other things. I'd sit tight in the property, gather your evidence and get your order of events and communications written out and then have a summary of that in bullet points, but get onto the PRTB for sure.

Another question though, how did you find the property? through another letting agent? online? through the management company? is it a small complex? it seems odd to me that the management company might handle lettings, but maybe its possible.

djimi

Cerastes you are confusing matters with talk of the complex management company. If you read the letters in the OP its pretty clear that they are coming from the landlord or a letting agency. The management company of the complex are unlikely to have any direct contact with the tenant (any issues on their end arising from a tenancy would be dealt with through the landlord) and they certainly would not be issuing eviction notices to tenants.

cerastes

djimi wrote: »

Cerastes you are confusing matters with talk of the complex management company. If you read the letters in the OP its pretty clear that they are coming from the landlord or a letting agency. The management company of the complex are unlikely to have any direct contact with the tenant (any issues on their end arising from a tenancy would be dealt with through the landlord) and they certainly would not be issuing eviction notices to tenants.

Im sorry you think so, but it isnt really clear who they are from. I wanted to clear up who was sending the letters and in what capacity they are acting.
+
If just a letting agent, why is there even communication
If just letting agent managing the property? then how are they even aware of the issue unless they are managing all property in the block?

and there does seem to be some connection between the landlord and the ownership of the complex/ and probably the letting agent.

So it begs the question, what is their motive if the tenant is not engaged in anti social behaviour.

djimi

The second letter states "...our wishes as landlords and the owners of the premises which you rent from us". I dont think there is much confusion there to be honest.

A letting agent can act completely on behalf of the landlord; I have been in my property for over three years and have never once spoken to the landlord (they live in the US).

Its not a surprised that there is a connection between the landlord and the ownership of the complex; in a normal complex the landlord as leaseholder is a member of the complex management company and as such is part of the running of the complex. This doesnt mean that any dealings that they have with their tenants are in their capacity as a member of the management company though.

In fairness to the letting agent/landlord, they are not directly involved in this first hand, and are only acting on the information given. It is not inconcievable that there may be several neighbours who dont like having their late night parties disturbed and have decided to start making these complaints so as to get the OP removed from the complex. The letting agent gets several complaints of what they are told is antisocial behaviour and they have no choice but to act. If they want to actually evict however then it would need to hold up to deeper scrutiny.

MouseTail

Rorie wrote: »

Hmm..I'm not sure. I guess they are the management company. The landlord is the owner of the company and the house/apartment block.

There is no management company. One landlord owns all the flats in what Is probably a converted house and lettings is managed through a lettings agent.