Eviction Notice Advice

Talib Fiasco

Hey there,

I am a college student. My three housemates and me received an eviction notices last friday from our landlord stating unpaid rent as the reason. Obviously we want to appeal this so what can we do?

I was at my 'home' when all this happened but my housemates told me they went to our college Student Union with it and I think they're working on it.

First of all I personally think they can't do this. Part of our agreement was that we pay the final two months of rent prior to moving in. This would be April and May's rent...so technically we're a month in advance...also the landlord called for rent at a time when we didn't agree to and made no effort to call since to collect rent...it's all a little bizzarre like.

Finally the notice was given on 28/03/14 and we've to evict by 11/04/14...that isn't the mandatory 28 days notice...what we can we do there?

Please help if you can. If it stands we'll have no house the week before college exams.

Thanks in advance

Penny Tration

Have you paid your rent?

She has to give you a 14 day notice of arrears. This gives you 14 days to pay what you owe. If you don't pay it, she has to send a 28 day notice of eviction.

Tell her this, if she tries anything, tell her you'll go to the prtb. If she's not registered, it may scare her.

And pay your rent. Set up a direct debit. None of you being there on the day she called isn't an excuse, you could have gone into your bank and transferred it to her account.

Talib Fiasco

For some reason they only deal in cash in hand only...we found out quickly they're a sketchy company...I've always paid rent on time and had my rent in my room waiting...but yeah thank for the advice I'll do that, really appreciate it!

The_Morrigan

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

.....Part of our agreement was that we pay the final two months of rent prior to moving in. This would be April and May's rent...so technically we're a month in advance...

You are correct in that your landlord cannot evict you in such a short timeframe, s/he can just issue a notice of arrears (14 days) and then an eviction notice (28 days).

However, I'm curious as to the double rent payment you mention.
If it was rent for the last two months of your lease then you would have been paying over 4 months of rent on day one which is a really really large amount of money for students to cough up (Deposit + first months rent + second last months rent + last months rent).
Do you have this in writing and with proof of payment of these two months in advance of occupation? I'm just curious as to whether the landlord thinks this is a higher deposit amount rather than rent payments.

Talib Fiasco

The_Morrigan wrote: »

You are correct in that your landlord cannot evict you in such a short timeframe, s/he can just issue a notice of arrears (14 days) and then an eviction notice (28 days).

However, I'm curious as to the double rent payment you mention.
If it was rent for the last two months of your lease then you would have been paying over 4 months of rent on day one which is a really really large amount of money for students to cough up (Deposit + first months rent + second last months rent + last months rent).
Do you have this in writing and with proof of payment of these two months in advance of occupation? I'm just curious as to whether the landlord thinks this is a higher deposit amount rather than rent payments.

I have screen shots on my laptop of money I paid last summer...which would be deposit and like 3 months of rent/first month and April & May. As I said the company are very sketchy...I'll admit we were very naive but we were so desperate for a house. I'm glad I have some ammo now that I can use. Cheers!!

The_Morrigan

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

I have screen shots on my laptop of money I paid last summer...which would be deposit and like 3 months of rent/first month and April & May. As I said the company are very sketchy...I'll admit we were very naive but we were so desperate for a house. I'm glad I have some ammo now that I can use. Cheers!!

If you have proof of these payments that's great, but have you proof that they are rent for the last two months of the lease or just a really big deposit because you are students? The company being sketchy isn't going to help you prove your stance here, if you can't prove they are rent payments or a deposit.

Talib Fiasco

I'm not certain we can prove it's for rent or not now that I think of it...sh*t. I'll look into it. Thanks for the heads up though.

But what you're saying is we have to receive a letter from them of rent in arrears before we can get an eviction letter? Like we have not received a notice in arrears letter like...

The_Morrigan

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

I'm not certain we can prove it's for rent or not now that I think of it...sh*t. I'll look into it. Thanks for the heads up though.

But what you're saying is we have to receive a letter from them of rent in arrears before we can get an eviction letter? Like we have not received a notice in arrears letter like...

The information can be found here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/if_your_landlord_wants_you_to_leave.html

Exceptions to required notice periods

Your landlord can give less notice if you are not keeping your obligations (28 days) or if there is serious anti-social behaviour (7 days).
If you do not pay your rent a notice of termination may be served, only if the rent due has still not been paid 14 days after you get written notification from your landlord of the amount owing.

Notice of termination
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 6 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 be left for you at the property. The PRTB's example notice of termination includes all of these points.