Landlord refused to register with PRTB. What to do?

theknightbg

Hello,
A couple of days ago I moved to Dublin and literally today I moved to a new apartment. I asked my landlord about registering with PRTB. He went totally balistic on me and yelled over the phone that I was already causing him a lot of troubles as he was very busy. He refused to talk about PRTB and told me that If i would like he can tear up that contract (which we signed yesterday) and I can walk out of the apartment if I would like. He is the owner of the place. I am at a loss what to do.
I was asking about the PRTB registration, because I thought that is what is supposed to happen. I was not expecting this kind of answer from him.
I am really thinking about moving out tomorrow. What do you think? Am I overreacting?

shruikan2553

You are still covered by PRTB if anything was to happen. In fact it gives you more to work with. Personally I would stay. I dont question about PRTB but thwy are there if you need them.

Santa Cruz

shruikan2553 is correct. Despite non registration with PRTB by the landlord you have full rights under the Act. The PRTB are prosecuting landlords for non registration but are doing a very bad job of highlighting convictions and fines.
It is as much in the landlords interest as the tenant with the exception of landlords who are evading tax.
I would advise though to keep a record of all transactions, rent payments and make sure to have a copy of that contract.
If you wish you can make contact with PRTB and report the non registration

murphaph

Having said all that and it is all technically correct, I don't think I'd be too keen on being the tenant of someone who roars down the phone like a bloody savage at the mere mention of a PRTB registration. I'm no fan of the PRTB whatsoever but I wouldn't react by shouting at a tenant, regardless of how the PRTB may have shafted me in the past. Slim pickings in Dublin right now of course, but if there's an alternative I'd be thinking about taking the guy up on his "offer" to tear up the lease.

theknightbg

murphaph wrote: »

Having said all that and it is all technically correct, I don't think I'd be too keen on being the tenant of someone who roars down the phone like a bloody savage at the mere mention of a PRTB registration. I'm no fan of the PRTB whatsoever but I wouldn't react by shouting at a tenant, regardless of how the PRTB may have shafted me in the past. Slim pickings in Dublin right now of course, but if there's an alternative I'd be thinking about taking the guy up on his "offer" to tear up the lease.

I think that is what I will do. Thanks all.

coolbeans

theknightbg wrote: »

I think that is what I will do. Thanks all.

do as U wish but don't forget to report the prick.

The_Morrigan

coolbeans wrote: »

do as U wish but don't forget to report the prick.

Less of that tone & language please.

No Pants

He may have offered to tear up the contract, but have you given him any money and will he give it back?

Graces7

murphaph wrote: »

Having said all that and it is all technically correct, I don't think I'd be too keen on being the tenant of someone who roars down the phone like a bloody savage at the mere mention of a PRTB registration. I'm no fan of the PRTB whatsoever but I wouldn't react by shouting at a tenant, regardless of how the PRTB may have shafted me in the past. Slim pickings in Dublin right now of course, but if there's an alternative I'd be thinking about taking the guy up on his "offer" to tear up the lease.

my thoughts too. does he know he has no legal choice re registration and can be heavily fined.

olliesgirl55

You can register your tenancy with the PRTB yourself. I was living in my flat for over a year before I got a letter stating my tenancy was not registered so I filled out the form and sent it back. Apparently my landlord is not a fan of the PRTB either.

It's quite possible your landlord was having a bad day and may have had a bad experience previously with the PRTB.

If youre gonna walk away I would have your landlord come to you with your money and contract so you can get your money back and see the contract torn up.

odds_on

A couple of days ago I moved to Dublin and literally today I moved to a new apartment.
He went totally balistic on me and yelled over the phone that I was already causing him a lot of troubles as he was very busy.

If you only moved in a couple of days ago, he has 28 days to register the tenancy.

From what the OP has said, if would seem that there is more to the story.

Was the OP phoning the landlord as regards some "emergency" - after all, it is Easter Saturday and a landlord is entitled to some peace and quiet unless there is an emergency.

theknightbg

odds_on wrote: »

If you only moved in a couple of days ago, he has 28 days to register the tenancy.

From what the OP has said, if would seem that there is more to the story.

Was the OP phoning the landlord as regards some "emergency" - after all, it is Easter Saturday and a landlord is entitled to some peace and quiet unless there is an emergency.

As i moved today i did call him about a little problem with the toilet and what internet provider is used in the apartment. Then i tried to register with the PRTB as he said I can do the day before, but was not able to do so online, as a tenant, and was not sure what to do next. I wanted everything to be legally correct. Anyways, he did tear the contract and i let him keep 400 eur.
I hope I do not see him again.

Sulla Felix

theknightbg wrote: »

As i moved today i did call him about a little problem with the toilet and what internet provider is used in the apartment. Then i tried to register with the PRTB as he said I can do the day before, but was not able to do so online, as a tenant, and was not sure what to do next. I wanted everything to be legally correct. Anyways, he did tear the contract and i let him keep 400 eur.
I hope I do not see him again.

:eek:
Why on earth would you do that?

Midnight Sundance

Sulla Felix wrote: »

:eek:
Why on earth would you do that?

My thoughts exactly!!!!!

hfallada

Its extremely easy to understand why a LL wouldnt want to register with the PRTB. They have to pay €90 for every registration and €90 every 4 years if the tenancy continued. There was no logic to old way of registration( you had to get a signature from every single tenant meaning registration were rarely done within the 30 day limit and you then had to pay a late registration fee of €180). You can now register online, but its only marginally better.

The PRTB offer very few benefits to LL( I cant name any ATM). There is so many loopholes in the PRTB law, that it makes it impossible to evict someone even for anti-social behavior(in the US to evict a tenant for anti-social behavior you go to the local courthouse and same day, the person has 24 hours to vacate the property). This can take months with the PRTB. LLs deal with disputes without the PRTB. My parents are LLs and most of their friends are landlords. And together they probably have about 150 properties, meaning thousands of tenants a year. I have never once in 10 years hear them use PRTB(they obviously paid the fee) to resolve a dispute.

Probably one of the biggest reasons why renting is near a long term housing choice, is lack of legal protection. What good is help dealing with a dispute between a LL and tenant if it takes several months before someone even address you case. And it takes a few months after that for a dispute to be resolved. And people think its logical for the PRTB to have a deposit protection scheme! How long would they take to give back a deposit to a tenant?

PRTB is a quango that needs to closed. There is no reason why a dispute should take several months to resolve. A housing department in a CoCo or City Council would probably be better for dealing with tenant and LL disputes. DCC is incredible quick and efficient in recent years.

the world wonders

olliesgirl55 wrote: »

You can register your tenancy with the PRTB yourself.

No you can't, unless you also paid the €90 registration fee yourself.

Mrs OBumble

theknightbg wrote: »

I hope I do not see him again.

And the LL is probably thinking "phew, close call there".

Best of luck to you, OP, hope you've found somewhere else adequate to stay.

For future reference, don't call landlord's re non-urgent stuff on holidays.

olliesgirl55

the world wonders wrote: »

No you can't, unless you also paid the €90 registration fee yourself.

Actually I did and it didn't cost me a thing. As I said the PRTB sent a form out for me to fill out. I asked the LL and he knew nothing about it. I sent the form back and got verification that I am registered.

Larry Wildman

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

And the LL is probably thinking "phew, close call there".

Best of luck to you, OP, hope you've found somewhere else adequate to stay.

For future reference, don't call landlord's re non-urgent stuff on holidays.

I'm afraid I have to agree...the OP's carry on must have been seriously irritating.

iguana

Larry Wildman wrote: »

I'm afraid I have to agree...the OP's carry on must have been seriously irritating.

What? Calling a landlord with a query the day they moved into the house? I'd imagine contact from your tenant on their first day is pretty much par for the course.:rolleyes:

foggy_lad

theknightbg wrote: »

As i moved today i did call him about a little problem with the toilet and what internet provider is used in the apartment. Then i tried to register with the PRTB as he said I can do the day before, but was not able to do so online, as a tenant, and was not sure what to do next. I wanted everything to be legally correct. Anyways, he did tear the contract and i let him keep 400 eur.
I hope I do not see him again.

THere must be more to this as nobody just throws away €400

Larry Wildman

iguana wrote: »

What? Calling a landlord with a query the day they moved into the house? I'd imagine contact from your tenant on their first day is pretty much par for the course.:rolleyes:

Twice...at Easter...about trivial stuff

iguana

Larry Wildman wrote: »

Twice...at Easter...about trivial stuff

No. Twice on the day, before Easter, which is not a holiday. If the landlord was treating it as a holiday, he should have asked the OP to move in on Tuesday instead. If I was letting a place, I'd expect to be called about any number of things on the day/week the tenant moves in. It's pretty normal. And as one of the 'trivial' things was a problem with the toilet, I'd prefer a call about that than the tenant to wait a few days, in case it was something that needed early attention. As for the ISP for the block, the landlord should have had that type of information prepared for the tenant as part of their move in details as it's the normal type of stuff that someone will try to get sorted out right away once they move into a new home.

Larry Wildman

iguana wrote: »

No. Twice on the day, before Easter, which is not a holiday. If the landlord was treating it as a holiday, he should have asked the OP to move in on Tuesday instead. If I was letting a place, I'd expect to be called about any number of things on the day/week the tenant moves in. It's pretty normal. And as one of the 'trivial' things was a problem with the toilet, I'd prefer a call about that than the tenant to wait a few days, in case it was something that needed early attention. As for the ISP for the block, the landlord should have had that type of information prepared for the tenant as part of their move in details as it's the normal type of stuff that someone will try to get sorted out right away once they move into a new home.

I do not agree with you...Easter weekend is Easter.

Personally I would have waited until Tuesday.

To be blunt, the OP sounds a little neurotic and needy and not the type of tenant one would want.

dubrov

Larry, I think you are reading what you want to believe.

A call on the day the tenant moves in is hardly neurotic and needy.

Sounds like you've had a few bad experiences in the past

No Pants

I would have thought that, as a landlord, you would want to hear about problems with the toilet or any other plumbing fairly urgently.

yankinlk

Kind of agree with Larry. There are 365 more days to the year, and 2 calls day one of a holiday and id be thinking, why oh why did i not pick the next person in line for the rental...

TBH I dont fully believe the story - especially the bit about leaving 400 euro behind. Unless it equals the amount of days rent they stayed in the place it makes no sense.

dubrov

I agree that there appears to be more to the story than we are being told.

If you take it at face value though, to shout down a phone after 2 calls on moving day is way over the top. Even if it was Easter Sunday, that wouldn't be justified.

If the landlord was so precious about his Saturdays he should have waited to move in the guy on Tuesday.

drumswan

yankinlk wrote: »

Kind of agree with Larry. There are 365 more days to the year, and 2 calls day one of a holiday and id be thinking, why oh why did i not pick the next person in line for the rental...

Good Friday is not a holiday. If a landlord or his agent arranges a tenant to move into a property on a given day then he should be available on that day for simple queries, this is yet another example of landlords forgetting they are running a business.

No Pants

Larry Wildman wrote: »

To be blunt, the OP sounds a little neurotic and needy and not the type of tenant one would want.

If only you had a doctor friend who would be willing to break the law and make recommendations based on the prospective tenants health and general outlook.

The_Morrigan

No Pants wrote: »

If only you had a doctor friend who would be willing to break the law and make recommendations based on the prospective tenants health and general outlook.

No Pants there is no need for personalised posts like this.

the_syco

As said, if the LL doesn't want to be disturbed over Easter, they shouldn't let people move in over Easter.

No Pants

The_Morrigan wrote: »

No Pants there is no need for personalised posts like this.

Apologies.

yankinlk

drumswan wrote: »

Good Friday is not a holiday. If a landlord or his agent arranges a tenant to move into a property on a given day then he should be available on that day for simple queries, this is yet another example of landlords forgetting they are running a business.

fine. change my post to read two calls day one of a tenancy... if you were ever a LL u would know what i mean. those kind of tenants think its a hotel, and LL is the front desk.

the_syco

yankinlk wrote: »

fine. change my post to read two calls day one of a tenancy... if you were ever a LL u would know what i mean. those kind of tenants think its a hotel, and LL is the front desk.

In your opinion, how long should the OP have waited before telling the LL about the broken toilet?

chopper6

yankinlk wrote: »

those kind of tenants think its a hotel, and LL is the front desk.

Because they asked a couple of questions on the phone after handing over money for an agreed accomadation contract?

Some of these "landlords" are behaving with typical arrogance..an overhaul of the "industry" is necceary to get rid of these Basil Fawlty characters.

I remeber when i was renting 18 years ago the landlord freaking out because i told him there was water coming through the roof into the house.

One of the bedroom walls was actually black with mould and he ranted on and on about how he had no money for repairs and why didnt the woman who lived downsatirs "Just go and fcucking DIE!"

Tradesmen hated him and deliberatly overcharged him due to his manic manner,constant poor mouthing and witholding payments for jobs.

I recently googled his name and got a litany of complaints and court cases taken against him for his almost insane disregard for his tenants.

ZENER

From a LL POV, why do tenants wait till the weekend to report problems that have "been that way for over a week" ? Then expect you to get everything sorted straight away ! Have you ever tried getting a plumber out at 9 on a Saturday night ? Swings and roundabouts.

Fed up with people calling at all hours at the weekend expecting problems to be fixed straight away when they have clearly known about the problem since early in the week but didn't bother their ar$e informing us till 9 on a Saturday night when suddenly it's an emergency.

Getting a call at 4AM to complain the power has gone instead of calling their provider - the outage was due to a power line that had blown down - all the house on the block were in darkness, the streetlights were off and how the hell should I know what you should do with the food in your freezer ?!

A call to say there was no Gas, when we arrive to have a look there's a Bord Gais truck and a large hole outside the house.

Their TV signal is not working at 7 on a Sunday evening, we don't provide a TV or a service, they pay UPC for that but do they call UPC ? No, they call us and then get all narky when we point that out to them !

We had tenants who would rather walk around in Uggs, winter socks, padded jackets, hats and wooly hats than put some oil in the heating system or buy some coal and logs for the stove. Complain about the cost of coal at the local petrol station and tell us they never had to pay for heating at their previous place !! They had storage heating !! The result is a house with one room heated with an electric heater and the rest getting damp from lack of heat or air changes. Cost a small fortune to get rid of the resulting mould.

Tenants have rights, of course they should, but they also have an obligation to at least behave like the responsible adults they are supposed to be. Common sense and a bit of cop on in a circumstance can sort a lot out. We're at the stage where we provide the tenants with a list of what to do when the above happens !! Should we really need to ?!

And don't get me started on travellers . . .

Ken

yankinlk

tell it zener lol. i want to write a book about the crazy stuff i seen tenants do. too funny. either you have been there and seen it all, or u havent... not a lot of LL on boards i recon.

i recall having a chat with one tenant in their kitchen. i was politely explaining how the neighbours hated them when a chicken walked across my foot. another declared that her boyfriend (she on ras, no bf declared ofc) had left her so rent would be late this month, next month it was late cuase he hung himself. (he didnt tg, but i never believed her) another i had to pay the deposit to get electricity back at exmas for them, since they said they were cut off... another rang angry once when the power was cut by esb, blamed me, i asked did u pay the bill? they said no, bill never came, in 6 months i asked? were u not suspicious? .... lol, another got audited by ras... they told her she needed to have another room and bed for the teenager or she would get cutoff, she blamed me... i asked her why not put him in the room she had dedicated to a sunbed, yeah thats right, son gets closet but she has a sunbed room.

chopper6

yankinlk wrote: »

tell it zener lol. i want to write a book about the crazy stuff i seen tenants do. too funny. either you have been there and seen it all, or u havent... not a lot of LL on boards i recon.

i recall having a chat with one tenant in their kitchen. i was politely explaining how the neighbours hated them when a chicken walked across my foot. another declared that her boyfriend (she on ras, no bf declared ofc) had left her so rent would be late this month, next month it was late cuase he hung himself. (he didnt tg, but i never believed her) another i had to pay the deposit to get electricity back at exmas for them, since they said they were cut off... another rang angry once when the power was cut by esb, blamed me, i asked did u pay the bill? they said no, bill never came, in 6 months i asked? were u not suspicious? .... lol, another got audited by ras... they told her she needed to have another room and bed for the teenager or she would get cutoff, she blamed me... i asked her why not put him in the room she had dedicated to a sunbed, yeah thats right, son gets closet but she has a sunbed room.

I hope you're a better LL than you are a writer.

ZENER

Really ?!

The_Morrigan

chopper6 wrote: »

I hope you're a better LL than you are a writer.

Enough of the personal attacks please.

Claw Hammer

olliesgirl55 wrote: »

Actually I did and it didn't cost me a thing. As I said the PRTB sent a form out for me to fill out. I asked the LL and he knew nothing about it. I sent the form back and got verification that I am registered.

The Landlord probably got a notice warning him to register which he did. A tenant is not allowed to register.