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Landlord house inspection with no notice

  • 14-12-2014 3:13pm
    #1
    LoveLamps
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 781 ✭✭✭


    Hi, I live in a student accommodation estate (all owned by the same lady). There was a room free in one of my mates house so she came into the house (without letting them know) while they were out to show it to someone.
    Later that day one of the lads got a voicemail from her saying she'd been in the house and it's filthy it better be clean by tuesday as there is an inspection or else they'll be fined.
    Now it's Sunday and aside from that voicemail to those lads none of the estate have gotten notice of an inspection. She has keys, so technically can come in without our permission. Where do I stand on this?
    Also, she made us sign a lease in the office on day one without reading. No idea whats in it! :(


Comments

  • #2
    HobbyMan
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 212 ✭✭HobbyMan


    She must give 24 hours notice if she wants to come inside. If you are on good terms it can often be on much shorter notice but 24 hours is by law the minimum notice that must be given.

    You should also have a copy of the lease as well as a letter from the PRTB saying that you have been registered with them. If you don't have those things ask her for them. The PRTB letter contains your registration code which you must quote if you take a case against your landlady. It is mandatory that your landlady registers every single tenant with the PRTB.

    BTW I don't think that she can fine you for the place being filthy. You live there so it's up to you how you live. of course if she told you that she's showing the place and asked if you could have the place tidy that would be a different matter all together.


  • #3
    LoveLamps
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 781 ✭✭✭LoveLamps


    Thanks for that I'll ask her for a copy of those. And good to know about the 24 hours thing

    Yeah I was thinking the same myself re: the fine thing. But if she was showing the house to someone it would have been in her best interest to ring the lads and ask them to have a bit of a tidy instead of coming in when theyre not home.


  • #4
    anonyanony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 481 ✭✭anonyanony


    HobbyMan wrote: »
    She must give 24 hours notice if she wants to come inside. If you are on good terms it can often be on much shorter notice but 24 hours is by law the minimum notice that must be given.

    You should also have a copy of the lease as well as a letter from the PRTB saying that you have been registered with them. If you don't have those things ask her for them. The PRTB letter contains your registration code which you must quote if you take a case against your landlady. It is mandatory that your landlady registers every single tenant with the PRTB.

    BTW I don't think that she can fine you for the place being filthy. You live there so it's up to you how you live. of course if she told you that she's showing the place and asked if you could have the place tidy that would be a different matter all together.

    Student houses are usually rented by the room and the people would be licensee rather then tenants, they don't need to be registered with the prtb or have tenant rights

    http://www.prtb.ie/media-research/publications/licensees-in-private-rented-accommodation

    See point 3 on what is a licensee


  • #5
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


  • #6
    anonyanony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 481 ✭✭anonyanony


    Fred Swanson wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.

    You are not allowed to change the lock without permission and if you do you have to give the LL a set of keys


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  • #7
    the_syco
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,316 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    HobbyMan wrote: »
    BTW I don't think that she can fine you for the place being filthy.
    Depending on what's in the lease, but from my student days it said that we had to keep the house tidy (we were each renting one room).
    Fred Swanson wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.
    I assume you were renting the flat? If the OP is renting a room, and not the house, they can't alter the house lock. Either way it's not allowed, but the OP would be shooting themselves in the foot if they did this, and were only renting the room.


  • #8
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


  • #9
    qo2cj1dsne8y4k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,646 ✭✭✭✭qo2cj1dsne8y4k


    I love when people want all of the rights and none of the responsibility.

    The landlord has told you she'll be around Tuesday. That's more than 24 hours notice.


  • #10
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    Assuming leases here, looks to me like a licensee agreement.

    Legal Advice - Can't be given here.
    Practical advice - clean the place up.


  • #11
    MarkAnthony
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,934 ✭✭✭MarkAnthony


    How did she make you sign it? Bouncers? Gun to your head?

    Or did she expect you to sit still for 20 minutes and read through it there and then before signing? Whereas what you wanted to do is take it, move in and spend a week putting it on the long finger?

    (he says with a revenue law assignment open thats 3 days overdue)


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  • #12
    trellheim
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,052 ✭✭✭trellheim


    ou are not allowed to change the lock without permission and if you do you have to give the LL a set of keys
    Not unless its written in the contract. you're entitled to a peaceful tenancy normally and this means by all means change the locks, you don't have to give the LL keys until you're moving out.


  • #13
    Arbiter of Good Taste
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,200 ✭✭✭Arbiter of Good Taste


    trellheim wrote: »
    Not unless its written in the contract. you're entitled to a peaceful tenancy normally and this means by all means change the locks, you don't have to give the LL keys until you're moving out.

    OP this is great advice if you are looking to be evicted.

    Assuming it is a tenancy, then RTA 2004 specifically prohibits a tenant to change locks without the LL's consent. And the icing on the cake for a tenant who actually does this is, I understand, that PRTB may be happy to fasttrack a case where this has happened.

    If it's not a tenancy, but a license - which it appears to be if the LL is renting out single rooms - then you can be out on your a$$es PDQ, so the best advice is just clean the place up. And as another poster said above, unless she had a gun to your head, nobody forced you to sign anything. You should have read whatever you signed.


  • #14
    Pat Mustard
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,554 ✭✭✭Pat Mustard


    HobbyMan wrote: »
    She must give 24 hours notice if she wants to come inside. If you are on good terms it can often be on much shorter notice but 24 hours is by law the minimum notice that must be given.
    trellheim wrote: »
    Not unless its written in the contract. you're entitled to a peaceful tenancy normally and this means by all means change the locks, you don't have to give the LL keys until you're moving out.

    Sources please, for the Legal Discussion forum.


  • #15
    Ken.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,898 ✭✭✭✭Ken.


    HobbyMan wrote: »
    She must give 24 hours notice if she wants to come inside. .

    Wrong
    http://www.threshold.ie/advice/dealing-with-problems-during-your-tenancy/entry-without-permission/

    There is no legal minimum period of notice that has to be given e.g. 24 hours. It is a matter of what is agreed between both you and your landlord/agent.


  • #16
    Ken.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,898 ✭✭✭✭Ken.


    trellheim wrote: »
    Not unless its written in the contract. you're entitled to a peaceful tenancy normally and this means by all means change the locks, you don't have to give the LL keys until you're moving out.

    Wrong also.
    http://www.propertyrock.ie/news-and-advice/when-a-tenant-changes-the-locks/
    It is illegal for a tenant to change the locks of his rented property under any circumstances. The landlord should immediately serve a warning notice on the tenant stating that the action taken by the tenant is illegal and insisting that keys be released to the landlord for the new locks and notifying the tenant that if he fails to cooperate and remedy the breach within a specified reasonable time period, generally 14 days, that the landlord will be entitled to terminate the tenancy.


    Sections 16 and 17 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 specifically prohibit the altering of a locking system on a door giving entry to the property without the landlord’s written consent and that the PRTB will generally agree to fast track serious cases such as this. Therefore, when referring the dispute the landlord should advise the PRTB that the tenant has changed the locks with the intention of preventing the landlord from accessing the property and request that the PRTB expedite the case given the seriousness of the situation.

    http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2004/en/act/pub/0027/sec0016.html#sec16
    http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2004/en/act/pub/0027/sec0017.html


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