Planning to approach PRTB: deposit refund

suave.4u

Hi lads,

We had a good tenant-LL relationship till now. He wanted us to pay rent 4 days in advance every month, I used to do it. The LL letter would keep coming; we will always keep them safe, inform him and give it to him (even during our vacation his letters will come and I will tell my friend to collect them and hand/post it to him).
All fine till I asked him my deposit back when we were vacating. from Dr Jekyll this guy becomes Mr Hyde:

1)
We calls me 3 days before we are to leave and asks me: "you are not planning to get your deposit back are you? I need to change the wooden flooring, paint the rooms etc etc".
I said what the hell. The floors weren't changed when we came in. Also walls weren't painted. In the end he says: "okie I will see the apartment" and we will discuss.
2)
On the day we leave, he says the kitchen cupboards need to be changed. There is nothing wrong with the cupboards; just some layer has bulged and it is very minor. Anyways, I told him: "what can we do possibly that could lead to this". He says it is your cooking that has led to this. WTF!!
Initially repair work needed to be carried out as the vents were not aligned correctly. This was an issue from the beginning and just 1 month before we left, this was carried out. I told him this could be the cause as there wasn't enough air circulation in the rooms.


Anyways, he says that he will get a quote and then let me know. I said that without the deposit I am not leaving the place as I could see that this guy is planning to hold onto my deposit for no reason.

Finally he sents a email to me stating that he will give me my whole deposit if the kitchen cupboard is not our issue.
I hand him over the keys. On hindsight this was a mistake.

Now 3 days later this guy has come up with a host of other issues which weren't mentioned on the day we gave him the keys. He has pics from after before and after the tenacy. The initial lease was for 1 year and then it wasn't renewed (we stayed there for 18 months).

I was thinking of going to PRTB. Just not for the money, but to get even with this guy who broke our trust.
Any ideas?

Regards,

suave.4u

I still have one set of keys. Would it be a good idea to go back to the property and start living there again? This will mean an ALL OUT WAR.

garhjw

Do not enter the property again, I think that is trespassing as your tenancy has ended. Contact the PRTB.

suave.4u

garhjw wrote: »

Do not enter the property again, I think that is trespassing as your tenancy has ended. Contact the PRTB.

yeah,sound advice; just a thought.

makeorbrake

suave.4u wrote: »

He has pics from after before and after the tenacy....I was thinking of going to PRTB. Just not for the money, but to get even with this guy who broke our trust.
Any ideas?

Do those pics show more than ware and tear? If so, he's right. If not, he's ripping you off - so take your case to the prtb.

suave.4u

makeorbrake wrote: »

Do those pics show more than ware and tear? If so, he's right. If not, he's ripping you off - so take your case to the prtb.

The pics I took do not show any wear and tear. I wonder what pics he has taken and the way this guy has changed his colour, I think he may "make some" wear and tear himself now.

As I said he inspected the house and told me that the whole deposit will be refunded if the kitchen cupboard is not our issue. I have an email from him stating the same. He checked the whole house and sent this.

makeorbrake

If you have before and after pics, let him know that fact.

hfallada

Give back the keys ASAP. You are liable for rent up until the day you hand back the keys. Email him back and say everything in the house was normal wear and tear. That you expect your deposit back within in a week. Give him a week and go directly to the PRTB. If is such a cowboy that you make him out to be. He is probably not PRTB registered and will get a fine from them

jack1000

Just take a case with the prtb if you don't get the deposit back. Especially seeing as he sent you an email saying he would. As for the problem in the kitchen. If it is one of those laminate kitchen doors that the laminate has started to bubble out on then it's wear and tear as this always happens with steam. They are crap.

suave.4u

makeorbrake wrote: »

If you have before and after pics, let him know that fact.

I have some after pics.
never took any pics when I moved in.

suave.4u

jack1000 wrote: »

Just take a case with the prtb if you don't get the deposit back. Especially seeing as he sent you an email saying he would. As for the problem in the kitchen. If it is one of those laminate kitchen doors that the laminate has started to bubble out on then it's wear and tear as this always happens with steam. They are crap.

Yes, thats exactly the point; looks like steam is the reason for the bubble.

foggy_lad

suave.4u wrote: »

Yes, thats exactly the point; looks like steam is the reason for the bubble.

That is a poor quality cheap press door not the fault of "your cooking", one might think that there was an element of racism in the landlord bringing your cooking methods into the argument as if an Irish person wouldn't create the same issue with their cooking.

suave.4u

foggy_lad wrote: »

That is a poor quality cheap press door not the fault of "your cooking", one might think that there was an element of racism in the landlord bringing your cooking methods into the argument as if an Irish person wouldn't create the same issue with their cooking.

Thank you guys. I have sent him a final reminder as per the threshold website and I am planning to goto PRTB tomorrow if he is not bulging.
Even if I lose, atleast he will have to do some actual work done (to show the bills to PRTB). Else this is daylight robbery.

suave.4u

Lodged a PRTB DISPUTE; will keep you guys posted.

And people wonder why a lot of renters hold the last months rent to get their deposit.

MayoSalmon

suave.4u wrote: »

Lodged a PRTB DISPUTE; will keep you guys posted.

You'll be lucky if you get anything sorted before the years out.

makeorbrake

Samara Rhythmic Cane wrote: »

And people wonder why a lot of renters hold the last months rent to get their deposit.

What you're advocating is someone somewhere behaves badly - then that's license for you to behave badly.


Charming.

Graces7

makeorbrake wrote: »

What you're advocating is someone somewhere behaves badly - then that's license for you to behave badly.


Charming.

While I wholeheartedly agree, sometimes there is no other way. Especially for those of us on Social Welfare as finding another deposit when a landlord acts like this can be totally impossible. And yes I have done this twice with landlords who were totally impossible. A third time when the ll was being dilatory I met her out of work one day deliberately and we went to the ATM together and I got most of it that way. Without these tactics I could not have taken new accommodation.

The_Morrigan

Folks I'd appreciate if you could stop the discussion on using the deposit as the last months rent - you are all aware this is a breach of the RTA.

suave.4u

MayoSalmon wrote: »

You'll be lucky if you get anything sorted before the years out.

I know.
To tell you the truth, the only reason I paid 15 EUR more and approached PRTB is that now he will have to show some bills and do some work that he is claiming to do.
Else I am sure he would just keep the deposit and do nothing.
I know keeping last month's rent is not good practise, but I really don't want to go through all this nonsense again!!!

makeorbrake

Do some work ? So there is some work to be done then?

suave.4u

makeorbrake wrote: »

Do some work ? So there is some work to be done then?

I said:
"some work that he is claiming to do".

He is saying that he will change the laminated cupboards in the kitchen and this will cost in excess of 600 EUR.
All details about this was in my initial post itself. They were bubbling out , that too very less, and most likely due to steam while cooking.
He is just making excuses to retain the deposit.

makeorbrake

suave.4u wrote: »

They were bubbling out...most likely due to steam while cooking.

Was there an extractor fan?

suave.4u

makeorbrake wrote: »

Was there an extractor fan?

yes, that was always On during cooking.
There was a ventilation issue in the property and extractor fan usage was a must during cooking.

Graces7

suave.4u wrote: »

yes, that was always On during cooking.
There was a ventilation issue in the property and extractor fan usage was a must during cooking.

OP they do this to distract from the elephant in the room...I left a house because it had flooded as they had laid stone tiles on bare earth and when the rains came it came bubbling up.. ruined a lot of my stuff.. nonetheless I cleaned and bleached out all the cupboards etc.... could no nothing re the floor as there was 3 inches of water,, I had taken it via an agent and he wrote to her saying I had left the place "very dirty" and with rubbish everywhere and that he had photos.. I told her I had photos too (:eek:) and thankfully she was wise enough to see what he was at and I got my deposit back immediately. Just stick to your guns and see this through without getting distracted.. He may well back down when he get the formal letter from the PRTB.. hoping so..not an easy time for you.

Graces7

suave.4u wrote: »

I said:
"some work that he is claiming to do".

He is saying that he will change the laminated cupboards in the kitchen and this will cost in excess of 600 EUR.
All details about this was in my initial post itself. They were bubbling out , that too very less, and most likely due to steam while cooking.
He is just making excuses to retain the deposit.

Let him vent. If he chooses to replace bad cheap furnishings that were never going to last, his choice.

suave.4u

Graces7 wrote: »

OP they do this to distract from the elephant in the room...I left a house because it had flooded as they had laid stone tiles on bare earth and when the rains came it came bubbling up.. ruined a lot of my stuff.. nonetheless I cleaned and bleached out all the cupboards etc.... could no nothing re the floor as there was 3 inches of water,, I had taken it via an agent and he wrote to her saying I had left the place "very dirty" and with rubbish everywhere and that he had photos.. I told her I had photos too (:eek:) and thankfully she was wise enough to see what he was at and I got my deposit back immediately. Just stick to your guns and see this through without getting distracted.. He may well back down when he get the formal letter from the PRTB.. hoping so..not an easy time for you.

Thanks Graces.
It definitely isn't. Along with the house move and lot of other things in my life, I have to unnecessarily worry about another thing now.
Anyways I have informed the LL that dispute has been submitted.

suave.4u

Just got to know from another source that the LL has gone almost broke and is planning to sell the property. He hasn't paid any mortgage for the last 3 months or so.
Got a call from PRTB and going ahead with telephone mediation.

suave.4u

Is it possible to sell a property if there is a PRTB case ON?