advice re landlord

66dunaras

Hi Guys,

I have been renting a room in a house since mid last year. The owner has relocated for work and rented out three of the four rooms. The 4th room is locked and contains some of the owner's personal possessions. The ad stated that the room was in a three bed furnished house. I didn't sign anything when I moved in and received just a receipt for rent and deposit (no lectures on not getting a written agreement please - aware of that now!)

We recently got a text from the landlord stating that the 4th room would be rented out from now on and that the landlord would be removing all personal possessions , including the TV in the main living room, from the house in a few days time. My housemates and I are not happy with this as this means sharing a house and a bathroom with an extra person and I suspect landlord will remove all saucepans and utensils from house too.

Has the landlord the right to do this? or do we have any rights as we took the rooms on the condition it was a house for three people and was fully furnished. Or as none of us have a written agreement do we not have a leg to stand on?!

Also, None of us have ever received correspondence from the PRTB- would this suggest we have not been registered?

Thanks in advance

66

athtrasna

Sounds to me like the landlord was abusing the rent a room scheme by retaining a room in the property. Given the lack of PRTB registration I would be inclined to have a "quiet" word with the landlord

66dunaras

thanks for your reply..... we had to have a "quiet" word with the landlord over a different issue and the landlord has been making life difficult for us since. This is just the latest .

athtrasna

66dunaras wrote: »

thanks for your reply..... we had to have a "quiet" word with the landlord over a different issue and the landlord has been making life difficult for us since. This is just the latest .

I meant throw in the word Revenue, sorry I wasn't clearer.

MouseTail

athtrasna wrote: »

Sounds to me like the landlord was abusing the rent a room scheme by retaining a room in the property. Given the lack of PRTB registration I would be inclined to have a "quiet" word with the landlord

He may not have been abusing the scheme, he may have been seconded abroad for a short period, and it would have made sense for him to keep a room himself, now he has decided to stay abroad so is regularising his position.
Moving from a rent a room to a tenancy has advantages for the OP in terms of security.

Dr_Bill

The landlord is entitled to remove his possessions from the property. As there no formal agreement in place your rights are limited. Moving to a tenancy agreement is actually a good move as the uncertainty is removed and your rights as a tenant are stronger and probably means the tenancy will be registered if it is not already.

I think it would be better for both parties to talk to each other and arrange a telephone conference to discuss the concerns rather than a couple of text messages. Being confrontational threatening to contact PRTB, Revenue is not helpful, I will assume the landlord is tax compliant.

A simple chat along the lines of please leave the telly and a few pots and pans will suffice and be enough for the landlord to see wisdom prior to both parties looking for the nuclear option.

Mrs OBumble

OP, furnished houses in Ireland do not usually come with a TV. Get your own, or join the smart 5+% of the population in "Generation NTV".

Saucepans and utensils are not required, but are provided sometimes. count yourself lucky that you've had them provided up 'til now.

What you need is an inventory of everything in the house that belongs to the LL. Usually this would be signed off when you move in - but in this case, it should be done when the LL moves out, and signed off by both parties as describing the included contents.

As far as going from sharing with two others to sharing with three others: Personally I wouldn't see that as much of an issue, unless the new house-mate turned out to be an a**hole - and I would mitigate against this by asking to be involved in choosing them rather than just putting up with anyone who the LL finds. And on the plus side, it means that you will all be paying a lower share of the daily-charge portion of the bills.

This is probably the point at which you need to decide whether to walk away and find somewhere else to live now, to accept that it is a 4brm so will have four tenants, or to decide that you'll cover the rent of the 4th room among you (maybe one housemate would like to use it as an office?).

You could have long arguments about the legalities (which aren't at all clear, because the LL did retain a bedroom in the place) and the LL's tax status (I love the way people just to conclusions about this one). But I really don't think that this approach will get you anyway. I'd recommend focusing on making the best of the fact that the LL has moved out, and that this now gives you new rights and options, as well as some challenges.

Skerries

is there only the one bathroom or is the en-suite available that you could take instead?

66dunaras

Thanks guys for all the replies, its been helpful

Just so you know, I rang threshold today. They said as the house contained TV pots n pans etc at time of advertisement and was taken on the assumption of sharing with two others, the landlord had broken the terms of their agreement and that we could move out instantly without penalty. They said the fact we were not registered with the PRTB further strengthened our right to do this and get our deposit back.

This is in contrast to what some of ye had said so I am a little confused now

Anyway, We have all decided to do the courteous thing which is to give a months notice and we are going to find another house together - and take a tenancy !

MouseTail

Threshold can be hit and miss, but they are absolutely correct that you can move out with no penalty as you are a licensee.
I would dispute them on the assertion you should be registered with PRTB, and the reasons they gave you that you could move out. Good luck with the househunting, and make sure to get a written lease

The_Morrigan

66dunaras wrote: »

Thanks guys for all the replies, its been helpful

Just so you know, I rang threshold today. They said as the house contained TV pots n pans etc at time of advertisement and was taken on the assumption of sharing with two others, the landlord had broken the terms of their agreement and that we could move out instantly without penalty. They said the fact we were not registered with the PRTB further strengthened our right to do this and get our deposit back.

This is in contrast to what some of ye had said so I am a little confused now

Anyway, We have all decided to do the courteous thing which is to give a months notice and we are going to find another house together - and take a tenancy !

Threshold are wrong half the time.
The initial agreement was under the rent a room scheme where you pretty much had zero rights.
Now the landlord is going through a change of use so to speak so you need to have a lease agreement with an inventory and a prtb registration.

66dunaras

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Threshold are wrong half the time.
The initial agreement was under the rent a room scheme where you pretty much had zero rights.
Now the landlord is going through a change of use so to speak so you need to have a lease agreement with an inventory and a prtb registration.

good to know about threshold!

The owner was living in another rented property in another part of the country - can it still be the rent a room scheme?

I suppose it doesn't really matter any more anyway as I'm looking forward to moving !

The_Morrigan

66dunaras wrote: »

good to know about threshold!

The owner was living in another rented property in another part of the country - can it still be the rent a room scheme?

I suppose it doesn't really matter any more anyway as I'm looking forward to moving !

Hard to tell these days if I'm honest, I used to rent a room in my apt to a guy who had his own house out west but needed to be in Dublin for work during the week, he stayed with his gf some weekends, travelled, visited family - his PPR was still technically his house in Mayo, he just rarely got there due to work/family/social events etc.

MouseTail

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Threshold are wrong half the time

.

Threshold serve a very useful purpose, and they generally offer very good advice on straight forward tenancy issues. I'm not sure what the issue is, a lack of training for staff, an over reliance on volunteers, but time and again we find on here their advice can be wrong. I also think they should campaign and lobby more.

I propose some of the knowledgeable and regular posters (such as yourself Morrigan) should get on their Board.

The_Morrigan

MouseTail wrote: »

Threshold serve a very useful purpose, and they generally offer very good advice on straight forward tenancy issues. I'm not sure what the issue is, a lack of training for staff, an over reliance on volunteers, but time and again we find on here their advice can be wrong. I also think they should campaign and lobby more.

I propose some of the knowledgeable and regular posters (such as yourself Morrigan) should get on their Board.

I think it's frustration with the system and some poor soul going rogue with 'I shouldn't tell you this, but.....' just to help the distressed person on the other end of the phone.