Notice to owner occupied house

GinkgoBiloba

I've been living in Owner occupied accomodation since the end of August and I'm extremely unhappy, my rent will be due next week so I was wondering if people think it is reasonable for me to give my notice and what the likelihood of me getting my deposit back is.

The house waas advertised as available for 1 year+ at €450 per month but I made no written statement about how long I planned to stay and I did originally plan to stay the full year but the owner then decided rent was not due monthly but every 4 weeks which I've never heard of before and find quite ridiculous. I am finding it difficult to pay the rent at the strange times of month it is due as this obvsiously changes every 4 weeks.

I am really keen to get out so much so I plan to commute to work now but I do need my deposit back as I do not want them to have anymore money from me.

Has anybody ever used the small claims court route for deposit disputes as I am tempted to do so if there are any issues about deposit.


I have no written agreement and did not dicuss vacating the room before I moved in so I have no agreement that I am breaking

Butters1979

Surely the rent payment schedule was part of the lease you singed? Some rents are done every two weeks or even every week. There is no legal reason why you can't have an 'every 4 weeks' contract, but it depends on what you signed.

Butters1979

Butters1979 wrote: »

Surely the rent payment schedule was part of the lease you singed? Some rents are done every two weeks or even every week. There is no legal reason why you can't have an 'every 4 weeks' contract, but it depends on what you signed.

He is a licensee there is no "signing contracts" involved when living with an owner occupier.

Op technically you don't have to give any notice when renting from an owner occupier but giving a month (or 4 weeks in your case) is probably the best way to go about it. You are not bound by any lease etc when renting a room like you are.

GinkgoBiloba

I didnt sign anything, I agreed to pay monthly not 4 weekly.

Honestly if the rent schedule was the only issue I would consider staying but it seemms every week there is extra rules, the house is quite cold and hot water is a luxury I end up gettting only a few nights per week which I have asked about but nothing has changed.

I also can tell they have been in my room while I'm out as I can tell things have been moved...

Youngblood.III

He advertised it a 450e p/m, tell him that's what you agreed to. Btw agreeing to p/w payments increases the annual payment.
450 × 4 week payment over a year 5,850e
450 x month over a year 5,400e

GinkgoBiloba

I relaise that and I agreed to it for the first 2 x 4 weeks after an arguement which I have kept a paper trail of but I have done the calculations and I simply cannot afford the extra 450 over the year. nor can I put up with the living conditions or the way that I am being treated.

At this stage I am willing to give the 4 weeks notice to finally get out of there, however, I am 90% sure given their behaviour that they will try to keep my deposit for some made-up reason as I have not damaged anything in my room and keep it clean as I stay away from the house as long as possible every day.

Is there any advice anyone can give for approaching the reasons for giving notice and leaving and how to get my deposit back?

Emme

GinkgoBiloba wrote: »

I relaise that and I agreed to it for the first 2 x 4 weeks after an arguement which I have kept a paper trail of but I have done the calculations and I simply cannot afford the extra 450 over the year. nor can I put up with the living conditions or the way that I am being treated.

At this stage I am willing to give the 4 weeks notice to finally get out of there, however, I am 90% sure given their behaviour that they will try to keep my deposit for some made-up reason as I have not damaged anything in my room and keep it clean as I stay away from the house as long as possible every day.

Is there any advice anyone can give for approaching the reasons for giving notice and leaving and how to get my deposit back?

Could you move out now and forget about paying next weeks rent and getting your deposit back?

I would imagine they might find an excuse to keep the deposit. If they're changing the goalposts (rent due once a month to rent due once every 4 weeks) and are making up new rules every week they might trump something up.

If they were reasonable people I would say give them 4 weeks notice but if you are within your rights as a licensee I would give them a weeks notice and cut my losses with one week's rent. If you do that make sure you have most of your stuff moved out especially anything valuable. If they're snooping around your room while you're out stuff might "disappear" if you give them notice and refuse to pay another 4 weeks notice in advance. I'm assuming you pay rent in advance. Think of it this way - they could decide to turf you out at a weeks notice and you wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

There was a thread here a few weeks ago where a girl renting a room in an owner-occupied house was being asked to move out of her room for a weekend because the owner wanted her room to put up his family who were coming over. She wasn't able to do anything about it.

I don't know if PRTB or Threshold could give you advice on this but you are a licensee and you don't have the same rights as a tenant in private accommodations.

L1011

Asking for rent four-weekly rather than monthly was a common trick by landlords looking to get a 13th payment in the days before the PRTB and much harder enforcement of rights. You've missed your chance to complain about it by a long way now realistically, due to it being a licencee situation with no contract.