Living in Flat for over two years without lease.

martin123123

Hi,

I have been living in my flat for 6 years. Over 2 year ago my landlord sold the building. He didn't mention that he had sold the premise and was collecting money off me for two months before i found out he had sold the premise. Now this is were it gets messy.

I got a letter from the agency representing the new owner. They communicated to me that they didnt know the flat i was in was there and hence didnt know i was there either so didnt contact me and that i owed them 2 months rent.Thats is when i found out i had a new landlord and stopped paying the old landlord. I contacted the old landlord telling him i should not have been paying him and he should have informed me. He gave me a nonsense excuse that he kept the shop downstairs and had been paying my rent to the new agency with his. Long story short, he dissapreared soon after. I explained this to the agency and they also said he owed them rent himself for the shop.

They have been kind enough so far not to pursue me any further as of yet for the two months rent unpaid for my flat. They are actively pursuing him in court for his unpaid rent. I am sure i have not heard the last of me owing this 2 months rent though even though its been 2 years.

The problem is they have not and will not give me a new lease until this matter is sorted out. So i have been living in my flat for 2 years without a lease.
I was wondering what my rights are. Since i am there for over 6 years i think they have to give me 24 weeks notice before i am asked to leave. But im wondering does this apply to someone that has no lease or no lease coming to an end. Also i have a small amount of arreas bulit up over the last few months. Are landlords aloud to evict tenants without notice over unpaid arreas?

Any advice is much appreciated.

wench

You have a part 4 tenancy, absence of a lease doesn't change that.

You can be evicted over the arrears. When you're already in dispute with the landlord, giving them a legitimate way to get rid of you is a bad idea.
They can issue you a 14 day notice of rent arrears, during which you must pay up if you want to remain there.
If you don't they can then issue a 28 day notice of termination.
So they can have you out in 6 weeks if you allow the arrears situation to continue.

martin123123

wench wrote: »

You have a part 4 tenancy, absence of a lease doesn't change that.

You can be evicted over the arrears. When you're already in dispute with the landlord, giving them a legitimate way to get rid of you is a bad idea.
They can issue you a 14 day notice of rent arrears, during which you must pay up if you want to remain there.
If you don't they can then issue a 28 day notice of termination.
So they can have you out in 6 weeks if you allow the arrears situation to continue.

Thanks for the reply.So i could be issued a 14 day notice of rent arrears regarding the two months outstanding from two years ago, technically at any time? And the part 4 tenancy is scrapped?

foggy_lad

wench wrote: »

You have a part 4 tenancy, absence of a lease doesn't change that.

You can be evicted over the arrears. When you're already in dispute with the landlord, giving them a legitimate way to get rid of you is a bad idea.
They can issue you a 14 day notice of rent arrears, during which you must pay up if you want to remain there.
If you don't they can then issue a 28 day notice of termination.
So they can have you out in 6 weeks if you allow the arrears situation to continue.

Realistically it would take a lot longer than 6 weeks to evict a tenant whether they are in arrears or even paying rent.

OP it is not your fault that the current owner did not know about your tenancy/apartmant, that is entirely down to their incompetence and not doing their homework.

The first thing you should do is go to the Gardai and report the previous owner for theft of the rent that he was not entitled to collect. From there you need to contact Threshold and the RTB to see where exactly you stand in relation to your tenancy.

The new landlord can issue a notice of arrears and once you address that by trying to pay something off the arrears with the current months rent there is little they can do to evict you, but first you need to find out if you actually owe them money as they did not make you aware of any new arrangement regarding who you paid rent to.

martin123123

foggy_lad wrote: »

Realistically it would take a lot longer than 6 weeks to evict a tenant whether they are in arrears or even paying rent.

OP it is not your fault that the current owner did not know about your tenancy/apartmant, that is entirely down to their incompetence and not doing their homework.

The first thing you should do is go to the Gardai and report the previous owner for theft of the rent that he was not entitled to collect. From there you need to contact Threshold and the RTB to see where exactly you stand in relation to your tenancy.

The new landlord can issue a notice of arrears and once you address that by trying to pay something off the arrears with the current months rent there is little they can do to evict you, but first you need to find out if you actually owe them money as they did not make you aware of any new arrangement regarding who you paid rent to.

Thanks for the reply. Yes i was wondering that. The agency didn't contact me for 2 months informing me i had a new landlord. So they are at fault there. I will contact the Gardai and Threshold.

wench

martin123123 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.So i could be issued a 14 day notice of rent arrears regarding the two months outstanding from two years ago, technically at any time? And the part 4 tenancy is scrapped?

While they could try forcing the issue on the earlier missing months, I doubt they would while those are disputed, and they contributed to the problem by not notifying you as soon as they took over.

The arrears you have built up over the last few months are the ones more likely to get you evicted.

El_Dangeroso

A tenancy is a contract between landlord and tenant. How can a contract exist for a tenant who was never told the contract exists?

OP get advice direct from the PRTB but I can't imagine it's a tenant's job to carry out monthly due diligence to ensure the landlord still owns the property, the new landlord effed up by not informing the OP in time and I would think the PRTB would take a dim view of any party trying to enforce an eviction based on this situation.

Basically ask the PRTB what to do.

Marcusm

martin123123 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.So i could be issued a 14 day notice of rent arrears regarding the two months outstanding from two years ago, technically at any time? And the part 4 tenancy is scrapped?

I find it difficult to believe that the RTB would look kindly on a landlord seeking eviction for the non receipt of rent was due to a failure to notify on the part of the incoming landlord/agency. If you genuinely had no notice of the change then I fail to see how they could reasonably hold you liable. In circumstances such as this, it would be usual to make provision in the sale documentation for notifications to be given to tenants and for the vendor/outgoing landlord to agree that any subsequent or mistaken receipts are held by him on trust for the incoming landlord/purchaser.

I would speak with Threshold or perhaps FLAC would be a better avenue.