Changing house as Tenant

Thorstein

Hello, I need help about changing house as a tenant.
I'm currently under a 1 year contract but I must change house since my landlord refuse to fix the plenty of issues inside my house.
I've already contacted the City Council but I'm still in waiting for an answer due the Christmas holydays.

The information that I need are:
1) Blocking the direct debit of the rent to my bank account: how to do that?
2) How to close all utilities fees (Electric, Gas, Water and Garbage)
3) What will happen if I'll left house before 1 year contract over to loose the deposit already payed (even if I need and waiting for an inspection by the local authority).

Sorry for these, maybe, easy question but I'm not Irish and I want to do the things in right way.

Thank you and happy new year to all.

athtrasna

Thorstein wrote: »

Hello, I need help about changing house as a tenant.
I'm currently under a 1 year contract but I must change house since my landlord refuse to fix the plenty of issues inside my house.
I've already contacted the City Council but I'm still in waiting for an answer due the Christmas holydays.

The information that I need are:
1) Blocking the direct debit of the rent to my bank account: how to do that?
2) How to close all utilities fees (Electric, Gas, Water and Garbage)
3) What will happen if I'll left house before 1 year contract over to loose the deposit already payed (even if I need and waiting for an inspection by the local authority).

Sorry for these, maybe, easy question but I'm not Irish and I want to do the things in right way.

Thank you and happy new year to all.

Who are you renting from? Why are you waiting to hear from the council?

To answer your questions:

1. To do this would be illegal, witholding rent is not permitted
2. You close utilities with your utility companies
3. You need to reassign your lease in order to avoid being responsible for the remainder of the term. You need to do this with your landlord's cooperation

RossieMan

You'll also be liable for any disconnecting charge by your utility companies. It's an expensive option.

Thorstein

I'm waiting for an answer from the City Council since the house doesn't has the minimum standard for rented house.
For instance: I'm without heating because the Boiler is broken since October, the agency whom I'm a tenant knows that situation and didn't fix the boiler yet. I had the last shower in my friend house and I'm paying 900€ for renting to have a shower in another house.
I can make a list for all the other issue, but I think to live in Ireland without heating is a big trouble, isn't it?

I sent an email to the City Coucing enlisting all the issue in my house, asking for the possibility of the deposit back and an inspection in this house. I came here from another nation to live as a human, not as an animal.

So, what I must do in order to change house as soon as possible?

Thanks for the reply

athtrasna

You should be contacting the landlord not the council. Your best port of call now would be Threshold the tenant support charity. They will advise you on how to proceed from here.

Denny_Crane

You need to understand that boards has policies on what can and can't be said. You're in a dispute, disputes by their nature need all sides to be heard and a compromise reached. There is no 'Get out of the house because of X clause'. To get out of the house ASAP you use the front door and then prepare to have it out at the RTB if it gets to that stage.

You can't be given advice here on how you'd limit your costs or what to do ref deposits as to do so would, essentially, be legal advice.

<mod snip: you know better than to post like this!>

However, one caveat in all of this - has the situation drastically changed since you moved in. You can spot a slumlord a mile away. I know there is huge pressure on finding accommodation but moving into a dump and expecting the LL to do it up, absent a guarantee - ideally in writing - is not sensible. There is a very real possibility the LL can't do the place up and any compensation or order that you get will be rendered completely moot.

Thorstein

I've already contacted the Agency which acts as an intermediary to the landlord himself (I'm not allowed to contact the landlord directly because of Agency Policy). Furthermore I've already sent a letter to the Agency through the Threshold and I'm still here to ask help.

I'm pretty tired and also I have to read that is illegal to witholding rent.
I have one question: it is legal in Ireland to make people live in these conditions?

Denny_Crane

Thorstein wrote: »

I've already contacted the Agency which acts as an intermediary to the landlord himself (I'm not allowed to contact the landlord directly because of Agency Policy). Furthermore I've already sent a letter to the Agency through the Threshold and I'm still here to ask help.

I'm pretty tired and also I have to read that is illegal to witholding rent.
I have one question: it is legal in Ireland to make people live in these conditions?

You keep reading it for the reasons I outlined above. As you'll see moderation action has been taken (probably quite rightly so - sorry).

Yes it would be illegal to force someone to live anywhere, you're not being forced. You've a civil contractual dispute that you need to get proper advice on.

athtrasna

Thorstein wrote: »

I've already contacted the Agency which acts as an intermediary to the landlord himself (I'm not allowed to contact the landlord directly because of Agency Policy). Furthermore I've already sent a letter to the Agency through the Threshold and I'm still here to ask help.

I'm pretty tired and also I have to read that is illegal to witholding rent.
I have one question: it is legal in Ireland to make people live in these conditions?

You are not being made to live there, the landlord has failed in his obligations to provide adequate heat but there are ways to deal with this. Raising a case with the RTB would be a next port of call.

Thorstein

Sorry, I was in late to read your post. I can see your point and the boards policy, sorry if I didn't respect them.
I will see what to do then, and thank for your advices.

Denny_Crane

Thorstein wrote: »

Sorry, I was in late to read your post. I can see your point and the boards policy, sorry if I didn't respect them.
I will see what to do then, and thank for your advices.

It's wasn't you :pac:

The point I'm making, probably with the wrong tone - sorry to you also, is you can't get a particularly useful answer here you'll get the right one. Threshold and the RTB is where you need to be looking.

Thorstein

What I'm searching for is for help and good advice because at the moment I'm feeling just like Don Quixote, I'm asking, I'm shouting, I'm complaining but no one listening me.

I'm tired and frustrated and if I'm talking like this it's only for that reason.

ED E

Steps:
1. Register fault with Agent ✓
2. Follow up with Agent ✓
3. Get assertive with Agent ✓
4. Go to Threshold ✓
5. RTB Case {You are here}

Your landlord/his agent are in breach of regulations by not restoring heating but two wrongs don't make a right legally. You breaking the law isnt allowed because they did. The case with the RTB is the proper response. Unfortunately this is Ireland and those cases are shíte slow.

Without naming them, are the agents a big firm? A serious letting agent won't allow carry on like this. If its one of the bigger companies you may find a letter to head office with a list of faults and when you reported them and that your next step is to contact Liveline and the papers might light a fire under their proverbials.

rawn

Can the OP send a registered letter to the landlord, giving a reasonable amount of time to fix the heating, and saying that if it is not fixed by then, the tenant will pay to fix it himself, provide reciepts and take it out of the rent? I'm not sure on the legality of this but I'm sure certain conditions are marked as urgent, and no heating would be one of them.

Thorstein

ED E wrote: »

Steps:
1. Register fault with Agent ✓
2. Follow up with Agent ✓
3. Get assertive with Agent ✓
4. Go to Threshold ✓
5. RTB Case {You are here}

Your landlord/his agent are in breach of regulations by not restoring heating but two wrongs don't make a right legally. You breaking the law isnt allowed because they did. The case with the RTB is the proper response. Unfortunately this is Ireland and those cases are shíte slow.

Without naming them, are the agents a big firm? A serious letting agent won't allow carry on like this. If its one of the bigger companies you may find a letter to head office with a list of faults and when you reported them and that your next step is to contact Liveline and the papers might light a fire under their proverbials.

I don't know if it's a big Agency, I'm pretty new here in Ireland, but I can say a couple of things about them:
1) They are renting only old, run-down, and bad constructed house
2) They don't know what kind of ammenities the house has (they were believing in my house there is a dryer, but there is not)

So the last step is to go through RTB to open a dispute, that's correct?

Mrs OBumble

OP have you found somewhere new to live? Do this first.

Once you have found a new place:

Contact the bank to stop your current rent payment.
Contact the utility companies to stop your bills.

Even if the city council inspect, they won't make the house better. At most they will tell the agency to stop renting it out.

davindub

Thorstein wrote: »

I've already contacted the Agency which acts as an intermediary to the landlord himself (I'm not allowed to contact the landlord directly because of Agency Policy). Furthermore I've already sent a letter to the Agency through the Threshold and I'm still here to ask help.

I'm pretty tired and also I have to read that is illegal to witholding rent.
I have one question: it is legal in Ireland to make people live in these conditions?

Don't worry so much about it, just keep using threshold.

Often it's the agency who are the problem. Ignore the agency and contact the LL directly, the agency are probably breaching their maintenance agreement anyway. Appointing an agent does not absolve their responsibility to you.

You have a number of options that Threshold will go though. You can claim damages for example, if you bought electric heaters, you could recoup the cost, the extra running costs, etc. They will advise if you can terminate the lease.

Thorstein

davindub wrote: »

Ignore the agency and contact the LL directly

I cannot do that, I don't have phone number or email address to contact the LL himself. I've only the name of him, and nothing more.

OP have you found somewhere new to live? Do this first.

Once you have found a new place:

Contact the bank to stop your current rent payment.
Contact the utility companies to stop your bills.

Even if the city council inspect, they won't make the house better. At most they will tell the agency to stop renting it out.

About the opinion of other persons it's the illegal way, but I've asked for it at the beginning of the Topic.
I'm looking for the house, but I'm afraid to move forward and to makes me paying for 2 rent.

Dr Turk Turkelton

Did you call a plumber at any stage to have a look and see what is wrong with the heating?
It could be a simple fix for a hundred euro or something and not be without heat for two months in winter.

Thorstein

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Did you call a plumber at any stage to have a look and see what is wrong with the heating?
It could be a simple fix for a hundred euro or something and not be without heat for two months in winter.

Yes I've already did that many times, the answer is that the Boiler cannot be fixed by any plumber, it's quite old kind of boiler and only the boiler company can fix the issue by sending the hardware part to change. It takes alot of time and also I've already contacted the company itself to ask to fix the issue, the answer is: it will cost around 500€.
The company is Vokera.

Is this a nightmare? I think the nightmare is much more easy to manage, you just need to wake up!

The_Conductor

Thorstein wrote: »

I cannot do that, I don't have phone number or email address to contact the LL himself. I've only the name of him, and nothing more.

Contact the Residential Tenancies Board- they have contact details for all landlords (providing of course the tenancy is registered, as it is legally supposed to be) and when they confirm you are the tenant they can/will release your landlord's contact information to you.

Vis-a-vis the council inspecting the property- this has nothing whatsoever to do with you getting your deposit back- it is more than likely to result in an enforcement order being issued to the landlord- which gives him/her a set amount of time to rectify identified issues- after which the property is deemed non-compliant as a property on the letting market- however, this still has nothing whatsoever to do with you getting your deposit back.

What you need to do at this stage- as you have been in constant touch with the letting agency regarding the issue- is to ring the letting agency first thing on Tuesday morning- advise them they have 48 hours to resolve the issue (heating in winter is critical) thereafter you are lodging a case with the Residential Tenancies Board- naming both the agency and the landlord as respondents. If the agency have any sense whatsoever- it'll cause them to get their skates on, and get your boiler fixed.

Vokera boilers are a doddle to fix by the way- and parts are widely available in Ireland (as they're manufactured here). The deal with the repair is its only guaranteed if the company itself does the repair- however, this does not mean no-one else can do it- its a remarkably standard boiler and incredibly easy to service/repair.

So- ring the agency first thing Tuesday morning- advise them of an immediate RTB case- unless they immediately fix the heating- and if they don't immediately fix the heating- lodge a case, its an irrefutable case- you'll probably be awarded compensation for your trouble.

davindub

Thorstein wrote: »

I cannot do that, I don't have phone number or email address to contact the LL himself. I've only the name of him, and nothing more.




About the opinion of other persons it's the illegal way, but I've asked for it at the beginning of the Topic.
I'm looking for the house, but I'm afraid to move forward and to makes me paying for 2 rent.

Well then ask the agency for the LL's name and address tell them it is for the purposes of legal action. If they fail take the case against them.

I know you're frustrated but there is actions you need to take to get things moving. Just have a read of this and then fill in a form, no point waiting.

http://www.rtb.ie/dispute-resolution/dispute-resolution/minimum-standards-for-rented-accommodation