Guy in house withholding deposits and more

Pretty Polly

Long story short…
7 years ago 2 friends/colleagues took over the lease of the 5 bed house im in and they took it upon themselves to get 3 other tenants. Lets call them Martin and Stephen.

Issue 1) All was going grand until Martin moved out. Both guys are claiming that the other has our deposits, which we paid when we moved in.

Issue 2) Stephen is a snake. I would be fairly sure he's our deposits but is lying by saying that Martin has them. Stephen won’t provide proof of bills, claiming it's paid through direct debit and esb and gas bills come at different times. We're all 95% certain he's overcharging and not paying bills himself.

Issue 3) One of my housemates doesn’t want to rock the boat because rent is lower than most places, the other is friendly-ish with Stephen. Stephen is the lease holder. We’re worried if Stephen moves out, what happenes our deposit.

Issue 4) In addition a new tenant has moved into the newly vacant room. Stephen suggested we increase the rent in that room, which would bring everyon elses rent down. Stephen put up the ad and increased the rent by €50 extra than we agreed. He wants to keep this extra money as he has to 'replace the deposits'!!

Issue 5) Stephen pays less rent than everyone else as he only stays here 2 nights a week. We think it's fine that he pays less rent but he only wants to pay €80 pm for a double room.

Also the whole set of houses/apartments are owned and managed by a company so there's no landlord.

Please help:mad: I really don't know what to do.

Edited: To add that 3 of us paid our deposits in cash and 1 paid via bank transfer...I now know that was a massive mistake! We have no dealings with anyone other than Stephen, I think this means that he is sub-letting the rooms to us.

Denny_Crane

Consult FLAC. You'll need to start seeing what evidence you have of payments. There is always a landlord but you need to know if you have any privity (relationship) with them or if you're being sub-let to. Your recourse is likely to be through the small claims court, you will need a proper standard of evidence if it can't be resolved informally by the registrar.

newacc2015

AFAIK someone posted a law here where if you are subletting after 6 months you can go to the landlord and basically become a bona fide tenant. Your house maybe owned by a company, but they are still a landlord. If you are unsure of who they are, if you find out the former owner and go to registry of deeds. They can tell you who the new owner is or even land registry might be able to tell you who the owner is. You have to pay online for land registry (they generally dont charge in person)

Have you tried to find 'Martin' to ask him about it?

the_syco

newacc2015 wrote: »

AFAIK someone posted a law here where if you are subletting after 6 months you can go to the landlord and basically become a bona fide tenant

No. After 6 months you can ask to become a tenant, but the landlord doesn't have to say yes. But as it's unclear who the landlord is, it doesn't seem the OP would know who to ask.

April 73

Who did you physically hand your deposit to when you moved in? (Did you not get a written receipt?) That's who owes you the money. If they passed it on to someone else then they have to sort it out & get it back from them.

Insist on seeing the bills before payment.

Why would he keep the new person's rent to replace the deposits? He either got the deposis originally or Martin did. The deposits shouldn't be covered by the new person's rent.

Staying in the house only two nights a week is irrelevant. He is taking a room up in a shared house & should pay a fair share of the monthly rent. But he's the tenant & you're just renting a room so he has more rights unfortunately than you to dictate how much he pays. It's an unbalanced relationship.

beauf

Use the deposit for rent, then move out. Let Stephen sort it out.

MrDerp

Pretty Polly wrote: »

Issue 2) Stephen is a snake. I would be fairly sure he's our deposits but is lying by saying that Martin has them. Stephen won’t provide proof of bills, claiming it's paid through direct debit and esb and gas bills come at different times. We're all 95% certain he's overcharging and not paying bills himself.

Utter tosh. Bills paid through direct debit are still generated as paper or eBills. Refuse to hand up another cent for esb or gas without a bill, and get everyone else to concur otherwise he'll try to pressure others to make up your shortfall.

Denny_Crane

MrDerp wrote: »

Utter tosh. Bills paid through direct debit are still generated as paper or eBills. Refuse to hand up another cent for esb or gas without a bill, and get everyone else to concur otherwise he'll try to pressure others to make up your shortfall.

+1

Sadly my job involves dealing with customers (8 more months to go!). Sadly we have to request bills and sadly it's amazing the amount of people who think DD = no bill. Even if you don;t get a paper bill, which is fairly common, there is always the option of an electronic one which can easily be emailed to everyone.

El_Duderino 09

Be sure to see the bills first. Give him notice so he can request the bills or get them emailed you him.

I had this with a guy once. We had an informal arrangement (not house related). I asked to see the receipt for things he was buying and he hit the roof. He said I was accusing him of lying and stealing from me. I said I just wanted to see the bills before hanging over any more money.

I began to think I was being a knob for doubting him and he seemed do upset that I would doubt him. Long story short he was scamming me. It cost me a coupe of hundred but the bottom line is that he was taking the p1ss out of me.

Nobody pays bills without seeing the actual amount owed. Do you honestly think he doesn't know how much the ESB costs? Push for bills. Refuse to pay a cent unless you see the bills since you moved in.

Obviously use the deposit as the last month's rent but promise the money until the last day and then don't pay it.

I'd bet a pound to a pinch of sh1t you're being scammed here. Make arrangements to move or to get Stephen removed Machiavelli style -probably just move and but your losses.

LynnGrace

Yes, all our utility bills are by direct debit and we receive email notification ahead of them. I think there is some obligation / provision about that under consumer protection legislation. I'm afraid he is definitely lying to you on that score.

beauf

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

B...I asked to see the receipt for things he was buying and he hit the roof...

Anyone who was doing it above board would be more than happy to share the bill information. Never a good sign if someone is defensive about it.

El_Duderino 09

beauf wrote:

Anyone who was doing it above board would be more than happy to share the bill information. Never a good sign if someone is defensive about it.

I couldn't agree more. In the moment I doubted myself and thought maybe I was being unreasonable for asking for reciept. I thought maybe I was ruining a good arrangement by being pedantic.

I hope the OP can learn from my mistake and be firm insisting on seeing a bill before paying any more money. As you said, anyone who is behaving honourably will have no problem showing the bills.

the_syco

OP; when did Martin move out?