Trouble with landlord

M_Reilly

We've started renting a house privately at 750euro a month. This landlord is not registered with the ptrb so only my partner's name is on the lease. We have our dog in the lease too. We have paid our rent on time every month, no hassle.

When we viewed the house, before any money was exchanged, he knew about the dog and there is hedges in the landlords garden, he said he would be taking the hedges out and building a wall, all the rubbish such as branches and rusty barrels are still in the back garden and he keeps putting them off to be cleared.

There is no way to turn off the water in the house to even get a dishwasher put in and even a plumber said this was a health and safety issue. So the driveway has to be dug up to get access to it.

Our dog was getting out through the hedges that he promised would be removed, so we've had to chain the dog up, and he still insists that the dog got in the neighbours garden when it's impossible as the chain isn't long enough for him to get near it, just so happens to be the only time that the landlord was there and we weren't.

He's now given us a notice to get rid of the dog in a week.

Supposedly complaints of neighbours about our dog barking have gone to him but not us, but our next door neighbour has 2 dogs himself that bark quite alot and he never once mentioned our dog barking in all the times I was talking to him.

He refused to put me on the lease as he's not registered with the ptrb so I had no current address for social welfare to collect my child benefit.

What can the landlord do if I report him to the ptrb? Can he legally kick us out? Can his solicitor automatically withdraw the other lease and start afresh as if to show we just moved in but will be charging us higher rent?

Leasing 6 months now

Michael D Not Higgins

A few points here:

*You're there longer than 6 months, you have Part 4 security of tenure which grants you certain legal rights including limiting the landlord to which reasons are valid to terminate the lease.

*The registering of the tenancy with the RTB is inconsequential. If something happens you still have legal protection through the RTB.

*Did you move after your partner or what was the reason the landlord wouldn't put your name on the lease?

*If the dog is allowed by the lease, the basis for telling you to get rid of the dog is it's affecting the neighbours. By the law, you should be given reasonable time to rectify the issue, not just an ultimatum.

*The issue of the walls, dishwasher, etc. is outside the legal minimum standards and is up for agreement with the landlord.

M_Reilly

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

A few points here:

*You're there longer than 6 months, you have Part 4 security of tenure which grants you certain legal rights including limiting the landlord to which reasons are valid to terminate the lease.

*The registering of the tenancy with the RTB is inconsequential. If something happens you still have legal protection through the RTB.

*Did you move after your partner or what was the reason the landlord wouldn't put your name on the lease?

*If the dog is allowed by the lease, the basis for telling you to get rid of the dog is it's affecting the neighbours. By the law, you should be given reasonable time to rectify the issue, not just an ultimatum.

*The issue of the walls, dishwasher, etc. is outside the legal minimum standards and is up for agreement with the landlord.

I moved in with my partner the day the lease was signed, he wouldn't put my name on the lease for social welfare as the social welfare goes through the ptrb and they would see it down as him not been registered with them, he wanted to keep it off the books, I didn't know this until a week into the agreement.

He hasn't given us a chance to rectify the problem with the dog as it's the next door neighbours dogs too and we have offered to fence off the hedges in the garden so the dog has no access to them at all and he still refused because supposedly his solicitor advised him to take the dog off the property

FishOnABike

How long you are in the house and whether the landlord also lives there are important.

It's usually better all around to resolve things by negotiation / agreement if you can but if either side is unreasonable you need to know how strong or weak a position you are in.

M_Reilly

FishOnABike wrote: »

How long you are in the house and whether the landlord also lives there are important.

It's usually better all around to resolve things by negotiation / agreement if you can but if either side is unreasonable you need to know how strong or weak a position you are in.

We're living here 6 months and it's myself, my partner, the child and the dog, my partner and the dog is in the lease agreement

Samuel T. Cogley

I have to agree about the dog. Although you should be given some time to rectify it as already stated.

Unless it's a farm you're renting dog belongs in doors cuddled up on the sofa, not chained outside. We've a constant issue with a neighbour who does a similar thing, thankfully fairly infrequently. It's an absolute pain in the rear to deal with directly with you, it requires an application to the District Court. Much easier to complain to the RTB, who your cowboy LL is not registered with, so he's going to do anything to avoid being reported.

Solution, report him. However you're almost certainly going to have to move, if not legally , for your own sanity once the relationship breaks down.

FishOnABike

If you are there six months then you are in a part 4 tenancy under the residential tenancy act and there are only specific, and limited, reasons why your landlord can issue a termination notice and terminate your tenancy. Any breach of the act can be reported to the residential tenancy board (whether or not the tenancy is registered).

Your landlord cannot unilaterally change the terms of your lease. It is a legally binding contract. If it is written into your lease that you can have a dog it cannot be unwritten from the lease. You do have a copy of the lease?

The landlord's solicitor cannot withdraw the lease and rewrite it nor do you have to sign a new lease (which might try to impose new conditions) at the end of the current one - your tenancy continues under part 4 of the RTA.

Unless the landlord put it in writing about the walls there's probably very little you can do about it as his word may be difficult to prove. If your neighbour also has dogs how are they prevented from straying into your garden? It's not ideal to have a dog tied up outside all day - can it come indoors or can you make a run for it in the garden. You could put the idea of you building a run to the landlord as a possible solution. It's usually better to approach someone with a solution rather than a problem.

the_syco

M_Reilly wrote: »

There is no way to turn off the water in the house to even get a dishwasher put in and even a plumber said this was a health and safety issue. So the driveway has to be dug up to get access to it.

This is odd. I wonder if the house has proper planning permission? Ask your landlord to rectify this, or inform him you'll pop down to the local county council to check with them how his planning was done :P

M_Reilly wrote: »

He refused to put me on the lease as he's not registered with the ptrb so I had no current address for social welfare to collect my child benefit.

About this. Do you need a letter from your landlord to get child benefit, or proof of address? Would bank statements not do for that?

M_Reilly wrote: »

Can his solicitor automatically withdraw the other lease and start afresh as if to show we just moved in but will be charging us higher rent?

Leasing 6 months now

He can't raise the rent for another one and a half years.

M_Reilly wrote: »

I moved in with my partner the day the lease was signed, he wouldn't put my name on the lease for social welfare as the social welfare goes through the ptrb and they would see it down as him not been registered with them, he wanted to keep it off the books, I didn't know this until a week into the agreement.

Sounds like the landlord thinks he's super-cool, but how about you pop his balloon? http://www.rtb.ie/tenants/is-my-tenancy-registered-

How do I inform the PRTB of a non-registered Tenancy?
You may do so by returning a registration enforcement referral form to the Registrations Enforcement section, Private Residential Tenancies Board, PO Box 47 Clonakilty, Co. Cork. Alternatively you email the form to enforcement@prtb.ie or telephone us at 0818-303038.
Please click here to go to the Referral Form.
Please check the Published Register by clicking here before referring to Registrations Enforcement.

If he wants it kept off the books, he plays ball. Otherwise, let him know that you'll inform the PTRB about your tenancy, and raise a case with them about the water being a health and safety issue. Letting you know it's "off the books" was a bit daft on his part.