Dodgy Agent/Tennant - please help

juniorballyc

Apologies for the lenght of this post...i've edidted it already

Background:
Letting agent vouched for tenant, an excellent tenant by all accounts. Private paying.

For first year of tenancy every month we had to chase the letting agent as no rent on time. Tennant then applied for HAP and got it. We inspected house, it was clean, some plants were missing in back garden but it was tidy. There was a half arsed paint job done in the hall, but figured she was making an attempt to keep the place clean.

We visited the house once more and the letting agent visited on a few occasions over the next 2 years.

In July, the tennant requested to leave early from her tenancy agreement after 3.25 years. Letting agent put pressure on us to allow this to happen. We asked why….no apparent reason, just she had somewhere else to go and wanted to move. We agreed after some thought, told letting agent we wanted to inspect the house with them. We asked when we could do this, they said day she leaves.

I got a phonecall the day after her (short) notice was up, arranged to meet the letting agent and inspect the property. The property was absolutely filthy. There was grated cheese all over the sitting room floor (why?). There was blinds missing, curtains missing, tiles broken in en suite, downpipe missing from side of house. A whole set of crockery gone except for one plate. The house was pure filth. It seriously looked like it had not been lived in for a while. As we went up the stairs, this overpowering smell hit us…urine. Carpet & mattress destroyed in master bedroom.

The letting agent was acting as if it was all perfectly normal. Hardly got the smell didn’t think the place was dirty. I asked her would she sit on a chair in the kitchen…she didn’t answer and didn’t sit…grime.

4 weeks later we have made little headway, the agent insisted on fixing the bits and pieces after agreeing the condition of house wasnt acceptable. The tenant has told the agent she will not pay a penny. The curtains reappeared. Blinds have been ordered, mattress has been replaced, waiting on carpet, waiting on tiles to be fixed. We found the downpipe tossed behind the shed, which has been fixed. We have painted the place ourselves. BUT here where is where it gets really interesting…. I asked the agent to email full list of costs spent so far. I received this on Friday, included on it was €200 to fix back door and kitchen window…this we did not know anything about. We went into the house on Saturday and saw the damage, like someone had tried to kick in the back door and jam open the window and broke the frame. Got through to the agent today and they said, oh that the tenant had no key so couldn’t get in to the house??? WTF I asked did this happen in the last couple of weeks after she moved out…agent started stuttering and didn’t answer, just that she had no key to get in (as if this is perfectly acceptable to try and break in).
SO basically they know that the tenant had done this damage and never informed us, what is that about? Its criminal damage. What are our rights here? We are thinking of going to the guards in the morning and then to the agents. We just don’t understand why the agent appears to be covering up or taking the tenants side.

ANY ADVICE GREATLY APPRECIATED...

antoinolachtnai

Your agent is not much use. What can you really do though?

The agent is probably so useless that even if you sued them and won, they wouldn't have any money to pay.

You probably need to write it off as a bad job and move on. You are lucky you have your property back.

Unforunately you ended up with two crowds of hooligans instead of the usual one. Every so often you'll have a bad tenant, but really, the agent should know better.

There are great tenants in the market at the moment, decent, hardworking people who just need a place to live. If you want to stay in this business, you just need to find one of these.

Askthe EA

juniorballyc wrote: »

Apologies for the lenght of this post...i've edidted it already

Background:
Letting agent vouched for tenant, an excellent tenant by all accounts. Private paying.

For first year of tenancy every month we had to chase the letting agent as no rent on time. Tennant then applied for HAP and got it. We inspected house, it was clean, some plants were missing in back garden but it was tidy. There was a half arsed paint job done in the hall, but figured she was making an attempt to keep the place clean.

We visited the house once more and the letting agent visited on a few occasions over the next 2 years.

In July, the tennant requested to leave early from her tenancy agreement after 3.25 years. Letting agent put pressure on us to allow this to happen. We asked why….no apparent reason, just she had somewhere else to go and wanted to move. We agreed after some thought, told letting agent we wanted to inspect the house with them. We asked when we could do this, they said day she leaves.

I got a phonecall the day after her (short) notice was up, arranged to meet the letting agent and inspect the property. The property was absolutely filthy. There was grated cheese all over the sitting room floor (why?). There was blinds missing, curtains missing, tiles broken in en suite, downpipe missing from side of house. A whole set of crockery gone except for one plate. The house was pure filth. It seriously looked like it had not been lived in for a while. As we went up the stairs, this overpowering smell hit us…urine. Carpet & mattress destroyed in master bedroom.

The letting agent was acting as if it was all perfectly normal. Hardly got the smell didn’t think the place was dirty. I asked her would she sit on a chair in the kitchen…she didn’t answer and didn’t sit…grime.

4 weeks later we have made little headway, the agent insisted on fixing the bits and pieces after agreeing the condition of house wasnt acceptable. The tenant has told the agent she will not pay a penny. The curtains reappeared. Blinds have been ordered, mattress has been replaced, waiting on carpet, waiting on tiles to be fixed. We found the downpipe tossed behind the shed, which has been fixed. We have painted the place ourselves. BUT here where is where it gets really interesting…. I asked the agent to email full list of costs spent so far. I received this on Friday, included on it was €200 to fix back door and kitchen window…this we did not know anything about. We went into the house on Saturday and saw the damage, like someone had tried to kick in the back door and jam open the window and broke the frame. Got through to the agent today and they said, oh that the tenant had no key so couldn’t get in to the house??? WTF I asked did this happen in the last couple of weeks after she moved out…agent started stuttering and didn’t answer, just that she had no key to get in (as if this is perfectly acceptable to try and break in).
SO basically they know that the tenant had done this damage and never informed us, what is that about? Its criminal damage. What are our rights here? We are thinking of going to the guards in the morning and then to the agents. We just don’t understand why the agent appears to be covering up or taking the tenants side.

ANY ADVICE GREATLY APPRECIATED...

What a mess. Sorry to hear all that. You must be FURIOUS.

So, first question. Has the agent got their deposit still and will it cover damage?

I'm not sure the Gardai will have any interest and will consider it a civil matter to be persued through the RTB.

Unless there is a serious shortfall between the deposit and damage costs you might be better advised to swallow the bitter medicine and move on. The RTB will look for pictures, receipts etc etc and may well allow discounts (eg, not the full cost of mattress, as it wasn't brand new).

I know it's not what you wanted to hear but the road to full restoration of losses may take years and court actions.

seagull

Depending on the nature of your contract with the agent, you might have grounds for going after them for any costs over and above the deposit.

It probably is worth reporting this to the gardai.

Did you take pictures of the state of the place when she'd moved out?