Landlord, repairs, heating, rent increase.

d.m.g

Evening all.
(admin, feel free to move if this is the wrong place)

Here's the craic.

Im 2 years in rented house. No lease, just a handshake.
After year 1, I wanted them to sign rent book (as im looking to buy myself). They reluctantly signed.

Lots of repairs to be carried out on the house. They don't care though.

1. No extractor fan in the kitchen. Dishwasher never worked.
2. A leak in the ensuite that leaks to the bathroom, a leak in the bathroom that leaks to the kitchen (I'd say cause of broken extractor fan)
3. Cracked bathroom tiles (that they let themselves in to fix, without permiasion, while I
was at work. I rang and asked had someone been in the house. They replied "you either want things fixed or you dont".
4. Cracks in walls and ceilings, rough paint work outside and inside
5. oil heating is goosed

The heats been on the blink since last summer, they keep saying they'll fix it, it goes for a day or two n crokes it again. They say it's going to cost 4k to repair properly, and that my rent will be going up "significantly". I told them that legally they have to give me 90 days written notice. They said they'll give me 60.

I'm so fed up having to chase them to fix things, and fairly certain that I'm not liable for the installation of a new heating system. I'm tempted to move out.

A friend mentioned to me that they might be reluctant to fix things as to drive me out, so they can up the rent with the next tenant, as rents have increased in the area quite a bit in the last 2 years.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

4ensic15

d.m.g wrote: »

Evening all.
(admin, feel free to move if this is the wrong place)

Here's the craic.

Im 2 years in rented house. No lease, just a handshake.
After year 1, I wanted them to sign rent book (as im looking to buy myself). They reluctantly signed.

Lots of repairs to be carried out on the house. They don't care though.

1. No extractor fan in the kitchen. Dishwasher never worked.
2. A leak in the ensuite that leaks to the bathroom, a leak in the bathroom that leaks to the kitchen (I'd say cause of broken extractor fan)
3. Cracked bathroom tiles (that they let themselves in to fix, without permiasion, while I
was at work. I rang and asked had someone been in the house. They replied "you either want things fixed or you dont".
4. Cracks in walls and ceilings, rough paint work outside and inside
5. oil heating is goosed

The heats been on the blink since last summer, they keep saying they'll fix it, it goes for a day or two n crokes it again. They say it's going to cost 4k to repair properly, and that my rent will be going up "significantly". I told them that legally they have to give me 90 days written notice. They said they'll give me 60.

I'm so fed up having to chase them to fix things, and fairly certain that I'm not liable for the installation of a new heating system. I'm tempted to move out.

A friend mentioned to me that they might be reluctant to fix things as to drive me out, so they can up the rent with the next tenant, as rents have increased in the area quite a bit in the last 2 years.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Complain to the local council. Keep writing letters and sending emails and texts. Do not rely on verbal complaints. After a few months complain to the RTB.

I would go directly to the ETB and local council.

Your friend sounds right mind you, lots of landlords seem to want to do little/nothing to the house and move tenants if possible to limit rights on the house.

TargetWidow

I'm in the same boat. Landlord's mother acts as his agent. Tumble dryer basically melted on the low heat setting last October and our repair guy recommended replacement as it was a fire hazard. Agent told us landlord wasn't going to replace it as he was thinking of selling the house.

Then 3 weeks ago a power surge knocked out the pellet stove and fried motherboard that controls it. €620 to repair it and agent when informed says her son is putting the house on the market and we have to be out in 8 weeks. No written notice nothing.

I am going no where until I get proper notice and I am sending a letter today demanding that the heating be fixed according to his responsibities under Section 12(1) (b) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. This fecker has had €30,000 in rent out of us and now he thinks he can leave my children freeze in a blizzard so he can kick us out for the summer and make €700 a week from tourists. He had better think again.

d.m.g

So after months of nagging her to fix things, and her promising it would be done and nothing happening, she came to collect rent this evening and slapped me with an eviction letter, stating that her 20 year old son needs the house. Bare in mind, that this lunatic hounds me for rent, only accepts cash, and whinge that it's to pay off her mortgage. Is her 20 year old son gonna be paying off her mortgage?! Or is it a thinly veiled excuse to turf me out so she can up the rent?....
Tennancy never registered, probably not registered with revenue either. What do I do? 60 days to find a new home. Or put up a fight?

Graces7

d.m.g wrote: »

So after months of nagging her to fix things, and her promising it would be done and nothing happening, she came to collect rent this evening and slapped me with an eviction letter, stating that her 20 year old son needs the house. Bare in mind, that this lunatic hounds me for rent, only accepts cash, and whinge that it's to pay off her mortgage. Is her 20 year old son gonna be paying off her mortgage?! Or is it a thinly veiled excuse to turf me out so she can up the rent?....
Tennancy never registered, probably not registered with revenue either. What do I do? 60 days to find a new home. Or put up a fight?

Fight! AND start looking for somewhere else... NB do not tell your current landlord that of course..

Report them to RTB. They will get a very nasty letter informing them of a large fine

_Brian

Even if it were registered are they not entitled to have the house back for their son ??

Even if they weren’t the ideal landlord, it’s the law as it stands now. All this will do is reassure the landlord that all tenants are cnuts and never to be trusted nor treated well. This is a self profiling prophecy of bad landlords.

Pkiernan

_Brian wrote: »

Even if it were registered are they not entitled to have the house back for their son ??

Even if they weren’t the ideal landlord, it’s the law as it stands now. All this will do is reassure the landlord that all tenants are cnuts and never to be trusted nor treated well. This is a self profiling prophecy of bad landlords.

You are entitled to proper statutory notice. What you have been given sounds invalid.

Report her to the RTB, EHS section if your council and Revenue.

I say this as a law abiding landlord. It's LLs like yours that mean I end up with no effective rights against rogue tenants.

runawaybishop

Pkiernan wrote: »

You are entitled to proper statutory notice. What you have been given sounds invalid.

Nothing the OP said yet sounds invalid, 60 days notice is more (slightly) than required.

davindub

Op its needs to be a statutory notice witnessed by a solicitor or commissioner of oaths.

It is permissable to terminate a tenancy for the stated reason but if the son doesnt move in, or moves out within 6 months, it should be offered back to you.

If the above is in order, you may have a chance (far from certain) to appeal the notice as invalid on the following grounds, but you should get legal help (eg Flac) as there are no examples of these kinds of challenges as yet.

If you feel the notice was served in order to penalise you for seeking the landlord to perform their duties, look at sect 14 of the RTA.

Also the meaning of "require" may mean that the landlord needs to prove an actual requirement rather than a want. The distinction between the two may be helpful to your case.

4ensic15

The landlord can't op-0en a dispute with the RTB until the tenancy is registered. A notice from an unregistered landlord is invalid anyway.

Ray Palmer

While you do have legal rights you are still moving out one way or the other. You can frustrate the whole proceeding and maybe stay a bit longer but still in the same boat.

Maybe you will be lucky and get the whole thing to the final stages and get some payment but it is far from guaranteed even if you are in the right.

Go look for a place and bring the case if you want to especially if it is let out again. Don't be rushing yourself to find a place and fight a legal battle at the same time.