Advice needed regarding living situation

steve_

Hey folks,

I was hoping to get some advice here regarding a particular situation i find myself in. To cut a long story short i've been living in a property for the last 7 years in Terenure. My mother went through a divorce and the family home was sold so i invited my mam and brother to move in with me till they got another place to rent. I asked my 3 friends who lived with me to move out which they kindly agreed to.

Now the situation has changed and myself and my girlfriend want to live together and due to the rent being very reasonable in the house i'm in, we could afford to make solid progress on our mortgage savings each month however my mother now doesn't want to leave as she claims she won't be able to afford anywhere else.

For me the house is something more than just a cheap place to live. It's close to my job, its close to my girlfriends job and my daughter's school is right around the corner as well as her after school creche.

For my mother, none of these things matter other than it being a cheap place to rent.

Regarding the lease on the property it has expired about 3 years ago and wasn't renewed, does this mean its null and void or do contracts roll over if not renewed? (again my mother claims the contract is still valid, but im unsure)

Can anyone give some insight into HAP? If my mother and brother moved out the rate for the area they are in seems to be €1250, is this a limit or is this the flat amount you get while on HAP?

Seeing as my brother works full time and will be living with my mother, will his wages come into the equation here? He earns about 400PW before tax.

I'm at my wits end here and i feel bad for even considering this option but i feel i was generous enough at the start and that i'm just been taken advantage of now. And if there is an alternative for my mother then i would want her to take.

Thanks for reading and any advise is highly welcomed!

Bob24

Not answering the whole thing but few random comments:
- if you initially had a tenancy agreement under your name for the whole house (not just a room), your tenancy is safe even though no new contract was sign.
- by safe I mean it is as if you had signed a contract but of course the landlord can end the tenancy at any stage provided they give an appropriate reason/notice period, so even if you mum leaves don’t set your mind on this beeing a permanent home.
- based on the way you describe the situation, I’d agree you are being taken advantage of, but I guess family matters can be hard to juge as there is a long history and expected behaviours can be different depending on families. All the best with this as it seems like a complicated situation.

SarahS2013

I don't believe the LL can end the tenancy at any time unless they are giving notice to sell or move into the home. If OP is there 7 years then they are in a Further Part 4 Tenancy agreement. https://www.threshold.ie/advice/dealing-with-problems-during-your-tenancy/security-of-tenure/

Electric

OP, this doesn't strike me as a situation that it going to end well. I can see both sides of this. For your part, you've been there 7 years, it's close to your daughter's school and its not unreasonable for you and your girlfriend to want to live together.

That said, in order to achieve that last point, you need to get your mother to move out of the house. There is a certain amount of justification on your part, in that you've said she only views the house as somewhere cheap to live. To be honest I can't blame her! Rents in Dublin are crazy, and that's if you can find somewhere to rent.

Here's a link to HAP, which should give more information on the scheme. But a quick flick back through this forum will give you an indication of the difficulties HAP tenants face in finding somewhere to rent within the limits of their payments, and the issues landlords have with HAP. HAP tenants are disadvantaged compared to those who can afford market rent.

A quick search of Daft for Dublin 6/6w shows 126 properties for rent, the cheapest being e800 for a studio, meaning if you did force your mother and brother to move out, they could well be moving into homelessness. You mentioned your brother earns e400 per week before tax, that's very little to be surviving on in Dublin, while paying rent. There was another thread recently from someone on a similar wage looking to move out of home and the advice was to sit tight, go back to college and earn more.

In relation to your own tenancy, your mother is correct in that the tenancy is still valid, as you will have acquired Part 4 rights after 6 months occupation. That said you appear to be 3 years into a Part 4 tenancy (each lasting for 4 years), so it may be the case that if this become messy, your landlord may decide not to renew the tenancy at the end of the 4th year, which from his perspective is the easiest way to get the lot of you out.

If you do decide to go down the route of asking your mother to move out, you'll need to confirm whether she is a tenant or a licencee. Is her name of the lease? If so, she may have Part 4 rights too, assuming she is living there longer than 6 months and short of her agreeing to go voluntarily (which doesn't sound likely), it is very difficult to remove a tenant.

I understand that you feel bad about this whole situation, but honestly, are there no other options for you and your mother?

Teyla Emmagan

Where did the money from the family home go? Is your mother not even in a position to buy an apartment somewhere?

steve_

Thanks for the replies. Pretty much sums up my fears. The last thing i want is a falling out over a rented property.

When the family house was sold they came away with very little as far as i'm aware. They had remortaged twice i think.

Just in relation to me leaving, let's say i just go ahead and find my own place and leave my mother where she is. Can the landlord up the rent whenever he wants seeing as the lease is expired? He has mentioned it several times already but never pushed for it. Without saying how much the rent is (out of fear people will literally hunt me down) the landlord could easily double the price of the house each month and people would whip it up.

My concern now is if i go to the landlord asking for a reference that the next conversation is going to be that he wants to up the rent.

Bob24

steve_ wrote: »

Just in relation to me leaving, let's say i just go ahead and find my own place and leave my mother where she is. Can the landlord up the rent whenever he wants seeing as the lease is expired? He has mentioned it several times already but never pushed for it. Without saying how much the rent is (out of fear people will literally hunt me down) the landlord could easily double the price of the house each month and people would whip it up.

My concern now is if i go to the landlord asking for a reference that the next conversation is going to be that he wants to up the rent.

Well yes if you end the tenancy their logical next step it to increase the rent for the next tenancy but as much as the law allows them.

What names were on the original lease you signed? (if the only name on the rent is yours and you are asking for a reference and moving out, I assume that would mean ending the tenancy)

SarahS2013

Assuming the lease is in your name and your mother's name isn't on it, if you leave, she leaves too. She doesn't have a contract/rental agreement with the LL, you do. She's essentially your lodger/visitor/licencee and nothing to do with the LL.

Sh1tty situation OP, I don't envy you.