Evicted for leaving garage door open

adam240610

My partner and I were given 24 hours to leave the house we moved into three weeks ago due to us leaving the garage door open while rushing out to get to work for 9am this morning. It was open for 4 hours before one housemate came home to find it open.

We have payed one month's rent and equal deposit, as well as the gas and electricity bills for the prior two months (which we contributed to for less than three weeks). We are understandably quite upset and trying to find somewhere to put our stuff.

Can anyone offer us any advice in relation to our deposit or rent or is that just gone? Or the anything else as we can't think clearly at present.

Thank you

Edit: sorry some of you don't think this is real, but this is disheartening and unfortunately real, and I need some advice

Grumpypants

Does the landlord live with you? It changes your rights substantially.

Did you sign any kind of contract?

Sounds like you live with the landlord, but get all rent and bills owed to you before leaving.

Yawns

2 weeks ago it was carpet dents based over a 2 year period...

adam240610

Yawns wrote: »

2 weeks ago it was carpet dents based over a 2 year period...

That was how long we were expecting to stay here unfortunately... Don't think we'll be worrying about that anymore

adam240610

Grumpypants wrote: »

Does the landlord live with you? It changes your rights substantially.

Did you sign any kind of contract?

Sounds like you live with the landlord, but get all rent and bills owed to you before leaving.

Landlord lives in cork
Contract was due to be signed in October 1st.

GingerLily

How do we know if this thread is genuine or another "what if" thread?

adam240610

GingerLily wrote: »

How do we know if this thread is genuine or another "what if" thread?

How can I prove it? I'm sorry but unfortunately this is real and not hypothetical.

We haven't been given anything in writing for a termination and were given 24 hours, is there not a minimum time period?

uck51js9zml2yt

Who told you to leave?

Hitman3000

adam240610 wrote:

Edit: sorry some of you don't think this is real, but this is disheartening and unfortunately real, and I need some advice

Whilst I'm not a fan of LL's having had a couple of bad experiences during my rental days, this story stinks tbh.

adam240610

Mauricio Scarce Stringer wrote: »

Who told you to leave?

One of the other tenants in the house who is kinda the connection to the land lord for us


How is this so unbelievable? I've spent all evening picking my clothes into suitcases

dennyk

Who is your rental agreement with? If you are subletting from another tenant, then you are most likely a licensee and don't have any of the usual tenancy rights; you can indeed be evicted with 24 hours notice by the master tenant.

If your tenancy agreement is with the landlord and the other tenant is just acting as a middleman or agent, then you have full tenancy rights. You've not been there long enough to acquire rights under Part 4, so your tenancy can be terminated without requiring a valid reason (assuming you do not have a fixed term lease), but you are entitled to 28 days of notice to terminate the tenancy (unless you are being evicted for serious anti-social behaviour, in which case the notice period is seven days, but accidentally leaving the garage door open once would certainly not qualify).

If you do have a fixed term lease with the landlord, your tenancy generally cannot be terminated unless you violate the terms of the lease, so it would depend on the exact lease wording. A lease cannot override the RTA, so you would still be entitled to at least 28 days of notice if your lease was terminated during the first six months due to a breach on your part, unless the lease itself specifies a longer notice period (if it specifies a shorter one, that clause is invalid).

adam240610

dennyk wrote: »

Who is your rental agreement with? If you are subletting from another tenant, then you are most likely a licensee and don't have any of the usual tenancy rights; you can indeed be evicted with 24 hours notice by the master tenant.

If your tenancy agreement is with the landlord and the other tenant is just acting as a middleman or agent, then you have full tenancy rights. You've not been there long enough to acquire rights under Part 4, so your tenancy can be terminated without requiring a valid reason (assuming you do not have a fixed term lease), but you are entitled to 28 days of notice to terminate the tenancy (unless you are being evicted for serious anti-social behaviour, in which case the notice period is seven days, but accidentally leaving the garage door open once would certainly not qualify).

If you do have a fixed term lease with the landlord, your tenancy generally cannot be terminated unless you violate the terms of the lease, so it would depend on the exact lease wording. A lease cannot override the RTA, so you would still be entitled to at least 28 days of notice if your lease was terminated during the first six months due to a breach on your part, unless the lease itself specifies a longer notice period (if it specifies a shorter one, that clause is invalid).

Thanks for the clear reply

We're being told our deposit is being taken to cover the cost of removing us from the insurance.

Am going to a meeting at two for advice.

A2LUE42

adam240610 wrote: »

Thanks for the clear reply

We're being told our deposit is being taken to cover the cost of removing us from the insurance.

Am going to a meeting at two for advice.

Get proper advise, this sounds like you are being taken for a ride.

ekevosu

adam240610 wrote: »

Thanks for the clear reply

We're being told our deposit is being taken to cover the cost of removing us from the insurance.

Am going to a meeting at two for advice.

Is there any more to the story than this? Is it a high risk area that you left it open, was anything stolen, did you argue with the housemate / landlord etc? Did anything else outside of this happen?

adam240610

ekevosu wrote: »

Is there any more to the story than this? Is it a high risk area that you left it open, was anything stolen, did you argue with the housemate / landlord etc? Did anything else outside of this happen?

Nothing stolen, don't remember leaving it open but can't be 100% sure either way, it's D16 in a pretty quiet place. Didn't have any arguments with landlord, most housemates are annoyed that were leaving.

The only other thing I can think of was not wiping down surfaces enough after using them but we nipped that pretty quickly

jimmycrackcorm

adam240610 wrote:

We're being told our deposit is being taken to cover the cost of removing us from the insurance.

I wouldn't move out until the deposit is produced. That's a ridiculous excuse.

TheChizler

Nobody here can advise you until you clarify exactly who the rental agreement is with and their relationship to the household.

Liam McPoyle

adam240610 wrote: »

We're being told our deposit is being taken to cover the cost of removing us from the insurance.

This makes no sense whatsoever. What insurance? The cost of insuring an average house in the Dublin region that is let to tenants would be between €500 and €600 for the year. There is no cost per individual tenant. You are either been taken for a mug or are taking us for mugs.

Hitman3000

Business Cat wrote:

This makes no sense whatsoever. What insurance? The cost of insuring an average house in the Dublin region that is let to tenants would be between €500 and €600 for the year. There is no cost per individual tenant. You are either been taken for a mug or are taking us for mugs.

I think it is the latter.

adam240610

Business Cat wrote: »

This makes no sense whatsoever. What insurance? The cost of insuring an average house in the Dublin region that is let to tenants would be between €500 and €600 for the year. There is no cost per individual tenant. You are either been taken for a mug or are taking us for mugs.

We're going to the garda station now, and have been told by the rtb that we can't be forced out of the house legally and that we haven't been given correct notice. Will hopefully update next week with what happens but thanks for everyone's help.

dennyk

Yeah, that insurance thing makes zero sense; what insurance? Surely the landlord wouldn't be silly enough to add a tenant as an insured person on his building insurance, and each tenant would generally need to have their own contents insurance policy to cover their own belongings. Even if the OP was listed on some policy, the admin fee to remove a name from a policy (which many insurers do charge, granted) shouldn't be anything close to the amount of a security deposit; in most cases it would be like €25 or so at most. And just because there is a fee doesn't make it a valid deduction from a security deposit; that would likely depend on whose idea it was to add the tenant to the policy in the first place, and even if it was the tenant's, it's still pretty questionable at best.

adam240610

dennyk wrote: »

Yeah, that insurance thing makes zero sense; what insurance? Surely the landlord wouldn't be silly enough to add a tenant as an insured person on his building insurance, and each tenant would generally need to have their own contents insurance policy to cover their own belongings. Even if the OP was listed on some policy, the admin fee to remove a name from a policy (which many insurers do charge, granted) shouldn't be anything close to the amount of a security deposit; in most cases it would be like €25 or so at most. And just because there is a fee doesn't make it a valid deduction from a security deposit; that would likely depend on whose idea it was to add the tenant to the policy in the first place, and even if it was the tenant's, it's still pretty questionable at best.

We're being taken for chumps because we're still students. The RTB and welfare office both told us that we were being illegally evicted and our deposit should not be being taken from us, and we should be refunded the remainder of the month's rent. I'm sorry if you have doubts but we'll hopefully get sorted, even if it takes a few weeks. Thanks

Berserker

adam240610 wrote: »

We're being told our deposit is being taken to cover the cost of removing us from the insurance.

This must be a scam that some people are running with. One of my work colleagues was subject to the exact same thing. Her father is a barrister, which proved to be a real shame for the landlord. The landlord offered to give her back some of the deposit but needed to keep a chunk of it, five hundred to be exact, to cover the costs of insurances, finding a new tenant etc. Turns out she wasn't even added to the policy.

TheChizler

adam240610 wrote: »

We're going to the garda station now, and have been told by the rtb that we can't be forced out of the house legally and that we haven't been given correct notice. Will hopefully update next week with what happens but thanks for everyone's help.

Strange, I didn't think the RTB gave out advice like this over the phone...

Injuryprone

adam240610 wrote: »

while rushing out to get to work for 9am this morning.

adam240610 wrote: »

We're being taken for chumps because we're still students

Explain please.....

GingerLily

Injuryprone wrote: »

Explain please.....

His real name is Walter Mitty

The_Conductor

Guys- cop on.
It is not appropriate to speculate as to the veracity of the OP.
OP- the very least you can do- is answer people's questions as to whether or not you have a tenancy agreement- and with whom.
If your agreement is with a member of the household- other than the owner of the property- its far more likely that you are a licensee rather than a tenant- in which case- tenancy law does not apply.

People- next one who speculates wildly about the OP- gets a sanction.

Regards,

The_Conductor

davo10

Op, there are 2 possible scenarios with different rights, and ultimately different outcomes depending on your tenancy status,

1. You paid deposit to one of the existing tenants. They are the lead tenant and you pay your rent each month to him/her. If this is the case, you are a licensee rather than a tenant and can be asked to leave given reasonable notice. If you are there a short while, then they can ask you to leave with short notice, but must give you back your deposit. Sometimes personalities clash and you get a vibe pretty quickly that things are not going to work out.

2. You dealt from the start with the landlord, the deposit was given to the landlord and you pay your rent directly to the landlord. In this case you are a tenant and have tenancy rights. Only the landlord can evict you, but in the absence of a fixed term lease or Part 4 rights (you get those after 6 months), the landlord can evict you giving correct notice. Again you are entitled to your deposit.

You need to clarify which scenario applies to you, that will indicate your status in the rental property. But note, if you are a licensee, you are effectively a "guest" of the lead tenant and the RTB has no jurisdiction. The gardai are unlikely to help you as this is a civil matter.

Maybe you might give us more info about who you gave deposit to, who you agreed the rental with, and most importantly who you pay your rent to, the tenant or the landlord.

The_Conductor

In the absence of a response from the OP- thread closed.