Are the RTAs applicable where the tenant is a ltd Co.

Baby01032012

Id appreciate if anyone had an opinion on this. I believe a tenant under the RTAs is a person. A tenancy with an entity such as a limited company is not subject to the RTAs.

Fian

Baby01032012 wrote: »

Id appreciate if anyone had an opinion on this. I believe a tenant under the RTAs is a person. A tenancy with an entity such as a limited company is not subject to the RTAs.

A limited company is a "person" in the eyes of the law.

However a Ltd. company doesn't live anywhere and so in general they are unlikely to rent a "dwelling". In general only a dwelling is covered by the act.

However if i formed a company which included in its purpose the provision fo accomodation to me, or to another, and that company took out a lease on a dwelling which permitted them to allow other persons to reside their (like myself for example) that could fall within the terms of the act.

TLDR: a company could be a tenant under the RTA imo, but it is less likely that many landlords would agree to a lease with a company allowing the company to lease a dwelling for the purpose of letting other persons live there.


Having said that if Google went to a landlord and offered to lease a large number of appartments at a high rent to be made available to their staff, I guess they would not have too much trouble finding takers. And those leases would seem to be covered by the RTA.

Less likely that an unknown limited liability company could secure a lease governed by the RTA.

all imo, and i am not certain, not legal advice if you want a legal view you will need to go to a lawyer with the actual facts rather than a hypothetical.

DubCount

This is not expert opinion, but my view

I cant see why tenancy law would not apply to a corporate tenant. I came across this case on the RTB website
https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/downloads/tribunal-report/TR0219-003552_Report.pdf

Here, the Tenant is a company and the landlord is an individual, and the RTB hears the case and makes a determination for the company. The RTB seemed to think it had jurisdiction under the Residential Tenancies Act.

The Student

Baby01032012 wrote: »

Id appreciate if anyone had an opinion on this. I believe a tenant under the RTAs is a person. A tenancy with an entity such as a limited company is not subject to the RTAs.

My view on this is that a company is a legal person not a natural person in the eyes of the law.

The specifics of the case would dictate whether the RTA would have any responsibility over the tenant.

If you rent the property to a housing body then I would suggest that yes the RTA would simply because you rented it to a housing body in the full knowledge that they would house somebody in it as its what they do day in day out. While I have not seen a tenancy with a housing body I would suspect there is something in it that allows the housing body assign the tenancy eg to the eventual tenant.

If however you rented it to a limited company that for example is Google and they gave it to a staff member as part of their salary then I would contend you are not bound by the RTA but rather you could be sued for breach of contract not a tenancy. I would suspect that there would not be an actual tenancy agreement with a limited company (other than housing body's referenced above) rather it would be a simple contract between the company and the landlord for the use of the property for the duration of the contract.

Obviously the above is speculation based on the limited info provided, a closer look at the paperwork completed would give a more accurate response.

Fian

The Student wrote: »

My view on this is that a company is a legal person not a natural person in the eyes of the law.

The residential tenancies act applies to "persons" not only to "natural persons".

Graham

I think a tenancy between a landlord and a company still needs to be registered. This FAQ entry relates to management company but I would expect it to apply to any other type of company tenant:

I lease my property to a management company who in turn rent out the property to individual tenants; I have no relationship with the tenants of the management company. Do I need to register?
In the above scenario there are two actual tenancies and they both need to be registered. Under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, the landlord is legally obliged to register the tenancy where the dwelling is leased to the management company and the management company is legally obliged to register the tenancy with the individual tenant(s). Each tenancy will then have a unique RT number assigned to it.

If the company leasing the property then go on to accommodate staff, it looks like the RTA applies some limits to the rights a tenant would normally acquire. E.g. security of tenure:

(4) This Part does not apply to a tenancy of a dwelling—

(a) if the landlord of the dwelling is entitled, in relation to expenditure incurred on the construction of, conversion into, or, as the case may be, refurbishment of, the dwelling, to a deduction of the kind referred to in section 380B(2), 380C(4) or 380D(2) (inserted by the Finance Act 1999 ) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , or

(b) if the entitlement of the tenant to occupy the dwelling is connected with his or her continuance in any office, appointment or employment.