Landlord neglecting us?

madpodz

Hi everybody,

We are foreigner full-time students (my girlfriend and me) and have been living in this private flat for just over two years now. Since the first month, we have been dealing with all sorts of craziness. So, here is our story...

In September 2017, we moved into this old house. When we moved in the walls looked like they hadn't been painted in years, the couch looked the same - dirty, covered in dust with an unpleasant smell. Despite that, we felt delighted, as this is our first place as a young couple, and at that time we didn't know much about anything. We didn't want to bother our landlord with small bits as he is 84 yr old man. We decided to paint the walls, clean everything and get the flat up to some standards out of our own pocket. After a month, we encountered our first problem - water leaking from the ceiling. At first, it was just a stain and a few drops of water. We didn't report it straight away (as I said, we didn't want to bother him and thought that it will go away). Weeks went by and it only got worse (see image 1 attached). The stain only got bigger and there was another whole in the ceilings. Every time it was raining, we had to place a small bowl or towel to contain the water. The dropping sound was annoying as it was very loud, especially, during the night. So, we finally decided to let the landlord know. He arrived the following day, looked at it and went away. Later on, that day, he came back with this basic tape (the yellow one and applied on both stains – yes, I know that you see yellow and grey, keep reading), he applied it and said that it is only temporary solution as he cannot get on the roof due the weather (I remember thinking you and on the roof at your age? Come on…). Anyway, after a week or so, it still kept getting worse, so I spoke to him once more. Again, he came in first thing morning, but this time he had this grey duct tape, stating and claiming, that this is waterproof and should do the job (I knew that this ain't gonna work, I'm 23 (at that time) but I'm not stupid). Surprise, surprise, after a week or two, the water was coming in again. Of course, we let the landlord know right away. He came back again and applied the duct tape once more, but this time, more and left the duct tape with us, saying you can apply it yourself if needed. That was the first time he came up with this dumb joke – a shower in the bedroom or something along those lines – we responded to it by laughs – we found, at that stage funny – as we still had so much respect toward him and we didn’t know him that well. So… Months went by, every time he came to collect the rent, he showed some curiosity about the situation, I said that nothing has changed and the water is still coming in every time it rains. Every time he came to collect the rent, he had a different excuse, lower-back problems, ankle, bad weather… I thought wait a minute, we do not expect him to get on the roof, it is his responsibility to get a professional who would take care of it. Over the next two following years, somehow, he avoided it, and this is the result (see image 2 and 3). For the past few months, he didn’t even bother to look at it. We placed a bigger plastic bowel beneath so the previous one would will up in a couple of days. As you can see in image 2, it is very bad, even some holes have developed over time, and white stuff is coming through. In addition, a few days ago the water began to come in through another place in another room. This is only one of the issues we are dealing with, I will try to keep this on short.
During these two years, we have been through a lot, for example, during summer-time we are dealing with ants and slugs, during winter-time, we had to deal with rats.. yeah – rats. They were eating our food off the kitchen table, several rat holes around the house. I used spackling paste to get rid of the holes. Of course, we let the landlord know, you know what he did, he brought 10 years expired slug kill. The stuff was all over the place. After a month we spoke again, and I told him that he brought a 10-year expired bottle, and he didn’t believe, when he saw the expiration date himself -he laughed again. He took the expired bottle and left.

Then (not this winter but the previous one) the gas boiler died. Of course, we spoke to him immediately. He arrived with some friend, he investigated and said, that to fix it will cost around a thousand as it was extremely old (and the guy wasnt sure if they still manufacturing parts for the old boiler). He gave us this old electric heater, and we had no heating for over a month from September to October. Several weeks after, he stopped by and said that there is no chance of fixing the old one so he will get a brand-new boiler. Over the next following months, he kept mentioning that he spent close to 2000 euro which made us feel guilty and bad like we broke it on purpose.
Kitchen and bathroom walls/ceiling, living room, street-side door (see image 4,5,6,7) – they all are covered with mold. When we spoke to him and said if there anything he can do about it – you know what he said – that it is not mold and it is just condensation. Again, he made us feel bad and turned it around like we would be exaggerating. I also told him that I am suffering from asthma and I had to see the GP because I was experiencing asthma attacks. I explained our circumstances to the GP (that we live in an old, damp house with mold) and the GP said that it must be resolved asap. After a few weeks, I spoke to the landlord again, stating that my health is getting worse due to mold and dampness, and if there is anything he can do, and once I mentioned that I explained our circumstances to the GP he raised the voice immediately stating this is a good house, there is no molding.

On top of all this, our lease just expired, and we asked him to extend it. Instead of extending it, he took the expired lease agreement and our rent book. Last week he arrived at our door front without anything and asked us to pay for the rent. So now we got nothing. He is very old and we think that he might retire soon and evict us just like that. We applied for the HAP, but we didn’t get it as we do not have either the lease agreement or the rent book. During the interview, I told the lady that he took our expired lease and the rent book – and she was shocked. She asked for his name and once we told the landlord's name, she was smiling right away and told us that she knows who the landlord is and that they are familiar with him and that we should move out asap. But the thing is that we are both full-time students with a very limited budget, and there is no way we can save up the money for a new place, neither a solicitor help. Over the past two years, we have learned a lot, and we do not trust our landlord anymore. We even doubt that we will get our deposit back.

So we are, sharing our story and experience with you guys.
We would appreciate some advice on our rights as a tenant or any other advice. What to do or where to go? Should we seek solicitors' help? Any previous similar experience?

We wrote all the stuff we can think of at this moment, also, feel free to ask questions.
We can share more pictures and videos if needed.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.

madpodz

here is another two pictures 6 and 7 - 6. and 7.

BabysCoffee

Move out straightaway

Fol20

I’m sorry to hear of your situation and have a few points:

Some people may frown upon what I say next but it’s just perspective - you Get what you pay for. This place is in very bad condition, you are receiving terrible service from your landlord and I suspect you are not paying a lot (relative to other options)

I completely get that you can’t afford to move however that is pretty much the only thing you can do here. You have lived here for multiple years and he hasnt fixed any issues. Going up onto a roof,fixing a boiler that is more than like very old,rats etc is completely out of your control and is completely due to the ll not maintaining the property. The property doesn’t look fit for purpose so I would strongly recommend moving especially if it hurting your health. If he did fix all the issues, I suspect he will charge more rent which would defeat the purpose of what you want here. It’s a loose loose situation I’m afraid so I would start looking for a new place.

Out of all the stuff you mentioned. The only thing I would say is you should have told your ll straight away if you had a leak. Normally if you had a decent ll(you don’t). If you left it multiple months of leaking and you didn’t tell the ll and it did more damage, he could have potentially charged you for the excess damage. Again this is if you are a normal ll but this guy is a slum ll and doesn’t care about his property.

This setup sounds dodgy as well. He calls around to the house to I expect take the rent in cash and doesn’t offer a rent book. If your ll was decent, I wouldn’t worry as much about this but your guy could be of the non paying tax kind. Generalising I know but based on everything you said. I wouldn’t be surprised. I would keep your previous letting agreements and also if you have any old bills to show how long you lived here. You should be fine as once you live there for over 6months you have extra protections so he can’t just evict you without good cause or your there for 8+years and the cycle restarts again. He does sound like he mind play games to evict etc as well but tbh. You should move in any case.

lulu1

How can anyone live in a place like this and more to the point how can anyone be allowed to rent a place like this and charge money for it

mel123

I agree with the others on here, just move out, it is really not worth it.

But, just wondering for those in the know, does the LL HAVE to fix these issues? Like is he not being forced by the PRTB or something?

Graces7

mel123 wrote: »

I agree with the others on here, just move out, it is really not worth it.

But, just wondering for those in the know, does the LL HAVE to fix these issues? Like is he not being forced by the PRTB or something?

It does not sound as if the OP knows about the RTB or Threshold?

Please as I cannot post links, could a kind person direct her in the right direction? A first time renter needs support.

Or OP. can you google Threshold and phone them please? They are there to help tenants with problems like this,

In law you have to have a rent book. They can contact the landlord for you about all this. Tell them what you have told us.

Also the tenancy should have been registered with the RTB and it looks as if it never was. That is illegal of your landlord as is letting the property in that state

Good luck and I hope you find help . That place is a health hazard and illegal.

Samuel T. Cogley

A different tack.

(g) without prejudice to any other liability attaching in this case, reimburse the tenant in respect of all reasonable and vouched for expenses that may be incurred by the tenant in carrying out repairs to the structure or interior of the dwelling for which the landlord is responsible under paragraph (b) where the following conditions are satisfied—

(i) the landlord has refused or failed to carry out the repairs at the time the tenant requests him or her to do so, and

(ii) the postponement of the repairs to some subsequent date would have been unreasonable having regard to either—

(I) a significant risk the matters calling for repair posed to the health or safety of the tenant or other lawful occupants of the dwelling, or

(II) a significant reduction that those matters caused in the quality of the tenant's or other such occupants' living environment,

***

(l) not alter or improve the dwelling without the written consent of the landlord which consent the landlord—

(i) in case the alteration or improvement consists only of repairing, painting and decorating, or any of those things, may not unreasonably withhold,

Two extracts that in my lay and often wrong, opinion support the proposition that you can carry out the required works and seek reimbursement from the LL through the RTB. Obviously you need to have the money to invest in doing this.

Furthermore you have Part IV rights notwithstanding there is now not a fixed term lease in force.

Seek proper advice through FLAC and if you really must Threshold.