Landlord done a runner

mayo londoner

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice on this.

We are currently in a dispute with our landlord. We lived there for 6years without any issues. Our lease was until mid November but we informed him that we had to move out on 17th October as we could not justify paying rent when we were working remotely from the west of Ireland, we had spent a total of 12 days in the apartment since mid March. It was near impossible to get anyone into view the apartment due to Level 5 restrictions.

He was happy with the agreement that we were to be out of the apartment on the 17th October and have text messages to prove as much. However since then he has refused to pay back any over our deposit of €1860. He sent one message saying deposit had been exceeded due to house-cleaning costs, repairs to a room and a new freezer.

Prior to COVID we had a new cleaner in every two weeks and house was in good condition so that can't have been much of an issue, even if it was, 200euro max would have covered it. Us paying for a new freezer we 100% disputed, as mentioned above we lived there for 6 years, freezer was working fine when we vacated the apartment and any deterioration in it would have been down to wear and tear, he had no issue replacing a washing machine due to the same reason back in February and didn't look for compensation. As for the 'repairs to a room' only damage we can think of is on a roof in one of the bedrooms, which was due to a leak in the attic. This occurred a number of times during our tenancy in the apartment, resulting in the occupants of the room having to sleep on the couch for weeks at a time, yet we didn't demand any compensation for this off the landlord acting on good faith.

Landlord promised to send us an email outlining why the deposit was not being returned last Saturday 7th November but since then he has not returned texts, is not answering phonecalls, and now is diverting our calls straight to his voicemail. How do we approach this? We are being completely ripped off, do we have the potential for a legal case to be brought against the landlord? Have contacted to RTB today but not sure if they will be able to do much.

circular flexing

Your only option is to open a dispute with RTB. All tenancy disputes have to be filed with them first.

Baby01032012

Did you give the required 84 days notice in writing? Not text message.

As above if you’ve given required notice and haven’t received Itemised breakdown of deposit withheld then open a case with RTB.

mayo londoner

Wasn't aware 84 days notice was a requirement. Regardless, he has stated that the reason for us not getting the deposit back was due to house cleaning costs and damage to freezer and to a room (which is nonsense). Freezer and cleaning would come to €400-450 max so don't know where's he plucking the other €1460 out of. Worst thing is that a new lad moved in end of August so he is getting shafted altogether with the deposit. He was made aware that it would only a short term arrangement but he was desperate for somewhere.

Graham

As suggested already, lodge a dispute with the RTB.

Once that's done, let your previous landlord know you've lodged a dispute. That's often enough to prompt a rethink.