Letting Agent entered my property without consent

blackbox

It seems strange not to answer a knock at the door.

Escapees

Likewise it seems strange to be trying to catch out the rental agency on a technicality regarding the notice period for a rent increase going back more than a year, so that the OP might now get a refund. Why didn't they say anything at the time?!

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121871935#Comment_121871935

In the context of an apartment it would be a component of the annual management fee albeit it that it would not be separately identified. In many cases, it would simply be considered by the landlord in setting a rent rather than being a specific charge.

JVince

God help the op should he/she ever has a real issue in life.

Stuff happens - move on.

L1011

If those involved in childish namecalling could please act something like their actual age...

Redneck Avenger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121873035#Comment_121873035

Stuff just doesn't happen.

concerned_tenant

Just to answer some of the points raised here.

Yes, I posted the entire lease – there are no other clauses other than those in the post.

I was not invoiced bin fees each year; the contract states that bin fees are only taken out at the very end of the tenancy at a rate of €175 per year.

When the letting agent entered, she said she entered because she “heard me” inside the flat. Yes, I was inside the flat – cleaning it – and I don’t answer the door if I am not expecting someone, especially if I am very busy, which I was at the time. So no, she didn’t believe I had “already vacated”. And even then, it doesn't give her any right to enter. I had intended to get back to any missed calls later that day -- both the letting agent and everyone else who I had to get back to.

On the rent increases and why I didn’t raise the illegitimacy at the time, I wasn’t aware of much of what was going on at the time. I went along with it, assuming they were acting honestly. It was only much later in the tenancy that I started to learn more about process in this country regarding tenant rights and landlord responsibilities. I was naïve to begin with, and I hold my hands up to that. I wasn’t trying to “catch out” anyone.

havana

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121871500#Comment_121871500

Or maybe they could have assumed he was out, unavailable, asleep - a whole list of reasons why he would not answer the door. How long before someone’s lease is up do you consider it a free for all in terms of access?

’it would be unique if the charge accumulated’ - unique maybe but not untrue as seems to be evidenced by the OPs screenshot.

havana

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121871935#Comment_121871935

My tenants do not have to pay for refuse. I pay for it via the annual management fees.

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874768#Comment_121874768

It still begs the question of whether I am legally obliged to pay the €175 per year?

If I stayed in the property for many, many years, the bin fees would end up exceeding the deposit. It's a bizarre set of affairs.

Ultimately, RTB will decide -- as I'm certain this case will have to be escalated further.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872251#Comment_121872251

Ahh...nice. If you have a failed argument resort to name-calling...clever tactic! 🙄

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121876892#Comment_121876892

I'm amazed at the level of hostility I have received from some posters for discussing what I feel are legitimate issues against my tenancy.

It's as if some people consider all tenants to be "problems" or liars.

I have had a very stressful time dealing with these letting agents over the past number of years and the sheer level of lies I have discovered since. I come on here asking for legitimate advice, as I have seen others provide very useful information in other threads.

The letting agents cannot possibly be allowed to get away with what they have done to me over the past number of years. That would only enable them to continue the same behaviour to other, future tenants.

It's worth also adding that when I asked them about rent credit and how I can receive it, they ignored my initial email. One week later I followed up with a second email asking about it, and they sent an email to me saying that this was an "opportune moment" to tell me the property had suddenly been sold and that I should seek alternative accommodation going forward. In other words, they said they would provide me with the rent credit details in lieu of me choosing to leave the apartment. In actual fact, the property was never sold and this was a total lie to get me to leave the property. The property itself was never registered with the RTB.

These are sick, nasty agents. How anyone can defend them over me, I simply cannot understand.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877064#Comment_121877064

Honestly, I'm amazed at it too.

When you rent a house it's your house. The landlord or whoever needs to give you 24 hours' notice and cannot just walk through the door if you don't answer it.

The lease looks dodgy as hell, but what can you expect from the level of cowboy landlords we have now. There are maybe 4 or 5 items there that RTB could have a look at.

Unfortunately, trespassing isn't a criminal offense, and since the letting agent left when you asked, there's not much you can do.

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877095#Comment_121877095

It's a shame that it's not a criminal offense, it should be.

A private citizen has no right to enter the private property of another person, even under lease -- and it's a disgrace that no law exists to counter people, such as the letting agent who entered, from doing so.

That said, I hope that the RTB will consider it egregious enough to side with my argument. Though that said, whilst I don't have video footage of the incident in question, there are other forms of evidence that exists which the letting agent would have a hard time trying to explain away.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872291#Comment_121872291

Why?

I rarely answer someone at my door. When someone rings the bell, I check my doorbell camera and decide whether to open it. If I was in the OPs situation and the letting agent arrived without prior notice then I would have left her waiting on the doorstep.

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877112#Comment_121877112

When the person entered the apartment, I had no idea who they were -- whether they were there to cause me harm, I had no idea. I had never experienced anything like it before, I was shocked it even happened.

I could have been without clothing and this person could just have appeared in my apartment.

As I said, it's alarming. I'm very, very angry at the letting agent for violating my tenancy and privacy in that respect, though it seems some are perfectly happy that the letting agent had done so.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877130#Comment_121877130

You could have been in the middle of chopping up the body of someone you had just murdered too. :)

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877149#Comment_121877149

Come on, please don't be flippant like that.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877157#Comment_121877157

Would you think perhaps that you are a little tightly wound here and nothing really happened apart from an estate agent tried to contact you and couldnt, then called up and knocked on the door. When there was no answer they were a bit worried and went in to check. They found you were still alive and left.

Jmc25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121871500#Comment_121871500

Have you any evidence to support your assertion that there’s no doubt that the OP was presented with an invoice for the bin charges?

Jmc25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121871397#Comment_121871397

This is a key piece of information in this episode. There was an inspection arranged for a few days later, so the agent no reason to enter property before that date.

Based purely on the information provided by the OP it seems highly unlikely to me that the RTB would agree that the agent had a right to enter the property without the tenants permission purely because the tenant ignored two phone calls and a knock on the door, especially as it seems that this all happened over the course of a few hours.

Escapees

"I'm amazed at the level of hostility I have received from some posters for discussing what I feel are legitimate issues against my tenancy.

It's as if some people consider all tenants to be "problems" or liars.

These are sick, nasty agents. How anyone can defend them over me, I simply cannot understand."

One can't help but notice some hypocrisy with the quotes from the OP's last post above... A bit like the pot calling the kettle black!!

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877329#Comment_121877329

Anyone who seeks to lie to someone to profit is engaged in an act of fraud -- as the letting agents have done.

I will not apologise for calling that mendacious action out.

And anyone who engages in such behaviour -- over and over again -- knows exactly what they are doing, lying to people to generate income -- and yes, that's nasty, and it makes the letting agents nasty people.

Again, I won't apologise for calling nasty people out for what they are.

Defend them if you wish, but I would like to assume you are in a minority.

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877172#Comment_121877172

No, they admitted when they entered they heard me there but entered nonetheless.

Your characterisation is made up, it's wrong; it's an attempt to make the tenant look bad.

concerned_tenant

Just to follow-up on this.

Twice I raised in emails now -- both on the 5th March (when she unlawfully entered my apartment) and on the 8th (my official move-out date) -- her transgression into my space and both times, completely ignored. I think that silence speaks volumes because anyone who were innocent of such an allegation would take the time to at least deny it.

That aside, I reached out to the letting agent today requesting my deposit to be paid back to be in full, given the list of transgressions against me during my tenancy -- many of which I have outlined over the course of this thread (the unlawful clauses in the lease; the unlawful rent increases; the unlawful entry to my apartment; their refusal to pay for essential repairs and maintenance, asking me to shoulder all costs etc.).

I said to her that failing to provide me with my deposit in full would mean I will contact RTB and refer all unlawful activity to them, and to seek my deposit back too.

I said I would not communicate with her any further as she lost all moral and legal legitimacy to deal with my deposit.

Escapees

You do what you do... Sure you can update us (again) in due course when it's all said and done. Incidentally, note that reaching out to someone does not normally involve stating that you will not communicate with them any further! :)

Padre_Pio

Best of luck with it OP!

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121879718#Comment_121879718

I agree, but I had to at least communicate my path going forward.

concerned_tenant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870572#Comment_121870572

By the way, this post has 17 thanks and completely misrepresents my position.

The letting agent in question several weeks ago gave me a glowing reference to those reviewing my latest application. I was the perfect tenant i.e. always paid rent on time -- and never caused an issue. The apartment remained perfectly upheld and I never caused an issue with neighbours over the course of three years.

Second, I was not "ignoring communications" from the letting agent. I never have done so. Instead like most people in the world, sometimes we have very busy days. That day, I ignored all communications given my work and personal commitments. I had every intention of getting back to all those who contacted me that day. There is no legal obligation to get back to anyone - letting agent or friend or family member or random person - within a few hours. Let's be reasonable here, not religiously anti-tenant.

Third, what happened at the time happened during the last week of the lease. She unlawfully entered the apartment on March 5, when we already had agreed to meet on March 8 for the final inspection. Given the timeframe, I was obviously trying to clean the apartment as best possible during the final week. It wasn't the last day, nor was it the last hour. Again, you misrepresent my characterisation.

Fourth, I never broke the lease agreement. Bin charges, according to the contract I signed, are only paid at the very end of the lease, deducted from my deposit at a rate of €175 per annum. You just made that up, again.

All rent was paid to date, on time.

I left the apartment, as agreed, on March 8 - with full rent paid throughout my tenancy.

So for all the people liking that comment, assuming I'm some awful tenant deserving of financial exploitation by the letting agents, perhaps you should think again before blindly agreeing to a randomer who knows nothing about my situation -- yet who claims to know everything.

As a former landlord it think from all the info provided by OP agent was out of order on several counts and should be held to account. Most landlords would expect their agents to act correctly, goodness knows they cost enough to act on your behalf.