advice please?

daywalker

im posting this question for someone i know, so any advice would be greatly appreciated

this person has just moved into a house share in dublin, with 3 other people that she knows, they have paid their deposit and 1 months rent. all the bedrooms were of different sizes so they pulled lots to see who would get each bedroom. one of the girls was not present for the drawing of the names, but agreed over the phone to this procedure.

When the other girl arrived to dublin, she found that the room she had gotten in the draw, was the smallest, so her mother went into the room of the person that i know, while the person was in college registering,( the room that she had got was the second largest) and removed all her stuff out of the drawers and cabinets and threw them into the smallest bedroom, so that her daughter could get a larger room. :eek:

This person has since moved out of the house because of this and is looking for alternative accomodation, but the landlord is refusing to return her deposit and rent, even though 1. she is fully aware of what has happened and 2. she says that she can get the deposit back at the end of the college year. bear in mind that this person has only been in the house for 2 nights.

What rights does this person have in getting her deposit and rent back? is she entitled to consider legal proceedings against the mother of one of the girls for invasion of privacy?

MorningStar

Generally a landllord rents a house to a group of people. The deposit covers the whole house and is not broken down by the individual. If a one person moves out the rent does not have to reduce or deposit returned.
In saying that some landlords rent rooms individually then it is all worked out individually so what is the situation. So what was it rented out?

When I was a student renting I moved out of a shared house and I was not given my deposit straight away but I agreed if I got a replacement tenant I would get it. I got a new guy and therfore my part of the deposit back.

The real question is why did they not kick the girl out for moving the stuff and support the one who moved out?
Why should the landlord cover a problem of the people renting? The deposit will be returned as a whole which seems fair. Get a replacement tenant with a deposit and give it to the girl who moved out.

I would say the girl has a case against the mother and daughter. The daughter isn't void of responsibility as she is benifiting and could of said stop or sorted the problem out herself.

homeOwner

I would imagine that she has no case with the landlord as he has done nothing wrong. She moved in with the other two girls whom she knew so its not like she is dealing with some random person the landlord got in to share the house.

She might have no case with the mother either as the mother didnt take anything, her belongings are in the other room. She may have a case for invasion of privacy but if there was no lock on the door and the door was open then I dont know.....perhaps a civil matter for the courts but to what end?

What kind of compensation is she looking for? and for what? I presume she signed a contract with the landlord to rent for a year and she is now looking to break it. Maybe pleading with the landlords sense of decency if she finds a replacement for herself....better still, find the replacement and get the deposit and rent off her and let that new person deal with the landlord at the end of the year.

What happened was disgraceful but her beef is with the other girl and she should take it up with her. What I would have done is moved back into the other room immediately and put a lock on the door and reported the girl/mother to the police. I dont think the police would have much time for this unfortunately, considering they wont do anything when neighbours are noisy and disturbing the peace. I think your friend gave up too easily and should have stood her ground. That kind of bullying is awful in your own home. Can the 3rd girl in the house do anything to mediate the situation? Is there any talking to the girl who did this? Has she any large brothers to help her reclaim her room back?

daywalker

the house was rented out by one person for the whole group, so the deposit was a lump sum for everybody.

the reason the person moved out was because the other two girls sided with the girl whose mother threw out the belongings of the person that i know, she even met them on the way back from college after registration and they did not even say anything to her.

so the girl that has moved out will have to find a replacement tenant, even though she was not the one who had caused all the trouble, it was her privacy that was violated.

homeOwner

daywalker wrote:

so the girl that has moved out will have to find a replacement tenant, even though she was not the one who had caused all the trouble, it was her privacy that was violated.

Its a true saying, if you want to know me come and live with me. Your friend has learnt a hard lesson.

As revenge maybe she could find a really annoying person to take her place, maybe a smoker if the others dont smoke, or a really untidy person, or someone who likes to play loud music at all hours I almost feel sorry for the new person who comes into the house - those girls sound like complete b1tches.

MorningStar

daywalker wrote:

the reason the person moved out was because the other two girls sided with the girl whose mother threw out the belongings of the person that i know, she even met them on the way back from college after registration and they did not even say anything to her.

Well she is right not to live there then. What kind of logic did they use? I am really curious as it sounded like all was agreed and then one changed their mind and the others backed her without reason are they all called Heather?
Tell her to go to the civil court and sue for distress, deposit and rent. It is only a few euro to file a case and no lawyer needed.

daywalker

daywalker wrote:

the house was rented out by one person for the whole group, so the deposit was a lump sum for everybody.

I was mistaken on this point, they had elected a spokesperson for dealing with the landlord, but each had paid their rent and deposit individually.

MorningStar

daywalker wrote:

I was mistaken on this point, they had elected a spokesperson for dealing with the landlord, but each had paid their rent and deposit individually.

It is still pretty clear that the property was rented as whole to a group. The landlord may have taken the money by individual but that doesn't make the rooms rented individually. Rooms would have been assigned in that case.

I can't believe friends would act like this and then not even sort out the money side of things themselves. The landlord doesn't really seem to be anyway responsible for this. What is happening with the room and how do they plan to pay the rent now they are short one?

daywalker

MorningStar wrote:

It is still pretty clear that the property was rented as whole to a group. The landlord may have taken the money by individual but that doesn't make the rooms rented individually. Rooms would have been assigned in that case.

I can't believe friends would act like this and then not even sort out the money side of things themselves. The landlord doesn't really seem to be anyway responsible for this. What is happening with the room and how do they plan to pay the rent now they are short one?

according to the landlord the rent and bills will be divided between three, unless they themselves can find a fourth person.

homeOwner

daywalker wrote:

I was mistaken on this point, they had elected a spokesperson for dealing with the landlord, but each had paid their rent and deposit individually.

Did they all sign 1 lease or did one person sign it on behalf of everyone
else or were there 4 seperate leases?

MorningStar

daywalker wrote:

according to the landlord the rent and bills will be divided between three, unless they themselves can find a fourth person.

That seems fair enough. A landlord does have his own expenses and I can't see any logic where he should pay for them messing around.