Anyone any experience dealing with RTB?

A new tenant has 6 months before the start a part4 you could have issued a 28 day notice without a reason might got out before the new covid legislation now the are on part 4 and are entitled to 6 years.
The law states nobody can be evicted till later this month and that could change.
Given this new layer of tenant protection I would seek legal advise and this will start with an arrears notice 14+1 days the foll on notice to quit is prohibited under the new law so after lodge a complaint with the RTB.
prepare for a long draw out process, the subletting is cheeky

Welcome to the world of landlords
I assume you checked references ,payslips etc before leasing the apartment
You are going to find it very difficult and very expensive to get your property back

PSOC_2020 wrote: »

. They are both managers in the same company - not sure if I can follow up with the company itself ...

The fact that they both are managers in the same company is irrelevant.
Your relationship is with your tenants not anyone else.
Tread wearily before attempting to contact them at their place of employment.

I'd be inclined to get a new sim card and enquire about the room to rent maybe even offer over the asking and turn up to view it, see how they react when they see you.

Are you not the victim of a scam or fraud? I'd get the guards involved.

Might be stating the obvious here but have you not called around to them and asked them for their reasons for not paying rent?

you should consider they could be reading this thread

I think visiting the unresponsive tenants is justifiable, you can call it a welfare check as you heard nothing from them in months. Simply text/email them in the morning advising that you are coming over today at 8pm to "check if they are ok or if they need help because you worry about them". This way you will secure all avenues with the RTB in case they claim you just showed up to harass them. Also, make sure you take screen shots of the Daft ads, they would be super helpful at the hearing, otherwise they will say "never happened". From now on all your correspondence with them is via email or text, no more phone calls unless you download an app e.g. Cube ACR that records all your calls automatically to your phone. If a call happens without a recording then send them a quick text afterwards thanking for the call and state in it what you both agreed or chatted about.

I am a tenant myself, not a landlord but hate when tenants take advantage of the other side or cause damages to places. I play fair. You sound like a good and respectful landlord.

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Sounds like they may well have gone home and are now trying to sub let your apartment. I'd call around or at least arrange a viewing of the room they're trying to sublet. It's utter madness that this can be allowed to go on. The RTB are an absolutely useless organisation.

I agree with this, if you dont want to do the viewing yourself, surely you have someone you can ask to go and do it for you and get you back the relevant information

PSOC_2020 wrote: »

Agree 100%. RTB seem to only represent the interests of tenants - there is no come back for this kind of wrong-doing, excepyt going through a long dispute process with practically 0 chance of resolution.

The RTB confirmed that I cannot approach the tenants under any circumstances until the eviction ban has been lifted, even if they don't respond to requests to inspect the apartment.

They further confirmed that tenants do have the right to sub-let, as long as they inform the landlord (can be after the fact!!)

Wow!

How unfair is that.

Are you sure they are even living there themselves? I know of one Brazilian who worked for a language school who rented several apartments under pretext as a couple and then sublet rooms - and even beds - on short lets to his overseas students. He was making a fortune. So the first thing I would do would be to drop round and find out who is actually living there. If not your tenants, then advise the actual residents they will have to start paying you rent.

dennyk wrote: »

There may be some confusion in terminology at play. Actually subletting (moving out yourself and letting your rented residence out to another full tenant who will live there in your place) requires the permission of the landlord. Letting out a room in your rented property to a licensee while you still live there (which some people also refer to as "subletting", even though it doesn't fall under the legal definition) does not require permission from the landlord; the landlord only need to be informed of the name of the person who the tenant has invited to stay with them. (If said guest violates the lease in some way, e.g. anti-social behaviour, damaging the property, creating an overcrowding situation in violation of local codes, etc., then the landlord may be able to serve the tenant notice on those grounds, though; the tenant is still fully responsible for ensuring the tenancy agreement terms are not violated by any of their guests...)

The RT certainly know the difference and the poster certainly was up not told what he claims. Most leases will restrict the ability of the tenant to allow anyone else to live in the property without the permission of the landlord. The usual clause is "shall not share, part possession with or allow any other party to be in occupation". If a licensee comes in, the landlord can simply serve a notice for breach of condition and terminate the tenancy on those grounds.