Situation with the landlord

Sorry, the post will be long and I would appreciate if you could read it to the end.
I am a tenant. Have been since I came to Ireland over 13 years ago. Have been renting my current apartment for the last 8 years. During those 8 years me and my wife tried to be the best tenants possible. We don't smoke, don't drink, have no kids, have no pets. Never have a party in our apartment. My wife is a master of sports in swimming, I'm into sports as well. I work nights as a supervisor responsible for deliveries for a huge Irish company, so I sleep in days, work nights. My wife follows her intense fitness routine so 8.30 pm she goes to bed, 6 am she is already training in the gym. We travel a lot as well so I thought we are the best tenants a landlord could wish for.

When we moved in to our current apartment, 8 years ago, we had to pay the deposit to our current landlord 1 month before moving in and we viewed the apartment while somebody was still living there (please note this as this is important). The landlord promised us that apartment will be professionally cleaned upon moving in and it will be spotless as it wasn't in great condition on viewing. So the date came to move in, we left our old apartment and moved to our current one. Of course no cleaning was done here, walls dirty, bathroom stinking, mattress dirty, no water pressure, living room's furniture covered in some stuff I don't even want to think about. I wasn't looking for any conflicts with my landlord from day 1 so all I asked for was if we could have a kettle and microwave provided for us. LL gave us a kettle that was burned inside so I had to point that out and then they replaced it and brought a microwave along side it.

After asking numerous times to replace the couch in the living room and getting the same answer "sure, will do", we had to replace it ourself. We replaced mattress too, no bother. Bought some furniture. Asked LL to paint the walls, LL says sure but you will have to move out for a few days. That didn't suit us so I told her I can paint it myself, but she will have to cover the costs. She agreed. I bought good paint, painted it nicely in all rooms, the total bill for paint, brushes etc was 220 euro, receipt provided, and the LL started giving out to me that LL could get somebody to paint it cheaper. Mind you I didn't take a cent for the actual job done. So that was sorted, apartment is looking well as we look after it, whenever something brakes, we replace it our self. Things like kettle, replaced 3 times over 8 years, hoover replaced 2 times. Over 2 years ago the carpet in living room started to loose some bits when you hoover it. We live on the top floor, sunny side, so the sun probably got that patch near the balcony dry and it started to fall apart. Reported it to LL over 2 years ago, was told they will get new carpet after christmas on sale. After 2 years I bought a carpet myself. Over those 8 years our rent went up twice, 1st time by 100 euro, second time by 150 euro. I live in rent pressure zone and those increases were against the law, but I agreed to them as the location of apartment suits me perfectly, being just 15 minutes away from work by walk. Also in our building we had an issue with birds nesting inside the roof as there was a massive hole in the roof. Right outside our bedroom. This situation wasn't dealt with for about 6 years. Another thing is window cleaning. There was a massive construction site for a couple of years right outside our building, so dust and all was on all windows 24/7 for 2 years. We live on the top floor, 4th, so we can not clean windows everywhere because we can't access them. So there is a company that cleans them. Everywhere except our apartment. I pointed that out a few times until I gave up. Not once in 8 years they cleaned our windows. I hope you can see here that we are decent tenants, and we do care about the property as if it was our own. I hope.

Well all was good until last october. We were on 3 weeks holidays abroad and on the last day LL called me and told they are going to sell the property. Of course we were destroyed by that. The LL said not to worry, the situation on the rental marked is mad and if we can't find a place by the end we won't end up on the street (please note this also). After our initial 1st year contract we lived here without extending the contract for 5 more years and then LL offered us to sign the contract, so we did. 5 months into our new contract they give us 4 months notice of termination. According to years that we lived there we are entitled to 6 months I pointed that out and LL agreed. So the termination notice was served and 3 days after that we had 90% of our stuff packed in boxes and ready to go. We were trying to find our new home for 5 month, going as far as Portlaoise, attending numerous viewings and zero results. So 1 month before the dreaded date of termination the LL calls me and tells me no matter what but the property must be vacant on the last day (remember LL told me we won't be forced out onto the street). So I went to threshold to inquire about my options in case I won't find a property. They looked at my termination notice and told me it is invalid as the statutory declaration was not served alongside the notice. So I called RTB just to make sure this is the case, explained the situation and they told me the notice is invalid. Ok so, I called the LL and asked for the declaration to be sent to me, LL said no bother (LL still didn't send it as of now). Next day LL calls me and says they are after talking to PRTB and they were told since I didn't object the notice in the first 28 days, then the notice is valid even without the declaration. So I got back to threshold, explained everything, they told me as there was no declaration, the notice is void to begin with and there was nothing to object. All these takes time and now I have less than a week until the final day. So I call PRTB again and tell them what threshold told me, RTB tells me to start a dispute so I did. Last night LL called me to ask about new place, I told nothing so far and told about RTB dispute. LL wasn't happy, told me I won't get a nice place now with open dispute and that LL is going to start a dispute against me. Oh well. On monday we will talk again, will see what is going to happen. But things that worry me are:

1-Every time when LL increased our rent they motivated it in such way: the management company wants all residents here to pay same rents. Well I know a good few people in my block and they all pay significantly different rents for the same apartments, some are paying the same rent for the last 9 years as their LL never increased it. So this is weird to me.

2-LL told me they are under huge pressure from the bank to sell the property but they won't bother us with people coming here to valuate or view the property. (Remember I asked you to note that we had to pay deposit 1 month before moving in and the viewing was done with people still living in the apartment, and all that was when LL wasn't under pressure) and at the beginning LL said they will sell it as is and now LL says next day after I move out there will be a painter painting the apartment.

3- four months after I received the notice the LL asked me if we are ok with being sold to a new LL as living tenants. We said we are ok with that and that is actually good for us. But LL says the rent will have to be brought up to market price, to about 1600 per month. I pay below that now and I mentioned that new LL can of course increase the rent but only by 4%. LL says oh no they will not agree to that, even though they don't know who they are selling it to.

4- I asked around my friends and there are 2 people who recently were sold as living in tenants with no problem. So I called my LL and asked again to maybe try and sell us as living in. LL said "no" straight away this time as they were told by Sherry Fitzgerald, our management company, that they will not bother selling an apartment with living in tenants as they run into problems doing just that very recently. I asked the LL to try and sell the property with different agency if Sherry doesn't want it and LL said no, they can only sell it with this company as they are the company that manages this complex. Very weird to me especially that it is easy to see other companies and private landlords selling in our complex with no problem.

5- I was told one of the reasons LL does not provide statutory declaration is because LL often just want the tenant out to increase the rent and not to actually sell it. About a month ago an agent from daft contacted me because I applied for viewing, saying the property I applied for is not for rent any more however he has another one just like that for less money right beside it but it can not be advertised on daft because of landlord's personal reasons. So that's what they are doing I suppose.

6- I am a bit annoyed that my LL mentions things like "you know, we better be friends as I will have to give you references for new landlord" or "oh you started the dispute? then forget about a contract longer than 12 months". Well, the reason I started the dispute or even went to threshold is because LL pushed me against the wall, cornered me. First LL said no pressure, you won't end up on the street, now story changed to I absolutely must leave the building. I can't let this happen. I explained to LL that last 6 months since receiving notice were hell for us, we are living on the boxes, can't order some important stuff for us from abroad as it will be a few weeks long shipping and I don't know if I'm still going to be here in 3 or 4 weeks. Missed days like my birthday, christmas, new year, other significant days we normally celebrate because of stress. I understand that most likely we will be issued with the proper notice this time, 7 months, but it is not our intention to stay here for another 7 months, our intention is not to end up on the street. That's all.

7-Couple of month ago I was invited for a viewing. It was on the next day after I had to pay my rent for a next month. So I asked my LL, if viewing is successful, what is going to happen with the rent that i just paid you for a month in advance? Will you give it back to me? LL said no, because, even though I'm on the notice already, I still have to give LL 30 days notice to move out. So it's fine for LL that I would have to pay 3K to move to a new place, pay 1K to my LL for moth that I am not going to live there but providing me with the statutory declaration is a big issue and how dare I go to initiate the dispute with PRTB.
8-I'm a little bit annoyed that my LL is trying make me feel guilty for their troubles (if what LL says is true). LL says they have 4 kids and that they will loose their business and their home if they fail to sell this 1 bedroom apartment by the 1st of June. The only thing is as far as I know my LL works as a doctor, husband have business and they live in a massive house in Bray. How would they loose all that if they didn't sell 1 bed apartment is beyond me. Also a couple of times LL mentioned to me that because they are a family with kids and we are a family of only 2 people without kids then that makes us somewhat less of human than them. Not directly but with that meaning.

9-If PRTB by some reason rules into LL's favor and Threshold says we are right, what should I do? Who to listen to?

Thanks for your time reading this. I guess this was more to vent than to ask for advice but if you can give some I would appreciate it. We have to wait now for RTB decision and will see then. In the mean time I am still hoping to find some decent 1 bedroom apartment. We have excellent references. I am a valued employee, been selected as employee of the quarter so hopefully that says something. My income is not huge, but over 50K a year so we always pay rent and bills in time. ooh. Feels better now. Thanks for reading.