# Evicting tenant-rent arrears and unaccepable behaviour



## Boi (13 Jun 2012)

Hi,
I seem to have a mess at my rental property and I want to make sure I do the right thing this time around. 

A new tenant moved in on 05/03/12. He was due rent allowance. When he moved in he gave me deposit but no rent in advance as he told me he is applying to transfer it to my property. I accepted this as it worked out fine with the previous tenant. Yesterday he asked me to reduce rent (by €100) as social welfare told him it is too much, rents have been reduced recently. I refused to reduce rent. 

Up to now I havent received any rent. Basically he is 2 months in arrears as the second one was due 03/06/12.

On another note, last week I received an email from the management company telling me that there has been several complaints about the tenants:
1. begging on the estate-mother and children.
2. dogs running around not on a leach and aggressive to people on the estate.
3. Inappropriate waste disposal-they take it to one of the apartment blocks.
4. trying to sell staff to other people on estate-eg shoes.
5. unsupervised children (aged 9 and 6) playing around in estate.
6. too many cars packed and taking other people's spaces.

Now I have asked him and he denies all this. He says he does not have any dogs. My agent has been to meet him twice before I received this complaints and he said he did not see any dogs.

In a space of 2 days I have received 5 letters of people complaining about the disturbances this tenants are causing. I had other tenants who just moved out in April and no one ever complained about them so I doubt the complaints are without substance.

I really want to evict them now. Where do I stand legally?


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## AlbacoreA (13 Jun 2012)

Hes hasn't paid rent. You should have issued a formal notice as soon as that was late. Now you have to start from scratch. I guess you can do it either on non payment of rent or the Anti Social behaviour. I have no experience of the latter though. 



> Landlords can give less notice if the tenants are not keeping their obligations (28 days) or if there is serious anti-social behaviour (7 days). Anti-social behaviour includes violence, threats or intimidation as well as any persistent behaviour that interferes with neighbours.



http://www.threshold.ie/advice/ending-a-tenancy/termination-of-a-tenancy-by-a-landlord/
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/if_your_landlord_wants_you_to_leave.html


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## GDUFFY (13 Jun 2012)

http://www.irishlandlord.com/index.aspx

Read this website inside out before you do anything ,you must follow certain procedures to evict any tenant or you leave yourself open to a claim.
Do the eviction properly and learn from your mistake in taking in such a badly vetted tenant. I Dont envy your position as it can be a pain to get rid of such tenants from what i've heard.

No affiliation with website.


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## delgirl (13 Jun 2012)

You should issue a 14 day 'Notice of Termination of Tenancy' due to non-payment of rent immediately. It *must* be worded exactly in accordance with PRTB guidelines - see [broken link removed]. Detail the arrears in full, with dates and amounts and any contact you have had with the tenants regarding arrears, verbal or in writing. 

Deliver the notice by hand yourself and take a witness with you.

If they don't pay the *full* amount by the end of the 14 day notice period, you are entitled to issue a 28 day 'Termination of Tenancy Notice' also worded *exactly* according to PRTB requirements - see [broken link removed].

Even if they pay part of the arrears, you are still legally entitled to go ahead and enforce the 28 day termination notice if the full amount due has not been paid within the 14 day period specified. 

Read carefully what the PRTB require in terms of dates - the 14 day period can, for example, only start the day after you have served the notice.

Go back to the property when the 14 days have expired and issue the 28 day Termination notice yourself and, if you are afraid of the tenant or concerned about the level of anti-social behaviour, go to the Gardai and tell them that you are evicting a troublesome tenant, show them the letters of complaint you have received, tell them that you fear a breach of the peace and for your personal safety and they will accompany you to serve the Termination.

Once the tenants see the Guards, hopefully they will move on quickly.

Tell them that, if they choose to do so, they are welcome to leave earlier than the 28 days notice if they find somewhere else to go.

It's easier to go the non-payment of rent route rather than the anti-social behaviour route as it can be difficult to prove that they are responsible for the anti-social behaviour.

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.


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## Knuttell (13 Jun 2012)

Boi said:


> My agent has been to meet him twice before I received this complaints and he said he did not see any dogs.
> 
> In a space of 2 days I have received 5 letters of people complaining about the disturbances this tenants are causing. I had other tenants who just moved out in April and no one ever complained about them so I doubt the complaints are without substance.


Five Letters is usually indicative of the worst type of tenant,people do not bother writing letters for the crack.

I would be asking some serious questions of the Agent in this instance, the picture you have painted of the tenants behavior strongly suggests that they are Roma Gypsies, it would appear that he did not do his job even remotely competently and if you are using a letting agent why is he not advising you of the best course of getting shot of them?


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## G7979 (13 Jun 2012)

delgirl said:


> You should issue a 14 day 'Notice of Termination of Tenancy' due to non-payment of rent immediately. It *must* be worded exactly in accordance with PRTB guidelines - see [broken link removed]. Detail the arrears in full, with dates and amounts and any contact you have had with the tenants regarding arrears, verbal or in writing.
> 
> Deliver the notice by hand yourself and take a witness with you.
> 
> ...


 

While Delgirl is correct in this, with a part 4 lease a landlord may terminate a lease in the first six months without reason by giving 28 days notice, ie no need for the additional 2 weeks to pay the arrears


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## delgirl (14 Jun 2012)

G7979 said:


> While Delgirl is correct in this, with a part 4 lease a landlord may terminate a lease in the first six months without reason by giving 28 days notice, ie no need for the additional 2 weeks to pay the arrears


The OP doesn't state if he/she has a part 4 lease or a fixed term lease.

If it's a fixed term lease, for example a 1 year lease, then the 14 day Notice of Termination followed by the 28 day Termination is the only was to evict within the PRTB guidelines.

Perhaps the OP could let us know what type of lease the tenant has signed?


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## Bronte (14 Jun 2012)

delgirl said:


> Even if they pay part of the arrears, you are still legally entitled to go ahead and enforce the 28 day termination notice if the full amount due has not been paid within the 14 day period specified.
> 
> if you are afraid of the tenant or concerned about the level of anti-social behaviour, go to the Gardai and tell them that you are evicting a troublesome tenant, .


 

Are you suggesting to the OP that she can actually physically evict them after the notice periods are up?

And good luck with the Gardai, they'll tell you it's a civil matter.


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## delgirl (14 Jun 2012)

Bronte said:


> Are you suggesting to the OP that she can actually physically evict them after the notice periods are up?
> 
> And good luck with the Gardai, they'll tell you it's a civil matter.


I don't see anywhere in my posts where I suggested that the OP should / could physically evict the tenants.

As for the Gardai, you are misinformed.  They will assist, and did so without question in my case, if there is likely to be a breach of the peace or if you fear for your personal safety.


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## Bronte (15 Jun 2012)

Sorry Delgirl I did misunderstand you as I've re read your post. Good to know for myself if I have to serve the notice by hand that the gardai will assist. And you've also then got proof of service. Did your tenants leave after that ?  I ask because OP's tenants seen to know exactly what they are at.


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## delgirl (15 Jun 2012)

I was so grateful to the Gardai for their help and am sure that my dreadful tenant wouldn't have left had they not been there to witness that I had served the Notice of Termination on them.

My solicitor is an ex-Garda and he told me to call them and expain what was going on, that 'I feared for my personal safety' and that there may be a 'breach of the peace' on the part of the tenant when they receive the notice.

I had two Gardai in uniform in a patrol car and that was enough for the tenant to get spooked. He had previous convictions, which I didn't know about, was already known to the Gardai and didn't want to draw further attention to himself. I gave him 28 days to move out, which I was obliged to do, and he was gone in 12 days. I served the notice at the front door and told him that the Gardai were here to witness the notice being served and that he therefore could not deny ever having received it - which is also a common ploy of errant tenants.

If the OP approaches the Gardai with all the written complaints from other residents and the written notice to terminate, stating that he/she is afraid of the possibility of violence on the tenants' behalf, they will help.

As you know, if the tenants decide to ignore the 28 day notice to terminate, that opens a whole other can of worms with the PRTB. I was very lucky I didn't have to go there.


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## Boi (27 Jun 2012)

Thank you all for the help. Sorry I havent posted anything since my original post. Unfortunately the fiasco at my property wasnt in the cards and I had other pressing matters and had to go away. I have a one year fixed lease. I am back now and will be issuing notice and will let you know how this goes.
regards.


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