# Landlord increasing rent



## Parazard (6 May 2013)

Well here is how unfortunately it tends to go...far from tenants bullying landlords, it is the other way around.

Long story short: landlord does not fix stuff (e.g. toilet broken for 6 months, refuses to fix a latch on outside door saying we should just leave it open). I patiently wait, eventually it gets fixed, then he accuses me of not following up on something (because he forgot he said he'd do it) I bring this up and he gets annoyed, says that it is not his responsibility to fix stuff, shows lease agreement saying that (in spite of act) and gives notice of increase in rent to E1400 from E1200 (up 15%). This is for a 2 bed bungalow Dublin 12 (border with D6W) barely up to a livable standard. 

Who is bullying?! 

You'll say well just move then but moving costs money and stress, a lot of landlords don't allow pets.

Now with no regularization regarding maximum rent rates how can one prove an ever changing market rate?

People's homes should not be a 'profitable business', having a roof over a head is a basic human need and  profiting and/or taking advantage of this is simply wrong and people should be protected.

By the way any suggestions welcome.


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## Bronte (6 May 2013)

Parazard said:


> Now with no regularization regarding maximum rent rates how can one prove an ever changing market rate?


 
Do you think your increase brings the rent above market rate. Then if so you should complain to the PRTB. 

Did you try negotiating with the landlord on the rent increase. Did you tell him you cannot afford it and that you will leave, he might then decide not to increase it (if he can afford it) rather than lose you. 

If the place you are renting is barely livable, why did you pick that particular property?  You say you don't want to move, but your landlord sounds apalling.  No way should you have to endure a broken toilet for six months, you should have told the landlord that if it wasn't repaired within a week that you'd get the repair done and deduct it from the rent.


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## Dermot (6 May 2013)

Parazard said:


> Now with no regularization regarding maximum rent rates how can one prove an ever changing market rate?
> People's homes should not be a 'profitable business', having a roof over a head is a basic human need and  profiting and/or taking advantage of this is simply wrong and people should be protected.
> By the way any suggestions welcome.




From what you state you would appear to have a poor landlord so I would advise you move on as like bad tenants bad landlords rarely change. I know it will cost money and stress to change but this will be short term and your best solution is to give notice to your landlord that you are leaving and go house hunting. 

I find it difficult to see how any organisation can enforce the reduction of rent on a Landlord and how long are you prepared to wait to find this out.

You may not have meant it they way it is printed but in order to stay in business landlords have to make a profit to stay in business. I do not know where you get the idea that landlords have a social obligation to put a roof over peoples heads.

I am a landlord myself and have a very good relationship with all my tenants.


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## shesells (6 May 2013)

Dermot said:


> You may not have meant it they way it is printed but in order to stay in business landlords have to make a profit to stay in business. I do not know where you get the idea that landlords have a social obligation to put a roof over peoples heads.
> I am a landlord myself and have a very good relationship with all my tenants.



I would say you are in the minority of landlords..most would like to be able to cover costs but are topping up mortgages themselves. Profit is just a dream.


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## Dermot (6 May 2013)

shesells said:


> I would say you are in the minority of landlords..most would like to be able to cover costs but are topping up mortgages themselves. Profit is just a dream.



I am very lucky to have very competitive tracker mortgages and I do a lot of work on them myself which if I could draw pay for it I would have to do it for less than the minimum wage.  It is quite marginal what I make and I have been at it a long time so I have properties subsidising other properties.

I totally understand and agree with your post


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## serotoninsid (6 May 2013)

Parazard said:


> People's homes should not be a 'profitable business', having a roof over a head is a basic human need and  profiting and/or taking advantage of this is simply wrong and people should be protected.


You're kidding, right? Are you saying that private landlords should provide a social service at their own expense?

As regards 'bullying', where is there 'bullying'?  It's amounts to a financial decision.  If you feel you can do better elsewhere (and it's worth the inconvenience of moving), then you should do that.  Having pets is a personal choice - I know it must be a point of frustration but there is good reason why a proportion of landlords simply don't allow them.

You seem to suggest that some sort of mechanism should be in place to set rental rates.  It's less intervention that is required - not more bureaucracy.  The market dictates market rates. That's a system that works - even if at times it will be moving in the wrong direction for either the tenant or the landlord.


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## ajapale (6 May 2013)

Parazard said:


> Now with no regularization regarding maximum rent rates.



Has there ever been rent control in the private residental rental market in Ireland?

Have you considered contacting the private tenancy advocacy group Threshold.ie?

Is your landlord registered with PRTB?


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## jonocon (6 May 2013)

In regards to rent control the Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck once wrote, “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.”


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## AlbacoreA (6 May 2013)

Parazard said:


> ...You'll say well just move then but moving costs money and stress, ....



Sound like thats what happening now even without moving. 

This LL won't change.


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## oldnick (6 May 2013)

Just out of interest I googled Daft in 6W for houses up to 1400 a month. You can get a four bedroomed house in T'ogue at that price, and at 1100-1300 several other houses in 6W area.

Dublin 12 is even cheaper. No way a two bedroomed bungalow should rent at 1400.
I should review my rents !

Get out now and start a new happier life....


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## Parazard (22 Jul 2014)

serotoninsid said:


> You're kidding, right? Are you saying that private landlords should provide a social service at their own expense?
> 
> As regards 'bullying', where is there 'bullying'?



Very late reply but for future reference...bullying is because the rent increase was suddenly announced when I dared challenge the landlord on the fact that he had not carried out repairs (i.e. one toilet blocked for 4 months, kitchen splashback broken, roof leaking and serious ventilation problem) and would not take on the responsability and financial burden of doing his job when I had already spent a huge amount of time researching something for him (long and boring story). I also dared ask if he'd be so kind as to replace the mattress, which was 30 years old, black and with a massive dent in the middle. He retaliated by upping the rent.


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## Bronte (22 Jul 2014)

Parazard said:


> (i.e. one toilet blocked for 4 months, kitchen splashback broken, roof leaking and serious ventilation problem
> 
> I also dared ask if he'd be so kind as to replace the mattress, which was 30 years old, black and with a massive dent in the middle.


 
I asked before and again now, why on earth would you rent such a property?  Didn't you see the mattress before you rented?  Cannot believe he is getting 1200€ for this.


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## serotoninsid (22 Jul 2014)

Parazard said:


> Very late reply but for future reference...bullying is because the rent increase was suddenly announced when I dared challenge the landlord on the fact that he had not carried out repairs



For _future_ reference is it? I wasn't commenting on any reference you made about 'bullying'.  I was commenting specifically on this =>



			
				Parazard said:
			
		

> *People's homes should not be a 'profitable business'*, having a roof over a head is a basic human need and profiting and/or taking advantage of this is simply wrong and people should be protected.






			
				Parazard said:
			
		

> I also dared ask if he'd be so kind as to replace the mattress, which was 30 years old, black and with a massive dent in the middle.


Can you not go and buy your own mattress - and use it at your current and any future property?  Would you not feel better sleeping on it than on what you otherwise describe?  This feeds into the argument that properties should be let unfurnished - as is the practice on the continent.  Otherwise, LLs will provide substandard furnishings and tenants won't look after same (at least, not like they would had they had to go out and buy them for themselves).


Otherwise, what bronte said.  You are not happy there.  Move to somewhere that you would be happy.


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## delgirl (22 Jul 2014)

serotoninsid said:


> For _future_This feeds into the argument that *properties should be let unfurnished - as is the practice on the continent*.  Otherwise, LLs will provide substandard furnishings and tenants won't look after same (at least, not like they would had they had to go out and buy them for themselves).


We have rental property in Switzerland and the law there states that tenants are obliged to cover minor repairs up to the value of CHF 100 (approx. €82).  IMHO, this system should be introduced here and it will lead to tenants taking better care of the property they are renting.

For example, if a tenant has taken over a property that has a well working toilet and that toilet becomes blocked, who is to blame?  The landlord because he owns the toilet or the tenant because his/her family has put something in the toilet that has caused the blockage?

I have been asked by tenants to send a plumber to clear a blocked toilet only for the plumber to find things other than human waste and toilet paper causing the blockage.  I now provide small bins in each bathroom and, at the beginning of each tenancy during the handover, I ask the tenant to use them for anything other than human waste and paper and inform them that if the toilet is blocked due to carelessness, they will have to pay to have it cleared themselves.

I also provide a strainer in each kitchen sink and point it out to the tenants during the handover with the warning that if they remove the strainer and block the drain with food, they will have to clear the blockage themselves or pay a plumber to do so.  

I've been a Landlord since 1991 and could write a book about the number of things that have been broken by careless tenants who then expect the landlord to replace them at the LL's expense.  I've also been a tenant for 8 years during that time, so I've experienced both sides.


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## AlbacoreA (23 Jul 2014)

delgirl said:


> ... IMHO, this system should be introduced here ...



Any system or rules are meaningless unless they are enforced promptly. 

As such new laws and rules will not help.

Successive Govts have ignored the problems in the rental market, and social housing. Thats the cause of this chaos.


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## mandelbrot (23 Jul 2014)

serotoninsid said:


> Can you not go and buy your own mattress - and use it at your current and any future property?  Would you not feel better sleeping on it than on what you otherwise describe?.



This is exactly what my wife and I did last summer, spent a few hundred on a lovely mattress. Then had to move house a few months later, and the bed base in our current house is a different size, so our mattress is upstairs taking up space and gathering dust, because I wouldn't dream of asking our new landlord to replace a perfectly adequate bed and mattress just to suit us. You see, you can't win!

I'd be delighted if the rental market was unfurnished lettings.


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## mandelbrot (23 Jul 2014)

PS. Do any of the landlords want to buy a good 2nd hand mattress, low mileage...!


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## Bronte (23 Jul 2014)

mandelbrot said:


> Then had to move house a few months later, and the bed base in our current house is a different size, so our mattress is upstairs taking up space and gathering dust,


 
You should cover it in strong plastic and store it in an attic.

The reason I won't buy a good mattress or furniture or nice things is that as an Irish landlord I have to supply strong sturdy stuff that can be replaced easily.  You name it, it's happened to my furniture.  If it cannot be kicked around a bit it cannot be put in my property.  And I much prefer the second hand solid furniture to the new MDF stuff.

That said I bought a good mattress for a couple last year as I think they may stay a while.  Also always supply mattress covers.  

At this stage of my life I cannot understand how Irish tenants would want to sleep on any bed in rented property based on some that I've seen.  The sooner the market is for unfurnished the better.  

Is your mattress in Dublin?  What size is it, how much did it cost you and how much is it on sale for?

You could buy a bed base, that's the cheapest part of a bed and use your 'new' mattress on that, but you'd have to store the current base and mattress too.  

Has the landlord space to store furniture, he might have a garage or attic that is suitable.  I've done this for tenants.


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