# rent allowance problems



## tommylynch (5 Jun 2012)

Hi, I have been renting a room in a shared house for the last few years. The owner and one other guy shares the building. Its a three bedroom house in the suburbs. My self and the other tenant receive rent allowance. Our rent is 375 and 350 respectively.

We (seperately) received a letter from the cwo (community welfare officer) that the maximum rent our landlord can charge us is 300 each. I know, the landlord knows and the CWO knows that the landlord cannot afford to reduce the rent to this amount. 

We have an annual rental agreement signed last Feb and January agreeing rent for the next 12 months.

I have looked for other rooms to share in my general and neighbouring areas. The cheapest rent is 375, so I know Im getting a bargan!
The CWO has now stated that unless my landlord accepts the rent of 300 he is going to stop the rent.

My landlord has now said that if I cant pay the rent he will give me 14 days rental arrears notice followed by the standard notice as dictated by the PRTB.

My question (s) 
1. If I leave this accommodation I will be in the same situation ie unable to pay the market rent. Is this the policy of the community welfare officer?
2. Do I have any rights?
3. Where can I go if Im evicted?


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## gipimann (5 Jun 2012)

It's not a policy of the SWA officer (formerly called the Community Welfare Officer). 

The rules of the Rent Supplement scheme state that if the rent exceeds the maximum limit for your family size, accommodation type and county then Rent Supplement is not payable.   The rules are set by the Dept of Social Protection.

The maximum rent limits were reduced from Jan 2012, and were applied to existing Rent Supplement tenants from whenever the claim was reviewed.


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## tommylynch (5 Jun 2012)

thanks gipimann.
If the landlord does not agree with the rent reduction as set out by the swa, can I be evicted? 
Also if the market rent exceeds the rent as allowed by the SWA, where am I or indeed any other tenant in receipt of Rent allowance supposed to go?
What options are out there?


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## computerman (5 Jun 2012)

sorry to jump in on this. but from a landlords perspective, i had a similar problem in a house in Palmerstown. 
SWA droped the rent by about 20 % less than the market rent. I was left with no alternitive other than to issue a notice to quit. Eventually got the house empty and got new tenants not on welfare paying 80 euro more per month than I was getting from the previous tenants (before the rental decrease).
I gave good references to my last tenants, they were a good family with kids in local schools. Regretably the father has had to go to the uk for work, one of the kids is living with her grandmother, while the mother is living with her son in a friends house.

Joan Burtons social policies are a credit to her - not


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## Ildánach (11 Jun 2012)

You should get a letter from your landlord to say that he cannot reduce the rent.  If you compile evidence that you cannot secure appropriate accommodation for under the limit, you can go back to the rents unit and ask for them to exercise their discretion in your favour - point to all the circumstances that apply, including that you are contracted for the remainder of your lease.

They have the discretion to authorise more than the limits, and a refusal to do so can be appealed, on limited grounds.  Landlords however are not legally obliged to wait for their rent while the appeal goes on.  You could argue that landlord has implicitly agreed to be bound by the conditions which apply to rent supplement, if they were aware and accepted you as a rent supplement tenant.

If your landlord is prepared to reduce the rent slightly, even if he can't reduce it to the amount that they are looking for, then you'd be in a much better position.  Similarly, if you request that you be allowed to stay in the property, only until the tenancy runs out, you are giving the rents unit more and more reasons why they could, or should, exericise their discretion in your favour.


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