Dealing with unreasonable landlord?

Thrifty

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I've often that the Irish as a nation are obsessed with owning their own home and questioning why we aren't more into renting like our European neighbours. I've come to the conclusion lately that a compelling reason to own your own home is so that you are not at the mercy of some of the more unreasonable landlords out there.

A friend who lives in Dublin recently tried to move from her flat to a small house as she is six months pregnant and finding the stairs at her accommodation too much. She and her partner paid a deposit on the property which they were told they could move into last weekend as the heating and some repairs would be completed then. At the weekend the work was still ongoing and they were told was likely to take another week. they were happy enough to stay in their current place for another week or two while the work was being done.

However the landlord rang on Sunday asking why they had not moved in and when they explained the situation he insisted they move in and that the workmen who were still coming and going to the house could work around them. On their refusal he became very abusive on this and a subsequent call such that my friend is actually quite scared of him. Up to a point she was still considering moving in but the idea of having such an abusive landlord has now put her off and she has requested her deposit back. She according to Threshold has no comback because she had nothing in writing and the landlord has refused to return the deposit. I haven't heard the landlord and perhaps my friend is being oversensitive but its come to the point wheres shes got so stressed she's made herself unwell.

Its not worth the agro certainly and perhaps she should just drop it. The house or moving in was never the problem - its the idea of having to put up with this aggressive, abusive landlord (who owns several other propoerties) and how he will deal with any problems in the future.
 
As someone who's rented in Ireland and abroad for a large number of years I don't doubt your friends version of this story atall. There is still a large number of unscrupulous landlords operating in Ireland but at the end of the day an abusive person invariably needs a facilitator to accept the abuse. If you know your own rights and stand up for yourself you'll never encounter these situations.

Never deal in cash with a landlord. In fact never deal with a landlord who insists on cash.

Because there isn't an above board rental culture in Ireland people only seem to learn their rights the hard way.

http://www.unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=9&si=90425

(free registraion required - story relates to rental scam)
 
She according to Threshold has no comback because she had nothing in writing and the landlord has refused to return the deposit
In fairness is that not called theft?
 
sounds like a mess. Very stupid for a landlord to do this, very short sighted.
 
Firstly, she should hand over the issue to her partner to deal with to avoid any further stress which will not help the pregnancy.

Secondly, ask the landlord would it be best if both parties refer the matter to the PRTB (call his bluff) and see what he thinks of this. If he's dealing in cash he won't like involving them. Check their on-line register.
 
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