Help required with landlord issues!

S

shalukwa

Guest
Hi,

We are a group of 2nd year students who have been renting a house since September and could really use some advice on our dealings with our landlord.

We signed the lease and began paying rent in September. The house was being done up over the summer and we were assured that it would be ready by September. However, by the end of September, the cooker wasnt in, the fridge and other appliances weren't installed, tiles werent down, and the place was basically unliveable, Since then, we have had countless problems about various things in the house, from the heating breaking in mid-winter on a regular basis, to the fridge breaking down for nearly a week with nothing done. In each of these cases the landlord was called and informed, but rarely, if ever, did anything about the problem.

Problems like this have been going on all year, but the most severe occurred when the house was broken into. The locks had not been changed, and the intruder left quickly as soon as he saw that there was people in the house. A second lock was fitted, but the main lock was not changed and the same person entered the house on a different occassion but again stopped at the sight of one of the occupants. This was an extremely unsettling event, as you can imagine, for 6 young girls living alone.

Most recently, we have been dealing with a mouse and rat infestation. The house has been done up in a haphazard manner and there are many holes in the walls that they are entering through. We rang the landlord and requested an exterminator since the rats were in our living areas and on our kitchen surfaces. Nothing was done, and a second call was necessary 10 days later in order to get an exterminator. The exterminator said that the infestation was due to the levels of vines and rubble that are in the back garden (that were present when we moved in), the holes in the walls and a broken pipe that is serving as an entrance.

We have had many other problems with the landlord that are too many to document, but since the beginning of the year we have been assigned 3 different landlords within the same company, all of which have been extremely difficult to contact.

We feel that we deserve some compensation for what we have been through, but are we entitled to any? Do we have any legal footing? We are leaving the house in June and are considering not paying rent for this month and giving up our deposit as we dont believe we will be given it back, due to the state of the house, which has deteriorated, only through normal use, because of the sloppy job done before we moved in.

Any advice would be really, really appreciated as we have no idea what to do next.
 
I'm a part time landlord - have a house let out to students and have done so for about 10 years - I have experienced zero problems in that time. Things go wrong, I get them fixed and tenants pay on time - every time.

I'm also a father of 2 college going students.

Based on the combination of the above, if your account is accurate I would certainly not pay the remaining rent on behalf of my kids (assuming your folks are bank rolling you of course )

It's landlords like this that get the rest of us a bad name........

Roger
 
Call it a technicality... but how can 6 people living in a house together be classed as living alone

Only joking of course... not sure about withdrawing last months rent etc....
If you got the contact for this property through the college then I would contact them.
Have you kept a record of contact with the landlord in relation to the issues that arose?
You haven't mentioned that you are registered with the PRTB... are you and is your landlord?
It is probably best to put it down as a lesson learned... the time to make a stand on the issues was when the issues occurred and not at the end of a tenancy. If the landlord is reasonable and your descriptions are accurate then I would expect them to make some offer in the hope of enticing ye back next year (assuming he was happy with you also of course), but witholding rent etc might lead to the landlord contacting your college and putting pressure on ye that way. Of course if they are not registered with the PRTB then this could also be something to be drawn to their attention in looking to resolve your concerns.
 

Do three different people own the property. Have you any photos of this property, when it was not finished. From what you have posted these landlords need to be taught a lesson, and from a landlord i would not pay the final month.
 
We are registered with the PRTB...

I know it's not tecnically living alone, but 6 country girls aren't exactly equipped to fight off intruders....! We didn't do anything through the college.

We have some records of our correspondance but most of it was by phone.

A company is managing the property for the owner and the three landlords have all been within the same company.

Thanks for any advice!
 
Can I ask why ye moved in in the first place, since you described the place as "unliveable". Definitely dont pay next months rent. You can check is the landlord registered as a landlord and if not i'm sure the Revenue would be interested to hear about him/her.....
 

On one hand you are advising the OP to renege on a contract which is legally binding while on the other you are taking the high moral ground and advising her to check is the landlord upholding his legal responsibilities in declaring rental income... interesting
 
I assume you are dealing with an agent & it is the agent that has cahnged 3 times - rather than the landlord (whom you may not have met).

There are some strange things in your story - you say the same intruder came in twice. Are you sure it was the same person - if so, it is more likely that this person was either the actual landlord or a previous tenant. Did you follow up on this with the police?

Why did you move into such a place? Even last September the market was turning & there would have been availability.

Have you contacted the PRTB? If not, I would do so immediately. Do not with hold rent unless they advise you to do so. With holding rent will weaken your position. Make sure you have records to prove all your rent was paid on time. Keep a copy of the exterminators report. Keep any photos you have to prove the condition of the property. Have you have proof of contacting them in relation to the problems you have had over the time there - emails or letters?

You position is somewhat weakened as you have left it to the end of your tenancy to do anything. But I think it would still be worth following up with the PRTB as landlords should not be allowed to get away with providing property at this low a standard (and I say this as a landlord who does not particularlt like the PRTB as they tend to be decidedly biased towards the tenant)
 

I would think the LL already reneged on the contract, as I doubt it said "comes fully fitted with all mod-cons including rats". LL isnt upholding anything by the sounds of it so playing nice goes out the window as far as i'm concerned.

Still amazed the OP actually moved in when they saw the state of the place. In fairness they should have seen problems coming....
 
The landlord has broken the contract, most contracts have a clause about the tenants right to peacefully live in the property. Landlord has broken that!

I'd stop paying the rent until resolved, doesn't sound like if they change the lock it would be much of an issue anyway! hitting there pockets is the only way to get orrible landlords to listen.

At very least hold back the rent and tell landlord you are using it to repair his property so it is habitable. Don't actually spend the money on the property though!! that should be enough to get attention.
 
Perhaps also a lesson learned for you not to move into a place that is not liveable.

Maybe LL thought you were happy enough to move in as is and didnt see the point of putting any effort into the place. Just a thought.
 
So is your issue with the actual landlord or with the 3 different agents that managed the property.
Maybe the agents never told the landlord there was all these issues with the house? Unlikely i'd say but are you sure?

Personally i think it is a bit late to be dealing with this now. You should have dealt with them when all these issues were actually happening.
It does sound like a horrible place to live and personally i cant see how anybody would live in a house where "the rats were in our living areas and on our kitchen surfaces" so i have to say i find the story a bit unbelieveable.

Also i think "but 6 country girls aren't exactly equipped to fight off intruders" is a bit ridiculous are coutnry girls weaker than city girls or girls from a town!
 

+1 Well said Mro
 
Oh takes me back - though this type of thing only happened back in the day. One of the houses we lived had grass growing on one of the steps (it was monitored every week by the science student). The cleaner nut in the house was told she could clean anywhere she liked except that step. There were 5 of us who rented the house and we sublet the living room for £16 a week to a classmate. We only ate well mon - thursday.

To the OP I'd walk away and put it down to experience.
 
Merciful hour OP, do ye're Mammies know ye're out? I'm siding with mro & vernon01 above.

I've never heard the like - rats, mice, vines, holes in the house, exterminators, a serial intruder and then when its time to leave "Oooohh, what can we do, poor 'ickle us?" - if one of the soaps finishes on the telly you should sell them the script.

Contact your student union rep as your first port of call, then Threshold, then the PRTB, then go home to ye're Mammies until its safe for ye to venture out again, in ten or so years time I'd guess.
 

:d
 
Do you think we're making this up for the craic?

No, the intruder was not our landlord, it was a man who broke in and was halfway down our hall before someone came out and asked him what he was doing, at which he said he was looking for someone and ran off. Same person, different story the next week.

The country girls thing refers to the fact that we are not used to the city and didnt really expect randomers to be able to get into our house.

We moved in in the first place because by the time we needed the house it looked fine, unliveable refers to the appliances not being installed and the flooring not finished.

We have been trying to deal with these issues all year but it's just now that the rats have moved in that we feel it's gotten ridiculous.

You think it's unbelievable? Feel free to come by and check it out.

We came this site looking for some help, not to be ridiculed. Just because we are students does not mean our compaints are any less valid, and it's thinking like that that has led to this situation.

Thank you to the earlier posters who actually offered some advice.
 


Are you their landlord by any chance?
 
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