Hi all,
There are currently sitting 'tenants' on my (deceased) father's property (they were renting a commercial lock up type unit). My father had a single ESB meter and then 2 meters he had installed himself in each of two lock ups. He used to read their individual meters and charge them accordingly. Now, one of the tenants' lease expired last september (2 year 9 month lease and they haven't been on the premises in excess of the 5 year point). There was a civil bill against them for unpaid rent etc. and that is in train (they failed to appear in court to answer the bill and now it must proceed to the net step). Meanwhile my dad wanted them out (lousy tenants is an understatement!) and had instructed his solicitors to instigate ejectment proceedings (separate to the above civil bill) which are with the barister now but could take some time to complete.
These individuals contributed to a great deal of stress in my dad's life and he ultimately died of a heart attack. His GP even enquired about these tenants post mortem as my father had spoken to him about it!
Now, we are determined to proceeed with the ejectment proceedings against this business and they are currently trading rent and bills free under advice from the barister/solicitor who says to accept any monies may be construed as extending the lease and may cause the ejectment proceedings to fail in court. They say the law is heavily biased in favour of sitting tenants and against the landlord and you pretty much have to like it or lump it.
So, having set the scene I now have a question which TWO solicitors can't or won't gove a straight answer on.....can we cut off their electricity supply at the meter? They have no lease as it expired last year so I would have thought anything we agreed to supply vis-a-vis electricity would only be enforcable by the tenant during the course of that now expired lease.
I have already instructed the 'tenants' that from this point forward I shall provide them with a copy of the ESB bill and it is up to them to pay it directly to the ESB themselves and if it goes into arrears I will instruct the ESB that we no longer need supply but can I just get my electrician cut theirs off directly (not interfering with any ESB owned equipment, just cutting supply after the main meter to their unit).
My solicitors tend to evade answering this question as they feel it may negatively effect the ejectment case but won't say "it's illegal to cut it off" either. These cowboy 'tenants' are costing us €1000 p/m lost rent as it stands! Everyone says "you are right to do things legally" etc. but are you? It seems the tenants can sit there rent free for at least 12 months before a circuit court order will authorise us to get the county sherrif in to evict them. To be honest we will go right to the bitter end with these chancers, chasing up to the point of getting them entered in Stubbs Gazette, hopefully affecting their future creditworthiness.
There are currently sitting 'tenants' on my (deceased) father's property (they were renting a commercial lock up type unit). My father had a single ESB meter and then 2 meters he had installed himself in each of two lock ups. He used to read their individual meters and charge them accordingly. Now, one of the tenants' lease expired last september (2 year 9 month lease and they haven't been on the premises in excess of the 5 year point). There was a civil bill against them for unpaid rent etc. and that is in train (they failed to appear in court to answer the bill and now it must proceed to the net step). Meanwhile my dad wanted them out (lousy tenants is an understatement!) and had instructed his solicitors to instigate ejectment proceedings (separate to the above civil bill) which are with the barister now but could take some time to complete.
These individuals contributed to a great deal of stress in my dad's life and he ultimately died of a heart attack. His GP even enquired about these tenants post mortem as my father had spoken to him about it!
Now, we are determined to proceeed with the ejectment proceedings against this business and they are currently trading rent and bills free under advice from the barister/solicitor who says to accept any monies may be construed as extending the lease and may cause the ejectment proceedings to fail in court. They say the law is heavily biased in favour of sitting tenants and against the landlord and you pretty much have to like it or lump it.
So, having set the scene I now have a question which TWO solicitors can't or won't gove a straight answer on.....can we cut off their electricity supply at the meter? They have no lease as it expired last year so I would have thought anything we agreed to supply vis-a-vis electricity would only be enforcable by the tenant during the course of that now expired lease.
I have already instructed the 'tenants' that from this point forward I shall provide them with a copy of the ESB bill and it is up to them to pay it directly to the ESB themselves and if it goes into arrears I will instruct the ESB that we no longer need supply but can I just get my electrician cut theirs off directly (not interfering with any ESB owned equipment, just cutting supply after the main meter to their unit).
My solicitors tend to evade answering this question as they feel it may negatively effect the ejectment case but won't say "it's illegal to cut it off" either. These cowboy 'tenants' are costing us €1000 p/m lost rent as it stands! Everyone says "you are right to do things legally" etc. but are you? It seems the tenants can sit there rent free for at least 12 months before a circuit court order will authorise us to get the county sherrif in to evict them. To be honest we will go right to the bitter end with these chancers, chasing up to the point of getting them entered in Stubbs Gazette, hopefully affecting their future creditworthiness.