Hi all,
I had new tenants move into my rental property on October 1st. This was the first time I have rented out the property to rental allowance tents, whose rent is paid by the (Clare county) council. They seemed to be nice people and I accepted them at face value. Before people start giving me a hard time on this, I understand that this situation could have occured with standard rental people - but this situation occured with rent allowance couple for me.
I signed the rent allowance contracts for 800 Euro / month (they were to contribute 52 euro to what the council would give). Unlike usual contracts, the check from the council comes out at the end of the first rental month. I asked time and time again why couldn't the check come direct to the landlord - just not possible, I was told. The council did supply a 600 Euro deposit check on day one when house was rented. I have signed up with all the appropriate details with the PRBT.
Now onto the issues:
1. This week I found the house has been abandoned. Some of their stuff is still in the house. No keys returned. They owe me 2 months rent. A week or so ago the man told me that the couple was splitting up. I have been mainly trying to contact this man but no answer on phone for about a week. I rang the 'lady' at the start of the week and asked her to get him in contact with me - no response.
2. When he took the house, he installed chorus (on his name) - bill outstanding for about 300 Euro, unpaid. What can I do here? Ring up and cancel myself? Will I have to pay this (Obviously, I don't see why I should), or if another tenant installs chorus will there be an issue?
3. Outstanding bill of about 300 Euro (oil) - same questions as above, Will I have to pay this (Again, I should not have to)? Will another tenant have an issue if going to get oil form same company? In addition, 300 Euro was not paid to me one month because 'they had to pay 300 euro for oil' - obviously a complete lie now.
4. ESB is in tenants name, as far as I can see this has been paid up - although there is a bill due out this month. Believe ESB still in tenants name.
4. I am going to hold onto the 600 euro deposit to cover one of the months rent. Should I ring up the council rep about this?
I am absolutely disgusted about the whole thing. I was extremely understanding all the time (as have done with nearly all tenents) and feel absolutely used. I have been in contact with the council rep over the last few months on the fact that the tenant kept saying the checks wern't coming out, while the council rep said they were - he absolutely didn't want to know about any issues between me and him. I haven't yet told him about all the stuff above.
So, some advice of other people who got into a similar situation would be helpeful.
Will I personally owe chorus / oil company money, and will there be problems when new tenants go to chorus / the oil company?
Will the PRBT help at all in this situation?
What about the council, what can I do there?
Any point of going down a legal route?
Although i can't get in contact with the man, I can contact the 'lady'. I also have the mans bank account details.
Appreicate the help / feedback.
I had new tenants move into my rental property on October 1st. This was the first time I have rented out the property to rental allowance tents, whose rent is paid by the (Clare county) council. They seemed to be nice people and I accepted them at face value. Before people start giving me a hard time on this, I understand that this situation could have occured with standard rental people - but this situation occured with rent allowance couple for me.
I signed the rent allowance contracts for 800 Euro / month (they were to contribute 52 euro to what the council would give). Unlike usual contracts, the check from the council comes out at the end of the first rental month. I asked time and time again why couldn't the check come direct to the landlord - just not possible, I was told. The council did supply a 600 Euro deposit check on day one when house was rented. I have signed up with all the appropriate details with the PRBT.
Now onto the issues:
1. This week I found the house has been abandoned. Some of their stuff is still in the house. No keys returned. They owe me 2 months rent. A week or so ago the man told me that the couple was splitting up. I have been mainly trying to contact this man but no answer on phone for about a week. I rang the 'lady' at the start of the week and asked her to get him in contact with me - no response.
2. When he took the house, he installed chorus (on his name) - bill outstanding for about 300 Euro, unpaid. What can I do here? Ring up and cancel myself? Will I have to pay this (Obviously, I don't see why I should), or if another tenant installs chorus will there be an issue?
3. Outstanding bill of about 300 Euro (oil) - same questions as above, Will I have to pay this (Again, I should not have to)? Will another tenant have an issue if going to get oil form same company? In addition, 300 Euro was not paid to me one month because 'they had to pay 300 euro for oil' - obviously a complete lie now.
4. ESB is in tenants name, as far as I can see this has been paid up - although there is a bill due out this month. Believe ESB still in tenants name.
4. I am going to hold onto the 600 euro deposit to cover one of the months rent. Should I ring up the council rep about this?
I am absolutely disgusted about the whole thing. I was extremely understanding all the time (as have done with nearly all tenents) and feel absolutely used. I have been in contact with the council rep over the last few months on the fact that the tenant kept saying the checks wern't coming out, while the council rep said they were - he absolutely didn't want to know about any issues between me and him. I haven't yet told him about all the stuff above.
So, some advice of other people who got into a similar situation would be helpeful.
Will I personally owe chorus / oil company money, and will there be problems when new tenants go to chorus / the oil company?
Will the PRBT help at all in this situation?
What about the council, what can I do there?
Any point of going down a legal route?
Although i can't get in contact with the man, I can contact the 'lady'. I also have the mans bank account details.
Appreicate the help / feedback.