False BER rate when renting

S

Sandy2020

Registered User
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I started renting a house last summer. When viewing I asked the rating of the house as it wasn't stated on the ad. They said it was A s
Rated since it has been renovated. After moving in and seeing how cold the house feels, I got the mprn number and looked it up online and it said E2 which was recorded many years ago. The bills are high much higher than I had budgeted for when I was seeing if we could afford the high rent. As we have kids we need the house to be warm. The fire is lit from morning till night which is costing a lot on fuel also. Landlord refusing to get it rated since the renovations. Im not sure why as it's a simple job. Any thoughts? Thank you.
 
What outcome do you want from getting the actual BER rating ? Are you hoping to argue about the rent and seek a discount ? If so why not just state it now and tell him is rating seems wrong. It's quite hard for him to ask you to leave so I wouldn't worry about any consequences short term. Maybe you should start looking for better options either way.
 
Surely its a case of buyer beware ie when you chose to rent you should have cheked this out and verified it yourself.
 
elcato said:
What outcome do you want from getting the actual BER rating ? Are you hoping to argue about the rent and seek a discount ? If so why not just state it now and tell him is rating seems wrong. It's quite hard for him to ask you to leave so I wouldn't worry about any consequences short term. Maybe you should start looking for better options either way.
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I guess so, I cant afford to heat it so would need a reduction in order to be able to stay. Thanks for your help.
 
jim said:
Surely its a case of buyer beware ie when you chose to rent you should have cheked this out and verified it yourself.
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Cant check it out with an mprn number and you cant get that until you move into the house. So I was going on the landlords and estate agents word.
 
So there are a number of issues here. It's false advertising for a start.

Did they submit the true or false rating to the RTB with the registration I wonder?

In the landlord is not willing to engage, you could lodge a dispute with the RTB. They usually favour the tenant, and have the power to force the landlord to reduce the rent substantially.
 
How long are you there? Cancel that. See last summer. Just make sure it’s over 6 months.
I’d consult the RTB but only if the EA or landlord stated somewhere in writing that the BER was A (crazy difficult to achieve unless a new build)
 
luckystar said:
only if the EA or landlord stated somewhere in writing that the BER was A
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Landlords are legally obliged to provide a copy of the BER and accompanying recommendation report to prospective tenants prior to entering into a contract to let. Of course this could end up with them claiming they did, and the tenant claiming not to have received it, but as above, when it comes to the RTB, they will usually take the tenant's word over that of the landlord.
 
Be careful, BER rating are nonsense and sometimes mean very little. If you want to ensure you have a warm house you need to learn more about what makes a warm house and learn to spot this in rental viewings.
 
Leo said:
So there are a number of issues here. It's false advertising for a start.

Did they submit the true or false rating to the RTB with the registration I wonder?

In the landlord is not willing to engage, you could lodge a dispute with the RTB. They usually favour the tenant, and have the power to force the landlord to reduce the rent substantially.
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It’s not compulsory to put the BER on the RTB registration.
 
Lighting daily fires is a very costly way to heat a house. What are your annual heating costs apart from that. Best bet is to move elsewhere.
 
Bronte said:
Lighting daily fires is a very costly way to heat a house. What are your annual heating costs apart from that. Best bet is to move elsewhere.
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Thank you. Yes very costly we would use about a bag of coal a day, which I'm not happy about. I would move but have just had a double mastectomy and the house was unfurnished and it's all our own furniture so it's a big job and one I'm not able for plus there are not many house out there.
 
luckystar said:
How long are you there? Cancel that. See last summer. Just make sure it’s over 6 months.
I’d consult the RTB but only if the EA or landlord stated somewhere in writing that the BER was A (crazy difficult to achieve unless a new build)
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Thank you. Yes over 6 months. Was not advertised officially anywhere was just mentioned. Th
Bronte said:
It’s not compulsory to put the BER on the RTB registration.
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Thank you Leo. Yes the prtb have said to register a breach of obligation. So may have to go down that route.
 
Leo said:
Ah, that's interesting. I assumed the line here on 'if applicable' was just a get-out for BER exempt properties.
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No it's not Leo. When I fill in the form online you can leave that space blank. I don't have BER's so I don't put anything in there.
 
Sandy2020 said:
Yes the prtb have said to register a breach of obligation. So may have to go down that route.
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Yes it's a breach of the rules. But what will you getting the landlord to issue a BER actually do for you as regards heating bills. A bag of coal a day is surely just heating one room. And a very costly heated room. Is there no central heating ?
 
Bronte said:
No it's not Leo. When I fill in the form online you can leave that space blank. I don't have BER's so I don't put anything in there.
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Are these BER exempt properties or ones that have been let for a very long time? The Irish implementation of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has made the provision of a BER mandatory on all residential property lettings since January 1st, 2009. Failure to supply one is punishable by a fine of up to €5,000.
 
Leo said:
Are these BER exempt properties or ones that have been let for a very long time? The Irish implementation of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has made the provision of a BER mandatory on all residential property lettings since January 1st, 2009. Failure to supply one is punishable by a fine of up to €5,000.
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You know very well I'm not exempt. I didn't think they were worth the paper they are written on as it's of zero benefit to me to find out what A to Z they are. And the tenants couldn't care less.

But happily I'm going to use the BER to my benefit next year. I've put off major and badly needed renovation due to the astronomical costs and sitting tenants making it unfeasable. The PRTB helpfully send me a document recently and it caught my eye that if you go up two BER ratings in renovations you then comply with one of the hair brained government tinkering that will allow me to up the rent. So I'm going to get a BER Z to start with before the renovations and move up a minimum of two ratings.
 
Bronte said:
But what will you getting the landlord to issue a BER actually do for you as regards heating bills.
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If the landlord doesn't have an up to date BER for the property as of the time of letting, they'd have a pretty open/shut case at the RTB to seek reduced rent or a once-off compensation.
 
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