House-share Original Tenant witholding deposit wants replacement tenant longer notice

My friend has lived in a house-share situation for the past 2 years.

She decided to move out and gave 5 weeks notice to quit to the original tenant (who presumably holds the lease) not the landlord as she never signed a lease nor has had any dealings with her.

The original tenant (for want of a better description) has decided not to return her deposit as she didn't :
1) provide sufficient notice to quit
2) find a suitable replacement to take the room

(also - she has done this before to a previous tenant)

The situation became intolerable for my friend once she gave notice to quit as this OT became nasty / vindictive etc. so my friend went on holidays (effectively moved out) but continued paying rent for the rest of the 5 weeks. I think my friend did fulfill her responsibilities (?).

She's now out of pocket for E500 - what course of action can she take?

any pointers would be appreciated

Clean out the house of the other person's belongings and leave a note saying they can have them back when the deposit is returned?!!!

According to Threshold the minimum notice period is 56 days, since tenancy was 2 years, so technically she didnt give enough notice:

[broken link removed]

*i'm not sure if not having signed a lease changes this but I doubt it.

Not so sure about this 56 days notice.

My understanding (although i could be wrong) is that 56 days notice must be given to a landlord when vacating an entire property.
i.e. that's for the agreement between the landlord and the person(s) who signed the lease.

Thats would be an entirely different agreement that the friend would have with the original tenant.

The original tenant is on very shaky ground here in my book.

Even if the 56 days was required (i.e. 8 weeks) then at the very least, the friend would only owe for a further 3 weeks (presuming a full month was paid in deposit) seeing as 5 weeks was given.

So she should at least be refunded 1 weeks rent.

All in all though I seriously doubt the original tenant has a leg to stand on - particularly given there was no lease signed between them
Effectively this was a sub-let.

personally I would do what an other poster said and take some stuff while leaving and offer to return it on refund of deposit.
Messy business I know but if the original tenant is in the wrong (which i strongly believe she is) then she has it coming in my book !!

Also - one thing is for certain is that it is not the friends job to find a suitable replacement for the room in any event - so that reason is definitely null and void.

She has moved out at this stage so the option of taking some of the OT's stuff is a non runner ( I wouldn't get into that anyway - 2 wrongs etc... ) but certainly from my experience renting I never had to find a replacement tenant so thought that was chancing her arm.

Why not contact the prtb. They should be able to give advice. Also the citizen advice buro. Could be able to bring to the small claims court. Did you friend have a rent book and or reciepts for payment of deposit and rent.

Ok - First thing to do is determione is if she is legally within her rights to do this.
If she is then your friend just has to accept it.

Try getting onto the prtb and they may be able to advise you on your legal rights. (Although there is a good chance yuo could end up talking to some old cronie in there who may not know for asure but may spout on claiming she knows it all - perhjaps going to a solicitor would be better unless of course there are any solicitors reading this thread that could confirm one way or teh other)

If not, then direct her to the relevant web site or whatever which illustrates how she is not legally entitled to do this.

If she still refuses then she is breaking the law in which case it involves going down teh legal route to reclaim teh money such as sending a solicitors letter.

But first things first - find out for certain if it is legal. My gut definitely tells me it is not.

Threshold may be able to offer some advice regarding the situation.

www.threshold.ie

Was on to threshold and they said that my friend was responsible for finding a replacement tenant!

So, if the authority responsible in this field are saying that I have little faith in anything else they may say.

If the person only had dealings with the tenant and had no dealings at all with the landlord, she is a licensee. This presumes that she only paid her rent to the sitting tenant and had all her dealings with him.

If she is a licensee, then she is not covered by the Residential Tenancies Act. What now depends on whether she had an oral or written contract with the sitting tenant. Was there an agreed notice period to end the relationship?

If there was no agreed period or if your friend complied with whatever condition there was, then she is entitled to her deposit back. She has to lodge a case with the Small Claims Court to pursue this.

thanks for the advice

There was never anything in writing and no communication as to what was acceptable in terms of giving notice to quit - as such 5 weeks seemed reasonable to my friend [she informed the sitting tenant as soon as she knew she would have to move for work reasons]. They also were friends before any of this happened, needless to say that has turned sour now. My friend now says that if it costs her E500 to be rid of her then so be it. For me this seems a little unjust and I certainly wouldn't be letting her get away with it.

Personally I've always received my deposit back when vacating with 1 months notice. That said, each year we moved around - this is the first time we have remained in a property over the years contract. We are planning on staying here until we buy ourselves.

I think 5 weeks notice is adequate and as long as no damage was done to the property by your friend, I would fight tooth and nail to get her money back. Show up at the house and refuse to leave without your deposit back, continuously call the OT, etc. etc. (at the risk of being accused of harrassment!).

The OT is being very unfair in my eyes.

And for the record, I have never been held responsible for finding a replacement tenant. That is the landlords job.

jjdub said:

Was on to threshold and they said that my friend was responsible for finding a replacement tenant!

So, if the authority responsible in this field are saying that I have little faith in anything else they may say.

Click to expand...

But if Threshold are in fact correct then it doesn't matter much whether you have faith in them or not.

What exactly did Treshold say? Did the mention the "licensee arrangement" as pointed out by other posters?

jjdub said:

Was on to threshold and they said that my friend was responsible for finding a replacement tenant!

So, if the authority responsible in this field are saying that I have little faith in anything else they may say.

Click to expand...

But if Threshold are in fact correct then it doesn't matter much whether you have faith in them or not.

What exactly did Threshold say? Did the mention the "licensee arrangement" as pointed out by other posters?

I strongly contest that they are correct on that. I have never heard of anyone being held responsible for finding a replacement tenant on moving, as others have said that is either the landlords or remaining tenants responsibility. I didn't mention the 'licensee arrangement' as I only heard of that after the conversation. I'll see what they say re that tomorrow.