How long after eviction date has lapsed can you raise a case with RTB
- Thread starter Colin4444
- Start date
lol
What's so funny?
Got an automated email when submitted, which option do I go for mediation or adjudication?
We will schedule your case for mediation or adjudication. If you choose adjudication, we will send you a payment link. Your adjudication case can only be scheduled when payment is received.
How much does adjudication cost?
Out of my depth here
We will schedule your case for mediation or adjudication. If you choose adjudication, we will send you a payment link. Your adjudication case can only be scheduled when payment is received.
How much does adjudication cost?
Out of my depth here
I dont think the RTB would be able to figure that out, and would probably drop my case thinking I was being smart....
Personally I'd go straight for adjudication here.
I don't believe it's a six year look back, my understanding from the call was any issues since 2019 can be investigated and sanctioned. This is consistent with the I&S powers that the 2019 legislation amendments granted the RTB.
So, in 2033, they can sanction accommodation providers for something that happened 14 years ago (e.g. a rent review was invalid as it was posted and it didn't give the full 90 days notice from date of service (which itself was due to incorrect RTB guidance) - there could be up to 14 years of rent refunds...)
@Colin4444
If you've a decent relationship with the tenants and reckon they'll actually engage, mediation is the better bet I think.
It's far faster - roughly 10 weeks vs 20 for adjudication (RTB's own figures*). Either outcome can be appealed, but mediation at least gets you to the tribunal stage sooner if it comes to that.
The bigger advantages, though: neither party ends up on the public register (provided it's not appealed), and it's a friendlier process. At the mediation you can propose a move-out date - say end of October - and once the appeal window passes you've got a Determination Order you can have enforced through the courts if needed. If you are generous with your mediation offer they won't appeal it, and you'll end up in a better position than the ajudication / appeal route as the RTB is disgracefully slow.
*Take those timelines with a pinch of salt - every case I've dealt with has run a good deal longer. But mediation is still much faster than adjudication. You'll find even after you are successful at mediation, it will take them a few months after the close of the appeal window to issue your determination order, they are truly a joke of an organisation.
€30
LarryScott
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Does mediation stop the adjudication clock?
If they don't engage, then it would be 30 weeks instead of 20 (acknowledging that these are RTB's figures)?
I think so yes
Agreed - which is why I think it only works with a good relationship.
Colin should know fairly quickly. Within a week or two of requesting dispute resolution, the RTB rings the tenant to ask if they'll engage. The risk is they say yes on that call and then don't show on the day, that's ~10 weeks lost, and he'd be starting over with adjudication.
But this doesn't sound like that sort of tenant. Only Colin can really make that call.
@stormy thanks very much for the replies
The tenant (couple) intends to buy the house, but needed to overhold til about October up until mortgage can be approved.. long story but she started work in March, so needs to wait the 6 month probation.
I think they have every intention of buying, Im only opening the case in case it all falls through and come October they cant buy, they cant move anywhere else (especially on the rent I charge), so Im stuck then...
In this case the RTB being slow suits me
If I choose mediation, and come 10 weeks (middle to end of august), the tenants are just going to say they intend to buy, wonder what the RTB would say to that?
Bit of a pickle...
The tenant (couple) intends to buy the house, but needed to overhold til about October up until mortgage can be approved.. long story but she started work in March, so needs to wait the 6 month probation.
I think they have every intention of buying, Im only opening the case in case it all falls through and come October they cant buy, they cant move anywhere else (especially on the rent I charge), so Im stuck then...
In this case the RTB being slow suits me
If I choose mediation, and come 10 weeks (middle to end of august), the tenants are just going to say they intend to buy, wonder what the RTB would say to that?
Bit of a pickle...
The fact they plan to buy gives them no right to stay, so don't worry about that. If they're genuine, agreeing a fallback move-out date is a reasonable proposal.
So on the call, propose a fixed longstop (they vacate by, say, end of December). Keep it a firm date rather than "if the purchase falls through," as a conditional term is harder to enforce later. If they complete before then they'll have moved into their own place anyway. Once they accept the order and the appeal window passes, you've a Determination Order you can enforce through the District Court if they don't go. Also remember you don't have to enforce straight away in case say they can't complete until 3rd week of Jan.
You could still go adjudication, but there's also another risk I should have flagged yesterday: the adjudicator tests your Notice of Termination, and if there's any technical flaw - even something as small as not serving the RTB the same day you served the tenant - the whole termination can fall and you're back to square one. Mediation sidesteps that, because the order issues on the back of what you and the tenant agree, not on a ruling about whether your notice was valid.
Useful workaround.
Tenant can't be forced to attend. Landlord would have to then go ajudication.
Broadly yes - you can't force a tenant to mediate, so if they won't engage you'd just lose weeks before being routed to adjudication anyway. Better to go straight there.
The exception is a tenant who's awkward about engaging but still rational about the outcome. There you can sometimes give them a reason to come to the table: waive the arrears, or offer a rent-free few weeks to move, in exchange for agreeing a firm move-out date. Point out too that a mediated agreement stays confidential, whereas an adjudication Determination Order is published on rtb.ie with their name and the property address on it. For anyone who'll want to rent again, that public record is a real cost.
If they take the carrot you're often better off than the adjudication/tribunal route (a faster, private, agreed order). But it only works if they'll actually agree to leave. No incentive helps with a tenant determined to stay, and that's the case where you go straight to adjudication.