Non payment of rent - require assistance

[Tackster]

Hello all,

I am a naive landlord and have several issues with tenants that will not pay rent.

To be clear I am non-business savvy. I have made several mistakes and I am looking at the best way to sort out my situation.

1.5 years ago I accepted tenants at my property. I provided them with a contract that was not returned but I assumed there was goodwill. A month into the tenancy I provided another contract and was promised it would return. I put this in the back of my mind and forgot about it (So stupid...). The tenants were quiet without any requests or issues.

At the end of the first year tenants requested some repairs. Thinking back on the year I checked my bank accounts. 2 months rent missing including deposit! Visited them and requested they sign the contract and provide the missing funds. They agreed to return the contact and pay the funds. A week later I saw a partial portion of what was owed enter my bank account. As per usual I regrettably assumed all was ok and forgot about it.

Recently I thought the check on the situation and see NO RENT has been payed for 4 months and obv there's still no contract. Being completely ignorant I only recently learned I need to register with the PRTB.

Yes, I am aware that there is a large bulk of mistakes that are completely my fault. I of course am going to learn from this and apart from meeting all rent requirements and frequently checking for rent and issues with the house, I want to be a good and legal landlord.

What do I do now though? I am trying desperately to contact these people who live 4 hours away and get no reply. I will go down to see them but I am worried they will refuse to pay back rent and even leave. If so they are a family with children so the idea of forcefully evicting them by moving out their things when not home is quite difficult, even given the way they are behaving.

I need advice on how to handle this, whether I should go to the PRTB, how big of an issue it is to not have a tenancy agreement and what to do about eviction. I just want this to be over as easily as possible, handle things legally and move on to a better, educated and correct landlordship.

Any advice is extremely well received. Very stressed out. Should just sell the property as i'm obviously crap at managing it...

 

[ccraig]

What you need to do is talk to someone that has had plenty of experience of this. I'd suggest a letting agency. Whether you offer to use them going forward or just ask for help, you can be fairly sure they have come across this before.

It's a tricky situation and you need to teak to someone that has handled this many times and likely found a solution, this is what I would start with. A solicitor may be a good option but they might not have had day to day experience of this .

 

[Berni]

the idea of forcefully evicting them by moving out their things when not home is quite difficult, even given the way they are behaving.

Definitely don't do this. If you carry out an illegal eviction, you could be facing paying out about €10,000 in compensation.

Not being registered with the PRTB is going to weaken your position as you cannot take a case against the tenant. You need to see if a late registration is still possible.

The lack of a contract isn't really a problem, your tenants would be considered to have a Part 4 tenancy http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/if_your_landlord_wants_you_to_leave.html
To evict them on the grounds of breach of obligations (to pay rent), you first need to send a 14 day notice requesting the sum due.
Should they not pay, you may then issue a 28 day notice of eviction.

Be careful that the notices you issue comply with the legal form required.
If they don't, they will be invalid - there are some examples here [broken link removed]

 

[facetious]

The lack of a contract isn't really a problem, your tenants would be considered to have a Part 4 tenancy http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en..._to_leave.html
To evict them on the grounds of breach of obligations (to pay rent), you first need to send a 14 day notice requesting the sum due.
Should they not pay, you may then issue a 28 day notice of eviction.

Actually, in this case the lack of a fixed term contract does make a problem.

If there is no fixed term tenancy, then there is a Part 4 tenancy. With a Part 4 tenancy, TWO notices are required before a Notice of Termination for rent arrears can be valid.

A first Notice pointing out that the rent is in arrears and should be paid immediately. There is no template for this notice nor is there a time frame. Therefore, a day or two later, a 14 day notice may be served on the tenant. Only after a tenant fails to pay all outstanding rent may a valid Notice of Termination be served.

However, if there was a verbal agreement that the tenants would stay for a fixed period of time, then a verbal fixed term lease was entered into. However, if a case was brought to the PRTB, it would be a matter of one party's word against the other's.

If the landlord can produce a copy of the agreement that was to be signed was a fixed term contract, this would help the landlord but would not by itself be conclusive evidence.

If a fixed term agreement (verbal or written) was in existence, then only a 14 day notice of arrears of rent needs to be served before a Notice of Termination.