One half of tenants lost job, moving out

Hi,

8 months left on the lease and one of the tenants has unfortunately lost their job and wants to move home, they are not from Ireland.

The other half wants to stay and bring in a friend but the friend does not want to pay the existing (half) of the rent and so they are talking about paying about 200 euro a month, in total, less.

Options? I want to be sympathetic but what are my rights as a landlord? Fully registered with PRTB, all taxes paid etc, etc...

thanks.

tough one. Can you afford for them to pay 200 euro less a month? they might just be chancing their arm with you. On the other hand can you afford not to have any rent coming on from the property. Have you checked around your local area to see how many other places are available for rent? If there seems to be more than usual then it might be hard to re rent the place out. Also are they good tenants? Do they pay their rent on time, keep the place in good condition? Legally speaking and this is mainly what i have read on other posts, the fact that they are breaking their lease is not worth bothering with if you were thinking of using that against them. It's a lot of effort time and money what not much reward at the end. If one is moving back home that puts any chance of recouping any losses even more.

Difficult one to be sure.

Do you mean the rent was say €1000 and it was split €500 each and now 1 of them is leaving so the other is paying €500 and wants to bring in a friend who will only pay €300 while the original one will pay €500 or do you mean both will pay €400.

If then rent is taken to be paid together ie 1 lease for the house not 2 different ones then try to negoiate the reduction down to €100.

If it is a situation where there are 2 leases then they must both be of the same value otherwise the one with the higher rent will try to get it down to the lower rent, then you will lose more than €200.

(bit early for this kind of thinking)

I would try to negotiate an agreement with the new person moving into the house - perhaps a compromise of €100? If that proposed tenant doesn't move in then you will be out of pocket for a full half of the rent for some time. Rents are dropping and the tenants are probably aware that whatever was agreed 8 months now might now be considered a little high based on the high number of rentals currently available.

I met them half way and knocked off 100 euro. Dont mind really, times are tough for everyone, including myself with a pay cut, and I don't want to take the p**s on rent. They were happy with that. Thanks for the advice.

A wise choice!