Tenants looking for rent reduction

B

Bluebird

Registered User
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heya,

I'm a landlord and use a letting agency who have told me that my tenants are looking for a rent reduction.

They are 7 months into their lease and want the rent reduced by €150 to what is now market rate in the area.

I told the letting agency that I would agree to this if they did an inspection of the property and it went alright and if the tenant agreed to sign up to a new 12 month lease at the new rate.

The letting agency has told me that I cannot do that, it is not possible to get them to sign a new 12 month lease and that if they finish the current 12 months then they can only be on a month to month lease after that.
But they also said that the tenants will not be able to ask for another rent reduction for 12 months.

Does this sound correct?
This is my first time renting so any advice would be appreciated!

cheers!
 
Yes that is correct, they signed a 12 month lease and the terms of that lease remain until the period runs out.

However, I would have thought that when the period expires that they could have signed another 12 month lease! Although I know there are issues around letting to the one person for several years (something about them eventually being able to claim ownership rights of some sort)
 
[Yes that is correct, they signed a 12 month lease and the terms of that lease remain until the period runs out.]

But if they want the rent to reduce are they not asking for the terms of the lease to change? or is that different?
 
Tenant has no automatic right to a reduction ( or for you to increase ! ) in rent during the first 12 months.
 
Thanks jack2009 & bwdbwd for the responses.

I know the tenant doesn't have an automatic right to a reduction. But they are threatening to move out if they don't get it.

My idea was to be reasonable and reduce it if they'll sign a new 12 month lease but it appears that i'm not allowed to do that... even when their current lease expires any new one can only be on a month to month basis with the same tenants.

That just seems very odd to me!
 
I can't claim to be any kind of renting/tenancy expert, but I've never heard of having to go to month to month basis after a 12 month lease. I've had a look at the Citizen's Information website (here and here) and I can't find a reference to anything like that.

Bluebird, I think you should ask your letting agent to refer you to where he/she has seen this. At least if you can see in writing where this is said, you may get some context.

In general, a lease is a contract, and as such both parties are bound to its terms and conditions for the duration of the contract. If both parties are amenable to amending the terms mid-contract, I don't see a problem. (And I say this as a habitual tenant :)). Is there anything specific in your lease about changing terms or ending the contract early?

One other point: you mentioned that the tenants have threatened to move out if they don't get the reduction. I presume this is once the 12 months is up, because in most standard leases they are liable for the rent until the term of the lease has expired.
 
I actually already had a look at http://www.citizensinformation.ie/ and at
http://www.threshold.ie/ & http://www.irishlandlord.com/
but couldn't find anything on having to go to month to month basis after a 12 month lease.

Like you said I think I need to go read through my contract to see the details about changing terms or ending the contract early and go back to the letting agent to get them to verify what they are saying.

The odd thing is that the letting agent is advising me to drop the rent (which means less money for them) because otherwise i'll lose the tenant and have to look for another one on the lower rent anyway.... but i think this might be because I have a Rental Guarantee policy with them.

Thanks for the help NovaFlare77!
 
Okay, I've been onto the PRTB (so v helpful!), they've cleared up everything for me so here's the story.....

As I currently have a lease agreement with my tenants we cannot create a new lease without first going through the proper steps to break the existing lease e.g. justified reason, notice etc.

However, I can lower the rent for them, but this is an unofficial arrangement as I am under NO obligation to lower it. The PRTB advised me that any such arrangement should be documented and signed by both parties.
Also in this unofficial arrangement we can agree & document when the next rent review will take place.

At the end of the existing lease a couple of things can happen if the same tenants want to stay renting the property:
- Sign a new fixed term lease if both parties agree
- Go to Part 4, which means the tenant can stay without a fixed term agreement and the notice periods listed here [broken link removed] will apply (again both parties need to agree to this, as either can serve notice)

hope that helps anyone who is in the same situation!
 
A lease is like any other contract - both parties can agree at any time to terminate it/amend it. So I don't see any problem in both of you agreeing to terminate the lease and entering into a new 12-month lease.
 
Just stick a clause at the top of the new agreement to the effect that the parties, who are the parties named in the original agreement argree that the letting agreement dated (insert date of old agreement) be terminated.
 
My daughter is renting and about 5 months ago she got a text from her landlord saying he was reducing the rent by €50 a month. She texted back 'Cheers' and adjusted her direct debit amount. Should she be getting lease changed.?
 
Hi Bluebird


I deal with tenants sometimes for my boss and on many occassions we have had the same tenants enter into new 12 month contracts 1 after the other and i dont see why not. if you only do it on a month to month basis you leave your self open to you tenant leaving at short notice. i would be asking your agent to show you why this is the case????

if your tenant is looking for a reduction in rent then it is upto you to decide if you give it to them or not as you have your 12 months contract in place at an agreed price. as it goes i would be agreeing to a rent reduction in the hope i would be keeping them there after the 12 months but if you think thats not the case well then! we have had to reduce on nearly all the apartments this year.

they are tied in a 12 month contract so if they are trettening to move out contact the PRTB for advice, thats if you are registered with them, if you are not i would suggest you do as it is kind of an insurance if you tenant stops paying rent.

also if you have to reduce your rent i would be asking the agent to reduce the % charge to you aswell they wont want to loose any business.

good luck
 
jack2009 said:
Although I know there are issues around letting to the one person for several years (something about them eventually being able to claim ownership rights of some sort)
Click to expand...
That provision (not for ownership, rather for an entitelement for a lease in perpetuity) is now gone but even before it was removed you had to have continuous posession for 20 odd years (for residential properties) and it was relatively easy to turf someone out during their 19th year. This was one of the problems of granting tenants such perpetual rights-it encouraged frightened landlords to evict perfectly good tenants for fear of losing control over their own property. The Part IV stuff replaced all this.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies!

I think the main problem I've had is just a bad letting agent, they are not able to explain my options to me and they have been pressuring me to drop the rent. I am a member of the PRTB so I rang them must say that they are very helpful.

When the current lease is up I will be looking to go with a different letting agent, but I'm not sure if I can do that if the same tenants want to stay on... another question for the PRTB i think, unless anyone knows?
 
NovaFlare77 said:
In general, a lease is a contract, and as such both parties are bound to its terms and conditions for the duration of the contract. If both parties are amenable to amending the terms mid-contract, I don't see a problem. (And I say this as a habitual tenant :)). Is there anything specific in your lease about changing terms or ending the contract early?

One other point: you mentioned that the tenants have threatened to move out if they don't get the reduction. I presume this is once the 12 months is up, because in most standard leases they are liable for the rent until the term of the lease has expired.
Click to expand...

Just wondering what the situation with this is as my landlord rang a few
months ago to say he was selling the house. This was about 6 months into the 12month lease. He said he only had to give me enough notice for this to be allowed.
So basically is this true and also if he can I presume I can move out with the required notice and not be liable for rent?
 
el mucho said:
Just wondering what the situation with this is as my landlord rang a few
months ago to say he was selling the house. This was about 6 months into the 12month lease. He said he only had to give me enough notice for this to be allowed.
So basically is this true and also if he can I presume I can move out with the required notice and not be liable for rent?
Click to expand...

Provided you pay the rent and observe the covenants in the letting agreement, you are entitled to stay there until the end of it. If you do decide to leave at the landlords request, you will not be responsible for any rent from the agreed termination date.
 
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