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ALMOST TWO-THIRDS of renters (60 per cent) find it difficult to get deposits returned from landlords, a new survey has found.
Of that figure, 36 per cent of those asked said they ‘strongly agreed’ that landlords were reluctant to hand over security deposit cash, once a rental agreement came to an end.
The survey, by Red C, was carried out among 1,004 people aged 18 and over.
It was conducted to raise awareness of a new ‘Short Guide to Security Deposits for Residential Tenancies’ being released today.
It’s being published jointly by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and housing charity Threshold.
CEO of Threshold Bob Jordan said the issue was the main cause of disputes between tenants and landlords, and that the guide would help raise awareness of the rights and obligations of both parties.
The size of the private rented sector almost doubled between 2006 and 2011. Around 1 in 5 households in the country are now renting private properties.
(The guide can be downloaded here).
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Actually just going through the process now. Deposit being withheld for something they even admit wasn’t our fault!
Why hasn’t the Government improved tenancy laws? The only regulation favours the Landlord. Why have successive Govs. never improved the system to help the tenant? Why do our Govs. favour the Landlords?
Don’t pay your last month’s rent. This is how to get over this problem.
If you’re honest then you’ll pay for anything that you damaged yourself, but it will stop the landlord keeping your deposit for wear and tear and cleaning which is their responsibilty not yours. A lot of landlords now are keeping tenants deposits in order to do up the properties for the next renters which is wrong and illegal. The PRTB will be no assistance to you as they cannot force landlords to hand back the money. All they’ll do is rule in your favour and the landlord can tell you to whistle for your money.
Always take photos and make an inventory or check the list of contents of an apartment.
An ex landlord of mine faked damage to lamps and blamed stains on the carpet made by a previous tenant on me, withholding a deposit of €1,000.
Not paying the last months deposit is all you can do.
And the shit wasnt registered or declaring tax.
This is what I did last year. The landlord started to get arsey towards the end of the tenancy and I knew he was going to keep the deposit just by the way he was talking about me getting my deposit back as long as I met certain demands. I just thought ‘F*ck em’ so I rang him up and told him to keep the security deposit. He was well p!ssed off but I said if you have a problem then go to the PRTB and take a case against me. He huffed and puffed but did nothing in the end and I walked away with my deposit.
Gov do nothing re landlords because many of them are the landlords in question
How many TD’s & senators are landlords or landlords by proxy ?????
The PRTB was setup in recent times and in fact favours tenants more than Landlords. Untwist your knickers lads. Sometimes you just can’t legislate for Landlords being *ssholes.
PRTB has never helped anyone that I knew that required their help even people who could not remove tennants from their properties. They were set up to give the impression of a ‘process’ yet all they do is wave their fingers, give the frowning off a lifetime and pretty much do f*ck all! Usless bunch completely. If you want to keep your deposit and know your landlord is being a pr!ck then retain last month’s rent. This is the only way to guarantee you keep your money.
and its almost impossible to get them to do anything for you
the govt favours the landlord becaus their friends with some of them and landlords themselves
Since the PRTB got there claws into it, it is just a headache now,
Most landlords just use the deposit for advertising fees, estate agent fees, etc.
But in fairness most tenants know that they wont be getting it back. So they just factor it into the years rent.
Thats laughable. Tenancy laws are hugely stacked in favour of the tenant.
The PRTB are just a useless ‘organisation’ that charge €90 for…. well…. nothing.
You told him to keep the deposit? Wha???
@Kane, yes I told him to keep the security deposit and ‘did’nt pay last month’s rent’. Make sense?
I lived in an apartment in Dublin city centre in 2010 and on moving out I cleaned the place from top to bottom and left it exactly as I had found it when I moved in nothing broken nothing missing from the itinery. The landlord offered me less than 1/3 of the deposit back and when I challenged him he proceeded to produce photos of the apartment fairly destroyed (must have been from previous tenants) and a list of receipts for having to have the entire apartment repainted due to smoke damage (I suffer with bad asthma), I tried in vain to get it back as I needed the money for a new deposit but he basically bullied me until I backed down, I was only 23 at the time and being my first rental it was really frustrating!
I found that if the landlord or the letting agency don’t want to give you your deposit back mentioning the revenue commissioners and the fact the agencies now have to have a yearly audit by an accountant scares them enough to know you will complain to everyone about them and no one wants the revenue knocking on their door.
This happened to me quite a few times when I was in college in Galway. One even told me he’d spent it at the races! I got all of them back, eventually. This might sound pretty sneaky, but check if they’re registered landlords. If they’re not (and many aren’t), let them know in no uncertain terms that the subsequent tax bill following you reporting them will be a lot higher than the deposit they’re withholding.
Lol well done
Rousing,
That’s the answer when they’re not registered. Well done
And then report them to Revenue anyway, even though you’ve eventually gotten your deposit back – cause they deserve a good probing by the filth of the public sector……
They say the multiple propertied Gardaí are the worst for hogging deposits ….
‘They’ say a lot. Especially when typing in the comments section.
Ideally deposits/inventories/photos could be kept with a dedicated independent state agency like an expanded PRTB. When moveout time happens, they call around and arbitrate. Everything in order – then deposit given back cash on the barrelhead. Something broken – replacement cost independently worked out and tenant only gets back the difference. Could also be used as a reference supplier for future lettings to that tenant and there could be a 1-5 landlord rating from past contract history. I’ve been both in my time and it’s not a simple goodie/badie cartoon story. Needs goodwill from both parties and can work fine. If either acts up, then …
Excellent suggestion …… and I know where you are coming from; Both sides hence the logic in your suggestion.
There was a story of some young renters who sawed a stairs to bits to keep warm after they “found” a ladder in a building site !
Winston that’s the way to go
As a landlord myself, I am in favour of deposit being held separately. That said , I have always handed the deposit back immediately. Only once have I had to withhold a portion to have the carpets cleaned (tenants responsibility ). I have no time for any tenants or landlords who break the lease.
Im a landlord. I insist on weekly payments to keep track. If someone wants to move ill call over have a quick look around if house is fine. They can have last month free or money back on final day. No issues
You charge weekly because you get more out of the tenant. Some months have 5 weeks. That’s the oldest trick in the book called ” how to screw your tenant ” written by some slumlord.
Eh that’s not a free months rent, thsts the deposit.
Move out on the month with five weeks …
for every action …..
I would charge weekly rent if I was a landlord. It’s up to the tenant to realise that 4 of the 12 months in a year have 5 weeks and not 4!
A couple of fish under the floor boards wouldn’t go astray for those that are having difficulty getting their deposits back….
No problem getting it back , I would give them 60 seconds notice, , take no messing from nobody
Same. It’s not like you don’t know how to find them… you lived in their house!
No Doubt that these are mostly greedy landlords in urban areas of high demand.
The journal’s sister company daft.ie don’t seem to have any issues taking their money though.
Some people leave the premises in such a state that the deposit would not cover the damage they have done!
I think that landlords should carry out regular inspections of the premises and note any damage done by the tenants.
Ireland is one of the most pro – tenant countries you could live in!..If you think it is bad (which it is not) it’s going to get a lot ‘worse’!..Once a proper tenant vetting process is in place all of those who are withholding rent/not paying, damaging property etc. will find it very hard to get a decent place. If you every lived in London, there is a long process to get a lease. Or like a property I stayed in Australia where not only did the landlord come to collect the rent for the non furnished property he also collects the money from the coin operated washing machine!!
Over here in Oklahoma if you invite someone into your home even for just one night they have a right of residence….it takes 30 days after court for them to leave….90 days if they have a kid attending school
Every story had two sides. I am the daughter of a landlord and a renter myself and it’s a typical rock-and-a-hard-place tale. I spent a lot of my childhood cleaning, painting and fixing apartments after tenants left them in a mess and have listened to the hardship some tenants put my parents through breaking leases and not paying rent. But equally I’ve had absentee landlords who don’t care about their properties and are just trying to make as much money with as little effort as possible. There are good and bad landlords and tenants but I think we can all agree the PRTB is a useless, red tape, money making bureaucratic joke.
I couldn’t agree more with you. …
Here in the UAE we pay our annual rent upfront with two cheques, one is post dated. Many tenants pay the annual rent upfront. It’s a massive strain not being able to pay monthly. Usually for most, it’s a bank loan with high rates of interest. When finding a place, the tenant pays the real estate agent 5% of the annual rent as a finders fee, the landlord pays nothing. maintenance is the responsibility of the landlord, if you have a good landlord, usually it’s not a problem. Villas are unfurnished, it’s up to you to pave and grass gardens! Upon vacating, the tenant must return the property exactly as you found it, so every curtain rail and shelf needs to be removed and every single hole in the walls need to be filled plus the place has to be repainted. Only then you might be lucky to get your deposit back. landlords also are not obliged to rent a place spotlessly clean…! often tenants have to move in and pay themselves for a proper clean. Most tenants in Ireland have it good.
It’s very common for landlords to charge student tenants for the last months rent in a number of instalments throughout the lease. This is what happened in my case and i’m having a lot of trouble getting my deposit back now over a number of non existent issues. delighted to see this in the news today.
It’s a total fallacy that government favour landlords. The FF may have a little but this crowd don’t its astounding the red tape and extra charges thats involved in registering tenants. This government only favours the super wealthy , its attempting to destroy the middle class which is the agenda for the communist EU federal state. The vast majority of landlords are fine. Sometimes its necessary to hold back s deposit for instance when a tenant glues all the rads so heat wont be wasted by other tenants. If you do ure research landlords never fare well in court.
Think that’s bad we just got a letter in our door this morning from the bank wanting to reposses the house off our landlord!!
Probably wont affect you in the slightest.
@Cian
No we spoke to the bank solicitors and thankfully we have till october to move but will affect us as we are now having to find another home.
Did they specifically tell you that you had to go? Are you sure they are looking for vacant possession? Im actually trying to help cos this is kinda what I do and im glad to offer advice where possible. :-)
and its almost impossible to get them to do anything for you
That deposit is your hard earned cash – Often a dodgy Landlord will dream up excuses to keep it by claiming the Lino looks worn etc etc
- Safe solution is to withhold X weeks rent matching the deposit value prior to leaving – Stop a thief in his tracks by taking the initiative…..
The deposit should go into a account in the name of the tenant and given back with interest at end of renting term
Less bank fees I assume? So in reality the tenant would get back less than they put in I suspect.
Waited 11 months for an adjudication from PRTB. Lost 300 € after only wear and tear were found. The letting agent was found to have submitted false invoices and redecorated place ( to boost rent) showing miniature sized pictures ( dated 3 years before I moved in). Shame on PRTB for allowing such carry on for awarding any of deposit to be kept
Can a landlord withhold a deposit for damage outside a apartment? Anyone knows….
It is said that you must leave the property in the condition you found it in, with an allowance for general wear and tear. I Recently moved into a new place and it was left in such a poor state – I don’t think I could stomach the filth to get it back to that point!! Black mould infested washing machine, grease in ever crevice of the kitchen, oven that hadn’t been cleaned in what looked like 3 years….not to mention rubbish in the couch and under the bed, every blind in the apartment broken, broken decking in balcony and mysterious stains on couch…this landlord will be making a profit off us considering the place could only possibly be in better condition than how it was when we received it…!
Trick to that is hold back on the last month rent that covers the deposit to many cowboys landlord out there
have your say