For many 18 and 19 year olds, this is a daunting time of year as they leave home and rent for the first time. Consumer expert Tina Leonard outlines your rights and obligations.
Leaving home can be a traumatic experience as the apron is cut from your parents for the first time and renting can be equally as hard. But the main thing to remember when you do rent is that you have plenty of rights, but also obligations.
Here’s what you should expect
1. Privacy
You are entitled to privacy in your home and this means that the landlord is only ever allowed enter with your pre-arranged permission (unless there is an emergency).
2. Can I bring friends around?
You can also have friends to stay but if somebody new is moving in you should tell the landlord.
And remember to choose your flat mates carefully, as if they fall into arrears on the rent or don’t pay bills for example, you and the others could be held liable.
3. Standards
Your home must comply with minimum standards as set out in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008. That means it should be free from damp, in good structural repair, have hot and cold water, separate bathroom facilities, adequate means of heating and ventilation, appliances in good working order, electrical wiring, gas, pipes in good repair and so on. These Kitchen facilities must include a four-ring hob with grill and oven, a fridge and freezer, microwave and washing machine.
The handy thing about renting of course, is that the landlord and not you is obliged to carry our repairs, that is unless damage beyond normal wear and tear has been caused by you.
4. Additional charges
Bear in mind that it is up to you to pay any local authority charges, for example for bin collection and if you’ve just moved in make sure you’re not paying the arrears of previous tenants. Also charges for phone, TV etc and for heating will most likely be extra.
5. Insurance
Your landlord should have the building covered by insurance but that insurance policy is unlikely to cover your personal belongings. So you might want to get your own contents insurance, although this is only available to students from a limited number of insurance companies.
6. Conditions
Remember your obligations; ask your landlord if there are any set conditions about parties and noise and whether you are allowed pets, or can hang washing out on the balcony for example. These ‘house rules’ are especially important if you are living in an apartment block.
The lease or contract - it's legally binding
Remember you are entering into a business agreement, and it’s a legally binding contract so treat it with the seriousness it deserves. Before you agree to rent, make sure you are given a lease to sign.
All payments made to the landlord must be recorded either in the rent book or by written statement. In addition, the rent book, or letting agreement (lease), must contain other information about the tenancy. Make sure to read everything carefully before you seal the deal and pay your deposit. And get receipts or proof of payment for all rent paid.
Information should include:
- Address of the rented dwelling
- Name and address of the landlord and his agent (if any)
- Name of the tenant
- Term of the tenancy
- Amount of rent, when and how it is to be paid, (e.g. cash, cheque, standing order)
- Details of other payments (e.g. telephone, TV, heating)
- Amount and purpose of any deposit paid and the conditions under which it will be returned to the tenant
- Statement of information on basic rights and duties of landlords and tenants
- Inventory of contents (and their condition).
Term of the lease
Most leases are for a fixed period of time such as a year. If you are a student you’ll have to careful in signing a lease for a year if you only need it for nine months, for example. If you can’t find another person to rent it for the remaining three months of the lease and you break your lease, then you will lose your deposit.
Rent Increases
Landlords can only raise the rent to the open market rate. Of course, it is difficult to prove what that might be. The landlord may also only raise the rent once in a twelve-month period unless there has been a substantial change in the nature of the accommodation.
Given that rents have fallen over the few years you can ask your landlord for a rent review. Do your research on rent being paid for comparable properties in your area; take into account how long you’ve been there, the fact that you’ve been a good tenant etc and start negotiating. Also you could offer to do some painting / re-decorating in exchange for a rent reduction or negotiate on price if you are signing a longer lease. Remember it’s a flexible market.
Deposits
You’ll have to pay a deposit when you move in (usually 4 – 6 weeks rent) but you are entitled to get it back once you leave and it has to be promptly returned.
There are two situations, however, where the landlord can keep the deposit or deduct some money from it. These are 1) when there are rent arrears and 2) where costs are incurred to repair damage above normal wear and tear.
Advertising or re-letting costs are not valid reasons for withholding a deposit and it is illegal for a landlord to hold tenants’ goods in lieu of money owed.
Be careful: deposit retention is the main source of dispute between landlords and tenants as heard by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), comprising 43% of cases heard in 2010.
Terminating the lease
The landlord can terminate the tenancy without reason during the first six months but once the tenancy has lasted six months, the landlord will only be able to end it on specific grounds.
Acceptable grounds include the tenant not complying with their obligations (e.g. not paying their rent), the landlord intending to sell the dwelling and the landlord requiring the dwelling for his own occupation or for a family member.
The landlord must also give you written notice of termination. The period of notice will depend on how long you’ve lived there; for example twenty-eight days within the first six months, more than six months but less than a year, thirty-five days; one year but less than two years, forty-two days; fifty-six days after two years and eighty-four days after three years.
Rent arrears
Hopefully you’ll be able to pay your rent on time but if you are in rent arrears be aware that you are in breach of your tenancy obligations.
The landlord should notify you in writing and if you have not met your rent arrears within fourteen days, then the landlord may issue you with twenty-eight days notice of termination, so be careful.
You are entitled to formal notice of any claim that you have broken the tenancy conditions and to be given time to set things right.
Rent arrears is the main issue referred to the PRTB by landlords, accounting for 21% of PRTB cases in 2009. Non payment of rent is a serious matter, which could result in a conviction, so if you find yourself behind in rent do not ignore the problem but make arrangements with the landlord to pay off arrears as quickly as possible.
Leaving - your rights and obligations
It’s likely that you’ll be moving on at some point and this is how to do it correctly:
- Give notice in writing
- Even if there is a verbal agreement with the landlord, still put it in writing.
- Specify the current date and the day you plan to leave.
- The length of notice you have to give depends on how long you have been there i.e. less that six months, twenty-eight days; more than six months but less than a year, thirty-five days; one year but less than two years, forty-two days; more than two years, fifty-six days.
- You can give twenty-eight days notice anytime if the landlord is in breach of his obligations but do give the landlord a chance to fix things first.
Complaints
All landlords must be registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB). This is a public register and is available on their website. www.prtb.ie
They also run a dispute resolution service so if you have a complaint that you can’t resolve with your landlord go to them and fill in the dispute application form you’ll find on their website. The process costs €25.
Further advice from:
Student Union Accommodation Officers (they have been trained by the PRTB)
Threshold offers free advice to tenants. www.threshold.ie
