Landlord keeps breaking in.

Q   IM  BACK  down at the mothers for xmas but I swung by my flat in Dublin today to make sure everything was ok, got in to find my flat door wide open and a note from the landlord saying he needed to speak to me. I rang him pissed off about the door being open and he said he found the flat door open yesterday but he locked it again afterwards.
I checked around and nothing was stolen which is puzzling if someone had broken in. There was no sign of it and the door was definitely locked when I left.
I’ve had words with him in the past about entering the flat when we’re not there and I kind of suspect he did it again but forgot to lock the door after him, and is now lying to cover his back, no way of proving this though.
Either way my girlfriend and I don’t really want to stay there anymore as either the landlord feels its okay to enter when he likes without notice or someone broke into our flat without the intent of taking anything two days in a row.

Do we have a sufficient argument for ending the lease early (another 4 months remaining) or would we lose our deposit?

 

A  I’VE  TAKEN a look at your query and the relevant law is contained in The Residential Tenancies Act, 2004.

Section 12 deals with the obligations of the Landlord. Section 12(1)(a) is what You are claiming the Landlord is in breach of. It’s difficult enough though where we could be fighting with the Landlord in order to get your deposit back. The reason it’s not easy, is of course,that if it were, anyone could opt out of their tenancy at any time and would leave all landlords in a vulnerable position. You could argue that your Landlord was in breach of s.12(1)(a) and did not enter the property “on a date and time agreed in advance with the tenant”-section 16(c).

I would argue, in writing, that you have confronted your Landlord about this in the past and you feel your rights are continuously being infringed.

Section 36 states that a tenant may terminate a Part 4 tenancy (tenancy greater than 6 months) by serving on the landlord in respect of the tenancy a notice of termination giving the required period of notice.

You can always of course, refer the matter, or threathen to do so, to the Private Residential Tenancies Board, which provision is made for under the above Act as well.

Not an easy situation you’re in. It’s your decision what you do but it’s good that you have no longer than 4 months left as otherwise you’d HAVE to do something.

 

LegalEagleStar  Friday, January 7,  2011