Moved into a new abode (rented) on saturday. Had viewed the place and everything seemed ok but I made a schoolboy error in not flipping the mattresses.
Flipped them on sat and there was…blood stains…absolutely manky…on one side. It’s a 2 bed and both mattresses were in equally bad nick on one side.
As it happened the landlords son-in-law was around on sat afternoon to do a small bit of work on the garden so I showed him the matresses and told him I wanted them replaced. He couldn’t personally say yes but said he would say it to the landlord.
Rang the letting agents on monday to inform them and emailed them photos of the now notorious mattresses. Have been attempted to make contact with the landlord all week to no avail. I have two contact ph. numbers but both are just ringing out. The letting agents have been fairly decent and have forwarded on the photos and have also been ringing all week but can’t get in touch either. The are only letting agents and not property managers so they are being decent about it so far.
Rang threshold today and all their advisors are on training!!! Rang the PRTB and the guy was quite helpful even though he must remain impartial.
Basically saying I can buy new mattresses and ask the landlord to fix me up…and if the landlord doesn’t pay up I can take a case against them.
Does anyone have any advice or similar experience of this type of situation?
I a sense I think you are wasting your time with this issue becasue what you may end up with is less likely to be an overall solution. Why?
You’ll never get a decent mattress out of a landlord.
You will get the most unhealthy cheap bargain type bed. I know this for a fact.
Perhaps the landlord is on holidays. maybe you coudl store them in his garden if you have his/her address
No one should eve use an old mattress. You can catch things. I knew of a bunch of student friends who all got an awful case of something itchy from a mattress they picked up for FREE like.
Personally renting in Ireland should be self furnished mainly and I think this may soon be the case with so many empties.
Its a lot less hassle for the landlords but many don’t know whats good for them. They really don’t. They’d prefer to scam you out of your deposit for “tarnishing” or “breaking” i.e. wear & tear aka as using the sub standard furniture they picked up on the cheap. There is still a bad mentality out there. there is nothing more cumbersome than accommodation where the furnishing are not picked you.
OW’s DIY super comfy Zen Bed.
In other news, I got a mattress in IKEA up north for 220 sterling approx + 2 sets of 2m slats around £20 total. I picked up 3 choice cuts of wood in B&Q a few days ago 40x50mm plained all over with rounded edges for €7.50 total, for the slat supports.
So I built the base myself not including screws and what for approx €30. Very simple. cut with saw once, used clamp to stretch out slats and drill to fix with screws.
A bespoke designer bed, built to my desired spec, healthy design that’s perfectly comfortable for €280.
A fitting end to 9 years of sub standard beds supplied by ignorant landlords.
If any one wants to know more info about the bits and bobs just PM me.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. The PRTB dude told me it will count as a break of the lease terms but I’m seriously pissed off now that I can’t even get in touch with the landlord.
The mattress has a monetary value, so it’s not like you are altering the value of your payment… You’re simply introducing a new form of currency into the equation!
Still, it could lead to bad blood between yourself and your landlord and did you ever wonder how the place became vacant in the first instance… Maybe the best thing is to flip it over and sleep on the other side lest you become victim no.2!
I got legal advice in the past: there is no legal basis for the non-payment of rent.
The residential tenancies act 2004 has a provision that the landlord has to be available to you within a reasonable amount of time. The same act also states that if something is not repaired within reasonable time then you have the right to repair and claim the cost. This is just some stuff that should get you started so that you have the law on your side in your actions. I am now a laywer and this is not advice (that is exactly what the prtb tell you also)
Not commenting on whether it is right or wrong financially - that argument has been made on here lots of times - my point is for non financial reasons renting in this country has many drawbacks - a lot of it is the transitory nature of renters and landlords view why put something decent into a rental sure they will only thrash it
but simply that at some point in life people like to be able to replace blood splattered mattresses without sign off from a third party
re leaking roof - if you are the owner you ring the builder and he fixes it
if you are the tenant you ring a landlord to ask permission to fix it or get it fixed
Shows you the kind of LL mindset we’re dealing with in Ireland when they would try and pull such a stunt.
And the son-in law. Blood on a mattress and he couldn’t say! Have these people any shame at all?
He was probably fixing the garden as an excuse to see if YOU were up to no good!
Isnt there some sort of law where you can act as agent on someones behalf and then bill them after if its an emergency. If the landlord did not P**sed off with him.
There’s no shortage of Pinsters talking about the overhang, plummeting rents and claiming that it’s a renters market in which landlords should be grateful to have them. If that is true why put up with a landlord that’s pissing you off within a week of you moving in when there’s so many other place you can chose from?
I am a landlord. Twice I left my own personal beds in houses (serious beds one was 2k the other 1.5k). Left Mattress protectors and so on. Each time mattresses and the bed in one case had to be dumped. Unfortunately it is usually true that tenants dont give a shit when they dont own it. Refunded deposits too…
‘Serious’ beds, eh? I don’t like the sound of that, but how long do you expect an old secondhand bed to last? Our landlord provided new ones when we moved in, and we’ve been here for four years now. Still a bit of life in the springs too, but I’m not as fit as I used to be…
Bull. You either don’t vet your tenants very well or they felt they had a reason to dislike you. I like our landlord, so I maintain his property as if it were my own.
