Tenants struggle to get their deposits back from agency

TENANTS who rented properties from a Dublin letting agent are struggling to get back deposits of up to €2,700 more than a month after vacating their apartments.

As housing charities report a huge spike in calls and the Residential Tenancies Board revealed it has seen a 40pc increase in traffic to its website during the Covid-19 crisis, tenants have spoken out about their difficulties getting deposits returned.

Concerns have also been raised about landlords not carrying out inspections in the presence of tenants due to lockdown restrictions.

In one case, a group of young tenants who paid €350 to have a three-bed apartment deep-cleaned have been told €425 will be deducted from their deposit.

A staff member said in an email the property was “not cleaned to the expected standard”.

The group had been paying €2,700 between them to rent an apartment in Ranelagh from Belgrave Property Management.

Belgrave, which rents renovated bedsits across the capital for up to €1,300 a month, said it did not wish to comment when contacted.

The tenants vacated the property at the beginning of May and have yet to receive their deposit back.

“We left the apartment in excellent condition with no damage and have been sending emails for weeks with barely any response,” one tenant said.

“I sent them 10 emails and even contacted them on Facebook after they did not respond to my emails as we needed the money to find somewhere else to rent.”

The lease for the property was up and the tenants had given the appropriate notice.

After the Irish Independent contacted Belgrave for comment yesterday, an agent from the company emailed the tenants to apologise for the delay in responding and said they would be deducting more than €400.

“It is disappointing as we paid a lot of money to leave it in a good condition,” one tenant said.

“The relationship was good before this.” Although there is no specific timeframe set down in law regarding returning a deposit, housing charity Threshold recommends a deposit should be returned within 14 days of the end of a tenancy.

Another tenant, who is a contract worker and had to return home due to Covid-19, gave Belgrave two months’ notice she was terminating the lease in March.

She provided written confirmation from her employer and was told she will not be receiving her deposit of €1,600 back.

The woman was paying €1,600 a month to rent a 20sqm apartment.

According to an advertisement on Daft.ie, the property has since been re-let.

“It’s a lot of money and although I had to end my lease early, I gave them plenty of notice and left the place in good condition and paid my rent in full. It’s all been very stressful.”

At the start of the crisis, Belgrave sent an email to tenants warning them not to exercise in their flats using dumbbells or kettlebells as it “could cause the ceiling to collapse”.

‘It’s a lot of money. I gave them plenty of notice and paid my rent in full’