Giving a landlord notice to quit properly

Q I plan to leave my house, which I have rented for the last year, on December 30th. I notified my landlord who informed me that, since I have rented the house for a year, I should have provided him with two months' notice.

I immediately conducted some research on the internet and it would seem that I am only compelled to provide 42 days. Can you confirm if this is correct? My landlord is often unreasonable, and isn't very professional in his approach to his tenants. I believe that I am not registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board Ireland (PRTB). To cut a long story short, my landlord has threatened to withhold my deposit. Any advice in this situation would be greatly appreciated.

Deposit retention is a frequent issue that crops up at the end of tenancy agreements. The relevant legislation that covers your query includes the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, and the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011. The PRTB is usually the relevant forum for adjudicating complaints such as yours, if the property is indeed registered with it. It is a legal requirement that landlords must register tenancies with the board and penalties apply for non-registration. You can check the PRTB’s website to see if your tenancy is indeed registered. If it is not, you can apply to the board to have it take action against the landlord to have the tenancy registered. Until a tenancy is registered, the board is precluded from dealing with any dispute relating to the tenancy that may be referred to it by the landlord.

The next issue that ideally requires clarification is how you occupy the premises; whether by way of a fixed-term lease (usually one year), or a Part 4 Tenancy whereby there is no lease in place and you have been in occupation for more than six months.

Even if you are in occupation under a fixed term agreement, and the lease expires on 30th December, you are still required to serve a termination notice on the landlord informing him of your intention to vacate. A fixed-term tenancy cannot be broken unless there is a breach of obligation by the landlord or it contains a break clause. I’ll presume you are not breaking a fixed-term agreement.

The relevant notice periods depend on how long you were in occupation and are as follows: - Six months-1 year – 35 days’ notice. - One-two years – 42 days’ notice.

For your notice of termination to be valid it must: - Be in writing (not by text message or provided verbally); - Be signed by you; - Specify the date of service of the notice; - Specify the termination date. The day that is to be specified as the termination date is the last day of the notice period. The notice period starts on the day following service of the notice of termination. - You are not required to give a reason for termination as it appears to me the lease will have expired; - State that any issue as to the validity of the notice may be referred to the PRTB within 28 days of the receipt of the notice.

I think this is a clear cut issue. I suggest you take the following action:

Establish whether or not the tenancy is registered and if not contact the PRTB to have them commence registration proceedings against the landlord if it is not. Either way, serve a proper notice of termination on the landlord as set out above. It would be better to give an additional couple of days’ notice to allow for delays in delivery.

I do not believe your landlord has reason to withhold any part of your deposit, on the condition the property is handed back in good condition and you have fully complied with your obligations as a tenant.

Full details are available on the PRTB website.

Edward Carey is a chartered residential agency surveyor and a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie

‘Springy’ floors

Q I am in the process of purchasing a house in South Dublin and I recently had a survey carried out on the property. It was brought to our attention that there may be defects to the floor timbers as they were described as "springy". What does this statement mean and what are the implications of it for the property.

I have contacted the estate agent asking to have someone sent into the property to examine the timber floor. However, this has proved fruitless. If I was to purchase the house what would be the likely costs of repairing the timber floors and could they be easily fixed?

Generally the inspection of a property pre-purchase is carried out as a way to identify defects or problems with a building. No one likes the feeling of a supposedly solid floor bouncing or sagging underfoot. A springy or spongy feeling could indicate a minor issue, a major problem or no problem at all.

In this instance the report has indicated that the timber floors are ‘’springy’’. In general terms this indicates that the floors are not firm underfoot. One of the potential problems here is a risk of undersized timbers. This is not unusual in an older building or where a change of use has occurred with additional loads of, say, filing cabinets or attic conversions imposed.

Other reasons may be damaged timber from water penetration, wet or dry rot or insect infestation. Age may also be a consideration or poor workmanship.

In every case the area must be opened up for inspection. This is critical for identifying the problem and establishing a remedy. The first item to inspect is the size of the timber, its span and centres of the joists and loadings. There are standard tables for this calculation but I would advise professional input at this stage. I’d recommend you appoint a building surveyor or similar to oversee the analysis.

The next step is to inspect the condition of the timbers, paying particular attention to those that are end bearing or built into a wall. Timber has, of course, been used in building structures for centuries – for roofs, floor beams and joists, posts and lintels for windows and doors, and for complete timber-framed buildings, including load-bearing walls and screen partitions.

Timbers are intrinsic to the structural integrity and stability of the building. Structural timbers may deteriorate as a result of decay, over-loading, or as a result of poor design or alterations.

A common problem is decay brought about by moisture, often owing to a leak, poor maintenance or condensation. This allows fungi (dry rot for example) or wood-boring insects (such as woodworm and deathwatch beetle) to colonise the timber and reduce its strength.

Repairing failed structural timbers is, of course, not a new practice. In more recent times modern materials such as steel, epoxy resins, carbon fibre rods and wire rope have been developed to reinforce structures. Building repairs can also be effected by completely replacing timbers with new timber or, where used appropriately and sympathetically, materials such as steel or reinforced concrete. It may also be possible to reduce the loads through the design of secondary structures and in-fills such as brick panels, or packing-up under partly decayed timbers.

The relative merits of each form of repair largely depend on the situation. The trick is to identify it. The good news generally is that most problems of this nature are common enough and straightforward to fix. However costs can vary depending on a number of conditions and these cannot be fully ascertained without a comprehensive inspection and opening up of the affected area.

Robbie Patterson is a chartered building surveyor, a chartered project management surveyor and a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie

• Send your queries to propertyquestions@irishtimes.com or to Property Clinic, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2. This column is a readers' service. Advice given is general and individual advice should always be sought