Q: We own an apartment that we bought as an investment and have rented it out for the last three years to a couple. They keep it very well but they often fall behind on the rent – which does not cover the mortgage repayments. Last year, they missed one payment altogether and we did not notice this until the end of the year. Now they are behind again. They are good tenants but the rent is reasonable and we can’t really afford to miss another payment. What’s the best way to approach this?
A: I would question whether you have good tenants. My experience is tenants who pay in arrears are not good tenants. We manage 850 properties and approximately 2 per cent are in arrears, so your tenants fall into that category.
What invariably happens with this 2 per cent is that they will fall further into arrears and eventually depart, leaving you with rent outstanding. This observation is born of 40 years’ experience in this business.
I take it you are past the stage of friendly phone calls and that you wish to avoid the arrears scenario.
You could issue them with a 14-day notice as prescribed by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). If rent is still not paid, then on the 16th day, you could issue them with a 28-day notice. At this point you should prepare and submit a case to the board for persistent rent arrears and seek possession. By the time the 28-day notice expires the case will be near enough ready to be heard. I would recommend that you go the mediation route as it is faster than the adjudication route.
Please note that there are templates for all the above notices on the RTB website and you should strictly adhere to those.
The issuing of notices to your tenants may seem very confrontational; nevertheless you have to tackle the issue of non-payment so that you can pay your overheads. It will at least provide a wake-up call to your tenants. They will then have to decide whether they are going to conform as per conditions set out in the 2004 Tenancies Act, or whether they will just move on.
Kersten Mehl is a chartered property manager and a fellow member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie
