He ran out on the rent.

But is he worth a public shaming?

Only YOU can decide.

‘Reluctant Landlord’ writes:

So being landlord was never really part of the plan but current circumstances warranted I should consider the option, and after 7 years of living on my own I thought it would be a welcome change.

With the help of a friend I published an advertisement on Daft.ie and before long I had a number of people over to view a room I had to rent. I settled on a person ill refer to as Martin – he was young, friendly and seemed easy going.

Everything was good a for a time. He had his parents and son over and I arranged spare beds for them – all seemed to be good.

Come the New Year things changed and bills/ rent were becoming late and he mentioned to me he was having financial difficulties but promised he would sort me out so trusting as I am I allow him some grace .

Two weeks passed and he told me the money was sent – again I trusted him at his word – a week later I check my account see the funds had not arrived so I contact him and he sends me
the transaction ID and confirmation of it being sent but I confirmed it had not arrived – he responded that he would look in to it.

I then did not see him for a few weeks and I came home mid-March and noticed his room was somewhat cleared out – he had left a note on the bed which indicated his financial troubles had taken a real turn and he had to move back to England .

The note stated he lost his job, his girlfriend and his life had pretty much fallen apart – he promised he would pay what he owed. I contacted the email address he left and advised him of my concern and was happy to discuss an installment plan for reimbursement.

As most of you reading this will not be surprised I heard nothing from him. I tried again to no avail. I was however during this time periodically checking his Facebook for updates to see where he was then out of the blue could not access his page so I assumed it was deleted.

However I randomly decided to search him while on a friend’s computer and the page was still live in which he recently posted a celebration post about being with his girlfriend for year and I also noticed he had updated his job to a company in North Dublin and was working there since March 1.

I’m now left with a dilemma while I was going to write off the amount (€1100) as a bad debt and put it down to the lessons of being a landlord.

However learning that he lied in almost every aspect of the note he left has me re-thinking things – while I accept I may not be able to get the money back – I am somewhat peeved knowing what happened and why I’m writing the article to as for you advise on what I should do.

Do I show up outside his workplace and ask for it on front of his employers? Do I ask his girlfriend? Do I message his father?

He had one months deposit which covered one months rent but he still owes me for two months and I’m short of cash as it stands. There is no way I can take him to the small claims court even and not even the RTB. What else can I do?

Anyone?

Pic: Shutterstock