# Rental Advice



## Emmis (Mar 21, 2010)

We are in a bit of a tricky situation regarding a house rental.

We put down a 400 euro holding deposit on a house in the centre of Lisbon, but before signing the contract and paying the rest of the money owed, my husband asked if we could try our car in the garage attached to the house, as he was concerned that our long volvo wouldn't fit. He told the agent that if the car didn't fit he couldn't live with that situation. He was willing to lose the 400 euros holding deposit.

The agent told him that he couldn't try the car as there were currently people staying there, but that the landlady would provide measurements of the garage. The agent received the information about the length of the garage and then told my husband that the garage measured 5.5m in length.

As our car is 4.8m in length that seemed more than sufficient so my husband paid the rest of the money owed (2 month's rent) and signed the contract.

The next day we moved in, and my husband found out that the car didn't fit in the garage. He then measured it himself and discovered that the garage is actually 4.8m. 

He immediately went next door to where the landlady lives to complain. She told him that the agent had said that the garage wasn't important to us :confused2: and that she had measured the garage herself and given the measurement, as she thought it was, of 5.2m to the agent.

So she'd got the measurement wrong, and the agent had bent the truth as well telling us that it was 5.5m... why would you do that? What if our car had been even bigger, at 5.3m?! Anyway...

We offered to stay at a reduced rent, so that we could then pay for parking elsewhere but she refused. So instead of asking for our money back, my husband said we'd stay in the house for the time we'd already paid for and then leave.

She then asked us to pay an extra 3 months' rent for lost earnings, which now she has reduced to 1 month's rent.

I'm confused. Isn't all of this her and the agent's fault? Hers for measuring the garage incorrectly, and the agent for not telling the landlady the whole truth? The agent failed to mention how necessary it was for us to have the garage (the car is now parked outside the garage door and has already been scratched as it's on a really tight corner... we're on one of those tight Lisbon roads!) or show her the email my husband had sent where his very concerns, and statement that he couldn't live in the house without a garage, were clearly stated.

Can anyone give us any advice? Do we have to pay an extra month's rent for someone else's mistake? 

This feels incredibly wrong and we've tried to communicate this but it's not getting through. We have been told we're to blame for not double checking, but surely trusting information that someone gives you regarding a house is not against the law now, is it?!!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Can't help on the legal aspect, there should be something in the contract about canceling.

A visit to agent and asking for the Complaints Book might well short circuit your problem and get some action.
Print relevant e-mails, to take with you, can be completed in English, keep to provable facts.


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## Emmis (Mar 21, 2010)

canoeman said:


> Can't help on the legal aspect, there should be something in the contract about canceling.
> 
> A visit to agent and asking for the Complaints Book might well short circuit your problem and get some action.
> Print relevant e-mails, to take with you, can be completed in English, keep to provable facts.


Thank you canoeman. Hugely appreciated piece of advice. I have seen Complaints Books around, in restaurants etc. About time I used one! Will sort that out a.s.a.p!


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## paramonte (Sep 9, 2007)

The law says that you have to be at least 120 days in the house, if you want to leave, in any case, you have to write a warning letter 90 days before leaving (I hope I am not wrong in the numbers).

So, looks like, legally, you should pay 4 month rent on the house (be you there or not) and send the registered warning letter 90 days before the leaving day. 

I am assuming that your contract is the vanilla 5 years contract, because if you have signed the so called temporary or touristic contract, then it will depend on the terms writen of the contract.

Oh, you might ask if, in case you signed the 5 years contract version, the writen terms apply or not. Well not all of the terms besides the rent value, pay day, property state etc, because in the other terms what counts is what is in the law, irrespective of what you have writen in the contract (yep, sort of small print somewhere in the contract: "aplica-se a lei geral")


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Emmis said:


> Thank you canoeman. Hugely appreciated piece of advice. I have seen Complaints Books around, in restaurants etc. About time I used one! Will sort that out a.s.a.p!


One bonus is that the complaints books (Livro de Reclamações) are not just there for decoration. All complaints are actually followed up 
Instructions on how to fill it in are to be found at Portal do Cidadão - Livro de Reclamações


*Write with pen, capitalization and readable, concise and objective, not exceeding the text field for the description of the facts;
Fill in all fields of the sheet;
Use only one sheet of claim;
Date and sign.
*


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## Emmis (Mar 21, 2010)

paramonte said:


> The law says that you have to be at least 120 days in the house, if you want to leave, in any case, you have to write a warning letter 90 days before leaving (I hope I am not wrong in the numbers).
> 
> So, looks like, legally, you should pay 4 month rent on the house (be you there or not) and send the registered warning letter 90 days before the leaving day.
> 
> ...


Is this also applicable, do you know, for us as we've signed a short tenancy until July next year, so 9 months' lease?

Thanks for your help.

At the moment the situation seems to be getting resolved. But just in case there is some hiccup it's good to know the situation from a legal point of view.

If you know how it would affect a short term lease I'd be hugely grateful as I can't find anything online, and as I've only been here a couple of months, my Portuguese is still limited. 

Thank you again for your help.


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## Emmis (Mar 21, 2010)

Emmis said:


> Is this also applicable, do you know, for us as we've signed a short tenancy until July next year, so 9 months' lease?
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> ...


Sorry, I just realised you answered my question in your answer - that it depends on the contract. The agent has just said we need to sign a termination of contract. With regards to the money asked of us, we are speaking with the owner. I'd still like to know where we legally stand though, if anyone does know, as we rented it because of false information given regarding the garage.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Proving that will probably take longer and be more costly than following the terms in your contract. Without seeing Contact it's very difficult to say, but most agents will cover themselves in one way or another about information supplied.

The threat of the Compaints Book might well get agent to get things moving in your favor, as Siobhán says it is a legal complaint document and is investigated by the agents Governing body.
So if you can substantiate wrong doing on their part!


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## paramonte (Sep 9, 2007)

If it is a short term contract alll depends on what is writen there. If nothing is writen there regarding returning of monies etc then I would guess it a bit of a legal limbo.

Correction for the 5 years contract: 6 months minumum stay for the renter, and should warn the owner 120 days before leaving.

I think your landlord should give you back the money, she did a mistake measuring the garage


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## Emmis (Mar 21, 2010)

paramonte said:


> If it is a short term contract alll depends on what is writen there. If nothing is writen there regarding returning of monies etc then I would guess it a bit of a legal limbo.
> 
> Correction for the 5 years contract: 6 months minumum stay for the renter, and should warn the owner 120 days before leaving.
> 
> I think your landlord should give you back the money, she did a mistake measuring the garage


Thank you Paramonte. We feel the same! But we're trying to come to some agreement. We have to leave as we need to park our car somewhere and can't afford both the rent here and paid parking. She seems happy now as she can rent it out for holiday lettings. We just have to come to an agreement about the money. Slowly getting there... we hope!


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Best of luck Emmis.


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## Emmis (Mar 21, 2010)

siobhanwf said:


> Best of luck Emmis.


Thanks Siobhan,

We really need some of that luck today. Out of the blue, despite being told the other day that the agent was going to keep out of the money discussion and leave it to the landlady and us, we got an email today from him, the estate agent, saying that he is on our landlady's side, and that the agency lawyers are now involved and we have to pay her an extra month's rent. 

Funnily enough we aren't _*not*_ on our landlady's side! If he had been clearer, more honest with her about the facts, about how important the garage was to us, living as we do in the middle of the city with a large car, maybe she would have taken more care to measure the garage correctly... or actually let my husband try the car in there himself.

My husband is speaking to lawyers today to see if we have a case. This is all really stressful, mainly because we're new in the country, know nobody (apart from new friends of course) and feel all a bit confused and foreign. 

We thought that we were actually being nice by not demanding back the money we'd paid on the day we moved in, and instead suggesting we stay for the time we'd paid for and then move out. Now we have to pay an extra month for a mistake they made. 

But I am not a lawyer. I'm just confused.


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