Property Clinic

Our house has a high BER spec but the playroom is always draughty

Q We bought a new house six years ago which was built to a high BER spec. However our playroom/TV room which has three external walls is permanently draughty.

There are double-glazed windows and doors on all three walls, and two velux windows in the roof. However it seems that the primary source of the draught is through two poorly finished double-plug sockets, with air coming in through the edges.

We have also noticed some larger than normal gaps between the floor and the walls or skirting in other rooms so it might be an issue in those rooms as well – we just don’t spend as much time in them playroom/TV room. What measures can we take to remedy this?

A This question demonstrates the importance of proper detailing and supervision of construction in order to prevent this sort of problem arising. Firstly, you mention that the playroom has three walls of glazing.

Even if the glazing is of a very good, energy efficient standard, the best triple glazed windows still allow significantly greater heat loss than properly insulated solid walls. Underfloor heating can be useful in making this sort of space more comfortable, and can work well provided there is adequate insulation in the floor.

With regard to the sockets, you should not have draughts around them. It sounds as if there may be a hole in the wall behind the sockets into a ventilated cavity or to the outside. Similarly, you should not have draughts below skirtings.

You have not said if your home is of masonry or timber frame. This may have a bearing on finding the problem and an appropriate solution. Whether your floors are concrete or suspended timber may also be relevant

If you dont know, inspecting areas such as the roof space or other areas where there are no internal finishes may you help to determine this. As a last resort, a boroscope inspection – or limited opening up - can be carried out. Finding out might be important to help track the source of the air/draughts entering around the sockets and below skirtings

This will require an inspection by an appropriate construction professional, such as a Chartered Building Surveyor or architect, to unravel the various issues and give you the best solutions.

It would be useful to have any plans of the house available to review also.

Most urgently, if there are draughts around your sockets, I would be concerned about a risk of damp or moisture - not a good combination with electricity!

I would recommend this aspect is looked into as soon as possible.

It could be that some of the draught is actually due to cold air falling away from the glass to three walls.

Unfortunately, there is no quick DIY fix, although putting in soft floor coverings , and resolving the actual drafts at sockets and skirtings will be a start.

Krystyna Rawicz is a Chartered Building Surveyor

What's the story with the NPPR tax?

Q I have a general enquiry with regard to the non-principal private residence (NPPR) tax.

Can you please tell me when information about this tax request initially came into the public domain? When did politicians decide to gather this type of tax? When was the Local Government (Charges) Act, referred to in your Property Clinic response on 12/04/12, passed? When did the media begin to advertise that this tax was being sought? Were households in general targeted with information about this tax?

A I am not sure exactly when the politicians decided to introduce this type of tax but the charge on non-principal private residences (NPPR) was introduced in the October 2008 budget speech for the 2009 budget, and enshrined into law in 2009 under the Local Government (Charges) Act 2009 and amended by the Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011, in respect of all residential property not used as the owner’s sole or main residence.

The charge is payable by the owners of private rented accommodation, holiday homes and other non-principal private residences.

The tax is self assessed and is currently a flat fee of €200 and, to answer your question, there was a significant amount of publicity around the introduction of the charge.

The charge was introduced to provide a more stable income stream to local authorities, given the previous reliance on stamp duty contributions, which were highly unstable – as we saw when the boom ended. Income from the NPPR charge is used to assist in financing the provision of essential local services provided by local authorities such as public parks, libraries, planning and development, fire emergency services, street lighting, etc. Incidentally, the closing date for payment of the 2012 charge is June 30th. Full information is available on nppr.ie

Ed Carey is Chair of the Residential Property Professional Group of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland scsi.ie

Will we lose our deposit if one of us moves out?

Q I am a student living in rented accommodation with three other students. We all moved in separately around six months ago. One of the students now wants to move out and the landlord has told us that it’s up to us to find someone else to rent the room or we may lose the deposit if he is out of pocket for the rent. Is this correct?

A You don’t say whether there is a lease agreement in place with your landlord and if this agreement includes all four tenants. You do however say that you moved in separately so I am going to assume that there is no lease in place but four separate agreements with the landlord, all created in and around the same time. This would mean that there are four separate tenancies with no obligation of one tenant over another. There is no legal obligation for a landlord to complete a lease and an agreement can be oral or in writing. It is important that the landlord has registered the tenancies with the PRTB as he is legally obliged to do.

The second thing to establish is whether it was intended to have fixed-term agreements or what’s known as Part 4 agreements. If there is a combined fixed term agreement then the tenants would be tied into the whole term and would not be able to break the tenancy without paying the full rent for the fixed period. However the tenant vacating could request to assign or sublet the tenancy subject to the landlord’s written approval. If said approval is declined then there is no obligation for the tenant to find a replacement tenant and they can vacate without penalty.

If the tenancy is a Part 4 tenancy then the tenant may terminate the tenancy at any time provided he or she serves a valid notice of intention to vacate: 28 days if there is less than six months and 35 days if there is more than six months but less than one year.

The onus lies on the landlord to find a replacement tenant and there should be no penalty of deposit retention on the tenant or remaining tenants.

If any of the above is in dispute the tenant vacating or joint tenants can refer the matter to the PRTB at prtb.iefor adjudication or mediation.

Fergal Hopkins is an associate member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland scsi.ie