Judge gives tenants who have paid no rent for 3 years a stay on their eviction

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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Tenants who owe over €70,000 in rent arrears can spend Christmas in house

Tenants blame Covid-19 for not paying €2,500-a-month rent for over three years
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He (the landlord's barrister) said that although Emerley59 (the landlord) had been granted a determination by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) in September 2021 ordering them to vacate the premises within 14 days, they had appealed it to the District Court and subsequently to the Circuit Court.


When Marcin Stolarski, the only one of the tenants to attend court, said the arrears had arisen solely because of Covid, Judge O’Connor said he did not believe a word he had said and added that they had effectively used the courts to their own advantage.

He said they had not attended the RTB hearing or the District Court hearing and hadn’t lodged an affidavit explaining their situation.
 
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I find it interesting that in these cases where a judgement is given by the RTB or the courts, there never appears to be an order for the tenants to pay any of the rent arrears.

Perhaps I am wrong, but if there was more of these orders, it may disincentivise overholding.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Emerley59 (the landlord)
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It's interesting that it's a fund that's involved.

A few thoughts spring to mind:
  1. A fund is probably more likely to have complied with the formal steps for notification of arrears, termination of tenancy, etc, than a private landlord would have. Despite that it's taken 3 years to get to this point.
  2. A judge is probably less sympathetic to a fund than a private landlord who wouldn't have the same financial capacity
That this whole process takes over 3 years from first non-payment to eviction is really incredible.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
AFAIK the landlord has to make a separate application to the District Court for repayment of arrears.

In most cases it's not worth the time and legal costs but with €75k in play I would think it would be.
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There should be a cheap and easy way to get an order for payment of rent arrears. Unless there are other things at play; landlord not making good repairs etc., then an order against the tenants would soften their cough, so to speak.

The landlord may have no chance of getting their money, but the tenant will now have a noose around their neck, which would make it virtually impossible for them to get another tenancy, or a mortgage.

I suppose there would be social implications for such a system, as the state would then feel obliged to step in, and the taxpayer ends up footing the bill.
 
callybags said:
landlord not making good repairs etc., then an order against the tenants would soften their cough, so to speak.
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The RTB can make such an order, and names are published on the RTB website if you know where to look.

The RTB has no enforcement powers when it comes to payment of debts. A District Court application has to be made by the either party and the RTB says it will pay some legal costs in certain circumstances.

The criteria are below and as you can see it's more tenant- than landlord-friendly. RTB won't provide legal assistance for a landlord with €2,999 of outstanding arrears but will provide support for a tenant who's had €500 of a €1,000 deposit retained.

On receipt of a request for Legal Assistance with Order Enforcement Form enforcement, the RTB initially tries to secure enforcement by sending a letter to the non-compliant party reminding them of the terms of the Determination Order and requiring them to make arrangements to comply. If this approach is unsuccessful, then in line with available budgets and the Boards criteria, the RTB will provide Legal Assistance for the following cases;

  • Overholding / Overholding with Rent Arrears.
  • Rent Arrears that are equal to or over €3,000 or 3 months’ rent of the respective tenancy, whichever is less.
  • Deposit Retention greater than or equal to 50% of full deposit.
  • Unlawful termination of tenancies including cases determined to be an abuse of the termination process.
  • Overpaid rent in Rent Pressure Zone cases: where rent increases are more that 4% in a Rent Pressure Zone.
  • Third-party cases with anti-social behaviour where damages are awarded.
  • Cases where the non-compliant Party, has a history of breaching the Residential Tenancies Act.
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This does not surprise me in the least. The system is completely dysfunctional and ironically there are renewed soundbites from the Govt to review how the small landlord is taxed.

I feel very sorry for the genuine/decent renters/landlords or potential renters out there trying to find accommodation. No wonder landlords are leaving the market in droves. I was going to increase my investment in property holding but it is stories like this that convince me I made the correct decision.
 
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