A tenant who was unlawfully evicted by controversial landlord Marc Godart is seeking to have him or his mother, Denise Godart, brought before the courts to explain why awards totalling €15,433 made by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) have not been paid.
The Dublin City Sheriff’s office was asked to collect the debt from Godart’s company, Green Label Short Lets, last year, after the awards were confirmed by the Dublin District Court, but the debt remains unpaid. The June 2023 District Court order covered awards totalling €15,433 and costs of €1,200 plus VAT.
In the High Court on Monday Liam Bell, instructed by Eoghan McMahon, of McGrath Mullen solicitors, for Lizet Pena-Herrera, told Mr Justice Brian Cregan that the debt remained unpaid and that he wished to examine the directors of Green Label Short Lets Ltd, as to why this was the case.
The case was put back, on consent, for a number of weeks, with barrister Darragh Haugh in court on behalf of Green Label Short Lets, the directors of which are Mr Godart (34) and Ms Godart (63). The application was brought under the Companies Acts. Ms Godart, who has an address in Luxembourg, resigned as a director of the company in September of last year, according to company filings.
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The RTB adjudicates on complaints from tenants and landlords, can make findings, and instruct that compensation payments be made. However, it has no power to enforce the payment of its determination orders, and people have to go to the District Court to get an order directing that the payment be made. If the payment remains unpaid, then people can appoint the sheriff’s office to collect the debt.
Ms Pena-Herrera, a Bolivian national who came to Ireland in 2008 and now works as a psychotherapist and councillor, is a former tenant of Green Label Short Lets. She entered into a tenancy agreement in December 2020, renting a room for €470 per month at 8 Vintage Court, Cork Street, Dublin 8.
In March 2022 “due to a number of health and safety issues in the dwelling, principally overcrowding”, she made a complaint to Dublin City Council, asking that they inspect the Vintage Court premises, according to her affidavit to the District Court in March 2023.
An inspection was carried out on April 6th, 2022. A week later she was served with a notice by Green Label Short Lets to quit her accommodation. She appealed the notice to the RTB and in October 2022, following an adjudication, it was found that the notice of termination was an act of penalisation by the landlord, was invalid, and that Ms Pena-Herrera should be paid €1,000 within 28 days.
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Meanwhile, on August 3rd, 2022, just two days after the RTB adjudication hearing and before its determination, Ms Pena-Herrer received a phone call from someone acting for Green Label Short Lets, telling her that her belongings had been removed from her Vintage Court room and put into storage at a facility on Kylemore Road, Dublin 10.
“Due to the illegal actions of [Green Label] I was made effectively homeless,” Ms Pena-Herrera said in her affidavit. “I suffered severely mentally, professionally and financially because of this and am still now moving from short term let to short term let.”
The items removed from the room included her father’s death certificate, her personal papers including her immigration papers, her passport, her laptop, and her jewellery and clothing other than those she was wearing on the day of the eviction, she told the District Court.
She made a new complaint to the RTB on August 4th, 2022, which found against the landlord and ordered that Ms Pena-Herrera should be paid a second award of €14,443. Both debts remain unpaid.
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