A landlord has been ordered to pay damages after a tenant claimed he was subjected to “endless” and “abusive” messages pressuring him to vacate a property from her ex-husband.
A Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal in July also heard that David Kerr had called and tried to let himself into the property just weeks before the hearing.
The tenant, Cormac Figgis, was also told by Mr Kerr, who is the ex-husband of Mr Figgis’ landlord Suzanne Moran, that he would begin to call to the property to carry out weekly inspections.
Mr Kerr told the tribunal he intended to carry out “welfare checks” on the tenant, which would involve five-minute-long routine inspections each Sunday.
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However, it was the tribunal’s view that the planned checks were an effort to put “further pressure on the tenant to vacate the dwelling”.
Following a previous request to vacate the property in 2022, the tribunal heard that Ms Moran contacted Mr Figgis again in January 2024, asking him to vacate the apartment on Saint John’s Road, Dublin 4, by June as it was required by her son, who was returning from the US.
Mr Figgis then received a letter from Ms Moran’s solicitor in February, outlining that he was required to vacate by March 15th, despite housing charity Threshold telling him he was entitled to 180 days’ notice.
On March 10th, Mr Figgis claimed Ms Moran contacted him to say she would call to collect the keys four days later while the following day, he claimed her son contacted him to say that Mr Kerr would be changing the locks on March 18th.
Mr Figgis received a formal notice of termination days later.
Mr Kerr told the tribunal that a document had been signed under which Mr Figgis, who was known to Ms Moran’s family for about 30 years, agreed to occupy the apartment as its caretaker.
The agreement specified that the arrangement could be terminated by either party with 30 days’ notice, and Mr Figgis would pay €400 per month.
Mr Kerr said the document signed notes specifically that there was no lease or tenancy agreement attached to the property or the agreement.
He said his ex-wife had been kind to Mr Figgis in giving him a place to stay for €400 per month, which the tribunal heard was 20 per cent of the market rate for the area, adding that she had agreed to help him in pursuing his housing requirements.
Following an unsuccessful mediation through the RTB in April, Mr Figgis claimed he was subjected to “endless messaging” from Mr Kerr.
The tribunal noted that Mr Kerr sent more than 20 messages through WhatsApp to Mr Figgis “effectively putting the tenant under pressure to vacate the dwelling sooner than the termination date” of September 18th.
Mr Figgis claimed the messages were “abusive, belittling and condescending”, however, Mr Kerr claimed he was trying to “understand what he was doing” adding that giving 180 days to vacate under the notice of termination was “to cover a worst-case scenario”.
Mr Kerr told the tribunal that he had tried to gain access weeks before the hearing but said he had followed the correct protocols, and had tried to use the key as he believed the locks may have been changed.
He left once he realised Mr Figgis was inside.
Despite the signed caretaker agreement, the tribunal found that Mr Figgis was a tenancy holder as the agreement appeared to give him a right to exclusive possession and occupation.
Ms Moran was ordered by the tribunal to pay €500 in damages for the “stress and inconvenience” caused to Mr Figgis.
It described weekly inspections by Mr Kerr as “entirely unreasonable” while “excessive messaging” over a prolonged period “substantially interfered” with his right to peaceful and exclusive occupation of the dwelling.
“It was clear from the evidence that the tenant had suffered considerable stress and inconvenience as a result of the unwarranted pressure put on him to vacate the dwelling,” the tribunal said.
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