A corporate landlord that served a seven-day eviction notice on a tenant after being told a Garda raid on the property had recovered narcotics has been told by a Residential Tenancies Board tribunal the notice was invalid.
An agent of the construction company that owns the Co Kildare apartment told the tribunal that, on a date last year, gardaí raided the property, breaking down the door to gain entry.
The agent said “the Garda had confirmed during a subsequent phone call with him that the raid was to look for narcotics and that narcotics were found”, the tribunal report said.
“As a result of this, the landlord issued a seven-day notice to the tenant to vacate the dwelling. [The agent said] there were 40 different families living in the apartments and that the landlord had a duty of care to these families.”
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The tribunal was told the tenant had been renting the apartment without difficulty up to the time of the Garda raid.
The seven-day notice was issued on the basis of alleged antisocial behaviour, but the tribunal noted that the legal definition of such behaviour required “robust proof of antisocial behaviour” at the time of serving the notice.
The landlord’s agent said people were visiting the apartment building for no reason. He “stated that since [the notice was served] other acts of antisocial behaviour had been carried out by the tenant, that this was the real world, that people would be attacked and shot as a result of these actions and that this would have a major impact on the building”, the tribunal report said.
The agent said the criminal case against the tenant has not been concluded. He did not produce evidence to support his claim about other acts of antisocial behaviour.
[ Owners of apartment ‘put through hell’ by antisocial tenant, RTB tribunal toldOpens in new window ]
The tenant, speaking through an interpreter, said “he would have nowhere to live if he had to leave. The tribunal asked him did he have anything to say on the allegations of antisocial behaviour. The tenant replied that he had nothing to say”.
The tenant was in the apartment since 2015, was paying €1,160 per month, and was still there. The identities of the parties involved are not being disclosed for legal reasons.
The tribunal said seven-day notices were reserved for the most serious of matters, and it was not satisfied the Garda raid warranted the service of the notice.
“For the benefit of the parties the tribunal draws attention to the fact that there is a difference between ongoing antisocial behaviours and ones warranting a seven-day notice,” the report said.
“In the former case a warning notice must first be served, and if the matter continues and/or reoccurs a notice may then be served. Such a notice must also give 28 days’ notice of termination of the tenancy.”
A notice of termination for antisocial behaviour was “a draconian measure”, the tribunal said. “If it was upheld in this case, the tenant would be rendered homeless.”
The only evidence from An Garda Síochána was a letter saying a search had taken place and was recorded on the Pulse system.
The tribunal said drug dealing was a criminal offence, and had it been provided with evidence of drug taking and drug dealing in the dwelling and its vicinity, a seven-day notice would have been upheld. However, no such evidence was before the tribunal, it said.
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