A Co Kildare couple renting a three-bed detached house in a gated community in the K-Club are disputing a 22 per cent rent increase as they say there are ongoing issues with mould and damp, as well as sewerage smells, in the house.
Terry McGovern and Katriona Hillery, who are appealing a previous adjudication of the Private Residential Tenancies Board, told the PRTB tribunal on Thursday their landlord, businessman Arthur French, had not notified them in writing of a rent increase from €1,800 a month to €2,200 and that he had not maintained the 2,765 sq ft property adequately.
Previous adjudication
A previous adjudication had instructed that they should pay €2,000 a month.
However, the couple had not brought information about the state of the property to the tribunal in time at the last hearing and they were on Thursday appealing any rent increase until alleged outstanding issues were resolved.
John Bosco French, acting on behalf of his father Mr French, said the couple were in rent arrears of "about €2,500" and had repeatedly obstructed repair crews accessing the property.
He said the rent being sought for the property was “at the lowest end” of the market for comparable dwellings in the area.
The couple moved into the house with two young children in March 2011, paying rent of €1,400 a month. This was increased in April 2013 to €1,800, an increase Mr McGovern said they “took on the chin” as they liked the house and the area.
Foul smells
There were, he said, issues from “day one”, including foul smells from the shower in the master bedroom’s en suite, water leaking from an upstairs sink into the ceilings and walls of the ground floor, an “unreliable” burglar alarm, lights not working in the hall and children’s bathroom, an extractor fan running 24 hours a day in the children’s bathroom, an internal wall needing to be wall-papered and inadequate upkeep of the garden.
He said the gas boiler had not been serviced “in over a year” and the exterior walls needed repainting.
He said the second rent increase would have represented a 57 per cent increase since 2011, and he “had to call a halt” to it.
“We like the area, we like the house, but we don’t like the condition of the house. We just want a bit of fair play,” he said.
Mr French said the couple had been notified in March last year by email of the rent increase to €2,200.
Email notification
He argued email notification complied with the legal requirement that rent increases be notified in writing.
“From a landlord’s perspective, once we establish a method of communication which is utilised by both parties, we would feel email satisfies as a method of communication.”
He said if there were maintenance issues there was “no problem” resolving them.
However, from April last year until December, he added, they “couldn’t establish communication to gain access to the house”.
The tribunal will issue a judgment on the case in coming weeks.
