Landlord who evicted family-of-seven so his daughter could ‘move in' ordered to pay €15k damages
She told a Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal hearing that there were some issues throughout the tenancy. Ms Friel previously took a separate RTB case against Mr Breslin, where she was awarded €3,400 due to the 'overpayment of taxes and charges'.
Another dispute arose when Ms Friel was issued with a notice of termination in October 2022, a few days before an eviction ban was introduced by the Government. This ban lasted between October 30 and March 31.
Mr Breslin said the grounds for the notice of termination was that he wanted the house for his daughter. The notice gave the tenants until May 12, 2023 to move out.
They struggled to find alternative accommodation and asked the landlord if they could have more time.
Ms Friel alleged that the landlord 'began to engage in intimidating behaviour, such as blocking her car on the road', calling her on the phone without saying anything, and threatening them with legal action.
She tried to source rental accommodation through the local authority, but this was unsuccessful.
In November 2023, Ms Friel and her family left the property. They spent around €35,000 buying two mobile homes after 'draining' their savings and securing credit union loans.
When she moved out, Mr Breslin claimed there were issues with receiving the Housing Assistant Payment (HAP). He stated he would return her deposit of €500 once that was resolved. However, she never received it.
After they vacated the property, Ms Friel alleged there was no evidence anybody else moved into the house. She said the property could be seen from the road and that there were no lights on.
ADVERTISEMENT
Learn more
Ms Friel told the RTB that the landlord 'showed no empathy' towards their situation. She claimed they carried out maintenance and repairs on the garden, but never asked for money. She sought for the return of her deposit and also €15,000 in compensation so she could pay off the loans they took out for the mobile homes.
In his evidence, Mr Breslin said that his daughter worked all over the world and got married in April 2023.
He asked the tribunal why he would expect his daughter to spend €1,500 per month on rent when he had a 'free house to give to her'.
His daughter moved in with some furniture before Christmas 2023 and stayed for about a week after Christmas, before she went travelling.
He said he started to renovate the house but soon after a boiler had burst and that he had been working on the house on-and-off since February 2024. He said that his daughter had not stayed full-time in the house, but came and went for weekends.
He submitted that his daughter had planned to move in in May 2023, but that her plans had had to change because the tenants did not move out until November. His daughter last lived in the house full-time in February 2024. She is now based in Athlone.
When asked by the tribunal if he wanted to re-offer the house to the tenants, he said he did not want to. Mr Breslin said his other daughter was now engaged and he wants to keep the house for his family to use. He told the tribunal he would return the deposit, he thought he had been very fair to the tenants, and that it wasn't his responsibility to house them.
The RTB ruled that the notice of termination was invalid.
The reason given in the notice of termination was that Ms Breslin required the dwelling for her own occupation, expecting to occupy it indefinitely.
In his evidence the landlord stated that his daughter had never occupied the dwelling full-time as her work took her 'all over'.
As Ms Breslin did not attend the hearing, the RTB said she could not give evidence to assist it in determining whether or not her requirement of the dwelling was a bona fide one.
The tribunal said the consequences of the termination of the tenancy 'were profound'.
Ms Friel was awarded €15,000 damages.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Traffic gardaí 'letting their colleagues down' if they aren't 'doing their jobs', says Tánaiste
Traffic gardaí 'not doing their jobs' and showing 'no interest' are 'letting their colleagues down', Tánaiste Simon Harris has said. It follows Garda Commissioner Drew Harris' comments on a report that found some gardaí showed a "blatant disregard" for roads policing duties while they knew their actions were being reviewed. The Tánaiste said he would like to read the report and said it is 'surprising' that the Government had not seen it. 'Any member of An Garda Siochana who is acting in the way that the commissioner outlined is seriously letting their colleagues down in the first instance, colleagues who work every day to keep us safe,' Mr Harris said. '[They] would absolutely be undermining our road safety efforts. In this country, there are far too many empty seats at far too many kitchen tables.' Mr Harris, who is also defence minister, confirmed that he will meet with Sean Rooney's mother, Natasha, next week. Pte Rooney was killed while on UN peacekeeping duty in Lebanon in December 2022. On Monday, a tribunal sentenced the main defendant in the case, Mohammad Ayyad, to death. He remains at large however. In a statement, Ms Rooney criticised the Irish government and Mr Harris, suggesting he should have spoken to her, and not for her. Mr Harris said he will not comment further until he meets with her next week. 'Natasha is a grieving mother fighting for justice for her son who died while serving with absolute distinction wearing the uniform of Óglaigh na hÉireann,' he said. 'He has my absolute and total respect, as does his family.'
Irish Examiner
21 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner view: Misreporting on social media adding to crime burden
We have reached a point in Irish life where serious crimes must not only be dealt with on their own terms, but the reporting and representation of those crimes have become entirely separate challenges. The attack on a garda earlier this week in Dublin city centre is a case in point — the crime itself exists in parallel with how it has been misrepresented and weaponised by those following their own agenda. It is welcome news that assistant Garda commissioner for the Dublin metropolitan region, Paul Cleary, is to meet with Coimisiún na Meán, the media regulator, regarding the incident. Mr Cleary is expected to push for social media companies to do more on disinformation and its associated dangers. This is a serious problem. Soon after the Garda attack in Dublin this week, former MMA fighter Conor McGregor referred to the incident online and cited the Irish Government's 'human trafficking racket' in a post which was viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Whether anyone should be giving credence to the views of Mr McGregor, a convicted criminal, is immaterial; as Mr Cleary pointed out, misinformation and disinformation are '...concerning, and we would ask people to make sure that the source of their information is credible'. The fact that Mr Cleary is to meet with Coimisiún na Meán coincides with a parallel story developing this week. Social media platform X is expected to appeal a High Court ruling dismissing its action against Coimisiún na Meán over its online safety code. The code sets out legally binding rules for video-sharing platforms and is aimed at protecting the public, and especially children, from harmful online content. The fact that the post mentioned above from Mr McGregor featured on X gives this story a certain neatness. What is more significant is that such legal challenges function as implicit endorsements of the work of Coimisiún na Meán and suggest it is achieving its aims. The wholehearted support of the Government is now needed to ensure the regulator can continue that work. Housing crisis - All fixes must be considered With no end of the accommodation crisis in sight, we have grown accustomed to hearing that all solutions must be considered to relieve what should be seen as a national disgrace. That should be borne in mind, perhaps, when considering a new proposal from the Government — public consultation begins this week on a measure to increase the allowance for cabins or garden homes up to a size of 45sq m, larger than the original suggested upper limit of 40sq m. Minister of state for planning John Cummins said the plan was a practical move which would provide housing options for people with a disability or young people wishing to live independently of the family home in the short term. Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne was scathing, saying the plan was open to exploitation and that there were 'real concerns about the impact of allowing a huge number of unregistered log cabins proliferate ... without regard for sufficient sewerage facilities, water capacity, or fire safety access'. Mr Hearne's points were well made — we have seen plenty of exploitation in terms of what is being offered in the rental market to those desperate for accommodation; questions of safety and infrastructure are also valid, given the kinds of structures involved. Even those who see this measure as a retrograde step must also consider the alternative, however. Almost 16,000 people are homeless in Ireland, and a huge proportion are children. Would those families be better off homeless or in these garden homes? The decisions and factors which have brought us to this point are matters for discussion, but there are far more urgent questions facing us. We have a pressing need for safe accommodation in this country when the homeless outnumber the population of places such as Castlebar, Wicklow Town, and Killarney: Can we afford to disregard any proposal? This measure may be a sticking plaster rather than a permanent cure, but that does not justify outright dismissal. As a society, are we in a position to discard even temporary measures which may house desperate families? Seán Rocks - A voice for arts There was widespread shock with the news yesterday morning of the death of Seán Rocks at the age of 64. As an actor, Rocks featured at the Abbey Theatre and Gate Theatre in Dublin, as well as the Royal Court and National Tricycle theatres in London, appearing on screen in The Bill, Glenroe, and Fair City. However, he was probably best known as a broadcaster. Rocks presented RTÉ Radio One arts programme Arena since it was launched in 2009. Over the years he interviewed dozens of artists of all kinds, including Salman Rushdie, Edna O'Brien, Frank McGuinness, Roddy Doyle, Rupert Everett, Martin Sheen, and Brendan Gleeson. Rocks' rich Monaghan voice was unmistakable and instantly evocative, a suitable successor to other Northern accents in RTÉ's arts slot, such as Benedict Kiely. In June, this newspaper featured an interview with Rocks in the 'Culture That Made Me' slot, where his comments on novelist Claire Keegan could just as easily be applied to his own output. Keegan's writing, he said, 'possesses such integrity. The stories she tells are so wonderfully condensed. Not a word too much. Never a melodrama, just this economic, potent, thought-through sentence after sentence.' Condolences to his family and friends.
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Irish Examiner
Private Seán Rooney's mother hits out at Tánaiste and Lebanon after sentencing tribunal
The mother of Private Seán Rooney has hit out at Tánaiste Simon Harris, the Government, and the Lebanese justice system in the wake of a man being sentenced to death in Lebanon for his killing. Pte Rooney, who was 24 and from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed while on United Nations peacekeeping duty when the armoured vehicle he was driving from south Lebanon to Beirut came under fire in December 2022. Several others were injured in the attack. On Monday, a tribunal in Lebanon sentenced the main defendant in the case, Mohammad Ayyad, to death. He was absent from the proceedings as he was convicted at the military court on Monday, it is understood. Others were given lighter sentences. Both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste welcomed the conviction of the main defendant, but hit out at the lighter sentences issued. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was "unsatisfactory" that the main defendant is still at large. In a statement on Thursday, however, Natasha Rooney criticised both the tribunal and the response from Ireland. Son's legacy 'has been tarnished' Ms Rooney described the court proceedings in Lebanon as a "sham", saying that what happened in the tribunal was "not justice" and was "unreflective of what we regard as a trial process". "The trial into the murder of my son was heard and determined in less than half a day," she stated. "Not only was justice not done, it was not seen to be done, with little to no information being disclosed or challenged in open court. "Instead, we are forced to believe the answers provided by a Lebanese justice system which, from the outset, has failed to hold those responsible to account." She said her son's "legacy has been tarnished with fake news and false narratives". "The factual reality here is that the perpetrator who has been convicted for my son's murder has been untraceable and untraced for many years," she stated. "Not only did he not appear for his trial, but it is clear that he might never appear. "The verdict, in reality, is nothing more than a headline to the Lebanese authorities who masquerade this sham trial process as a semblance of justice for my son." Hurt and disappointed The statement, issued by Phoenix Law on behalf of Ms Rooney, went on to say: "In what other country would accomplices to the murder of a peacekeeping soldier be sentenced to monetary fines? To the Lebanese courts, assisting in the murder of my son is worth nothing more than $1,200. Whilst hurt and disappointed, I expected nothing less from a Government that is run hand in glove with a terrorist organisation. Ms Rooney added: "I did, however, expect more from the very country to whom my son died wearing with pride his native flag." "You would be forgiven for reading the Irish Government's response as one of victory for justice. Again, whilst such utterances are disappointing, they are unsurprising. "In a country where victims' rights ought to be paramount, it would perhaps be wise for the Tánaiste to speak to me, before seeking to speak for me, in his public statements." Ms Rooney said that she was not angry, but determined to ensure justice for her son, "and to highlight the uncomfortable truths about the systematic failings by the United Nations, the Irish Defence Forces, and the Lebanese justice system. "That is the very least I owe my son Sean," she stated. "It is the very least I owe Sean's comrades. And it is the very least the Irish justice system owes us all.'
