Disabled man made homeless after bringing subletting issue to rental watchdog
disabled
man, who uses a wheelchair, said he has been made
homeless
after discovering he was unknowingly subletting from another
tenant
.
Upon raising the issue with the
Residential Tenancies Board
(RTB), the man said days later he came home to find the locks of the front door changed and all of his belongings in suitcases and plastic bags outside the accommodation, including his wheelchair.
He said this was done by the other tenants of the flat, one of whom he was subletting from.
The RTB said it could not comment on 'any individual or ongoing dispute resolution cases'.
READ MORE
The man, who is originally from outside the EU, has lived in Ireland for two years. He suffers from a disease that affects his metabolism and has significantly weakened his muscles since adulthood.
He wishes not to be named by The Irish Times for fear of it being used against him when looking for future accommodation or employment.
Having already attended university in his home country, he recently graduated from a higher education institution in Dublin with a diploma in computer science.
He said 'student visa restrictions and the challenges I face as a wheelchair user made it nearly impossible' to secure a job before graduating.
He came to Ireland in July 2023 and found a room to rent in
Santry
, Dublin 9, where he has stayed for the past two years. He said he recently discovered the official rent for the flat and that he had been overcharged for the entirety of his living there.
On June 28th, he took this to the RTB 'to request a refund and ask for the rent to be adjusted fairly'. He said they told him 'they couldn't help because I had no formal lease, and paid rent to another tenant, and had never seen or dealt with the landlord directly'.
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Households of people with disabilities hit by extra costs and lower income
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In response to these claims, the RTB said it 'cannot comment on any individual or ongoing dispute resolution cases'.
In email correspondence seen by The Irish Times, the property's letting agent informed him that the landlord 'has no record of a tenancy agreement or contractual relationship with you'.
The landlord 'had no knowledge of your occupancy in the property and you were occupying the property without consent,' the agent said.
Days after bringing a case to the RTB, he said 'everything changed'. 'When I arrived, there was a man in the house who spoke to me in an aggressive way and told me to leave. I don't know who he was. He might have been the landlord or someone from the estate agency,' he said.
He said 'thankfully, some friends helped me collect my belongings, and one of them is now keeping them safe. Unfortunately, none of them were able to host me even for a short while, because their homes are not wheelchair accessible'.
The man is a member of Disability Power Ireland, a grassroots disability advocacy group. Availing of their support, they said he was using the last of his savings to stay in a private hostel.
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