Landlord who evicted family-of-seven so his daughter could ‘move in' ordered to pay €15k damages
Claire Friel, her partner and kids had been renting a four-bed house in Termon, Letterkenny, Co Donegal from Declan Breslin since 2015.
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.
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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.
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