Residential Tenancies Board<\/a> (RTB) tribunal that his late father, Seamus O\u2019Neill, was stressed and \u201cdeveloped delirium\u201d after receiving a notice of termination in January 2024.<\/p>\nHis father\u2019s former landlords, Mary and Joe Farrell, had argued that the property was no longer suitable.<\/p>\n
In the notice, they said the bed spaces and bathroom, located on the first floor of the house off Grand Canal Street in Dublin 2, were inaccessible to O\u2019Neill due to his \u201cimmobility and ongoing health issues\u201d.<\/p>\n
Emer Smith, the landlords\u2019 estate agent who appeared on their behalf, said the couple \u201cthought it was best\u201d O\u2019Neill move into alternative accommodation \u201csuitable to his needs\u201d.<\/p>\n
She claimed Joe Farrell had noticed O\u2019Neill could \u201cnot go upstairs\u201d and that he had a bed and a \u201ccommode\u201d in the livingroom, adding he became \u201cconcerned for the welfare\u201d of his former tenant and the condition of the property.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill\u2019s son told the tribunal the reason for terminating the lease could set a \u201cdangerous precedent\u201d as it could allow landlords to make an \u201cunqualified medical decision\u201d to terminate a tenancy.<\/p>\n
He provided a 2022 occupational therapist\u2019s report that recommended downstairs living, after which a bed was provided for the ground floor, he said.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill argued that if the property was unsuitable, the report would have specified this.<\/p>\n
He told the tribunal the termination, which gave until August 22nd to vacate the property, was \u201cvery stressful\u201d for his late father, as he had lived there since 1992.<\/p>\n
His father subsequently became unwell and entered hospital about two months after receiving the notice. He then entered long-term care in August 2024, where he died the following December.<\/p>\n
While he was in the process of removing his father\u2019s belongings on August 25th, he discovered the locks of the house had been changed by the landlords. He argued that his late father had been \u201cillegally evicted\u201d.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill had told the tribunal he believed the tenancy was terminated as his father had complained about his boiler.<\/p>\n
The boiler broke in late 2023, he said, claiming Joe Farrell was \u201creluctant\u201d to pay for a new one in full due to \u201ccash flow problems\u201d.<\/p>\n
He claimed Farrell reached an agreement with his late father, in which he would pay \u20ac450 as a \u201cshort-term contribution\u201d to be repaid.<\/p>\n
However, O\u2019Neill said the sum was never returned. He also sought the return of a security deposit amounting to \u20ac1,270.<\/p>\n
However, the landlords claimed no such deposit was paid.<\/p>\n
Deeming the notice of termination invalid, the tribunal said it was not permissible for a landlord to terminate a tenancy based on the \u201cperceived\u201d medical condition of a tenant.<\/p>\n
It said the 32-year tenancy of an \u201celderly and vulnerable tenant was terminated for an ultimately flawed reason\u201d.<\/p>\n
Noting the locks had been changed while O\u2019Neill was in the process of removing his late father\u2019s belongings, the tribunal said the tenancy had been \u201cunlawfully terminated\u201d by the Farrells.<\/p>\n
It found the nature of the termination of the tenancy to be \u201cappalling\u201d and ordered the couple to pay \u20ac500 in damages to the late O\u2019Neill\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n
It also ordered them to repay the \u20ac450 the late tenant paid towards the new boiler, saying he should not have had to contribute to such costs.<\/p>\n
It did not uphold the claim for the return of the security deposit, saying there was insufficient evidence it had been paid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A couple who terminated a tenancy on the basis that a house was no longer suitable for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,615,3662,61,60,13696],"class_list":["post-443085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dublin","tag-housing-crisis","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-residential-tenancies-board-prtb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}