A property owner who confronted the Teaching Council regarding his tenant, following her queries about his tax conduct with colleagues, has been mandated to compensate after bombarding her with text messages. An adjudication heard by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) in May established that the tenant – a School Teacher with nearly three years stay at the Dublin apartment, received an eviction notice in January 2023 which was later ruled invalid.
The owner maintained to the tribunal that his sibling used the flat for a portion of the week since he was working alternately in Dublin and London. However, the tenant, suspicious of the owner’s brother’s need for the flat, recalled a message she received that January from the landlord intending to accommodate a new tenant to live with her, an offer she turned down as she had leased the whole flat. Following that, the landlord informed her of his decision for her to vacate the property by the end of 2023.
Unexpectedly the next day, he sent another text, querying her planned departure date, and subsequently gave her an eviction order. On an occasion in May, he proposed a sum of €2,300 for her to exit the property in less than two months.
A month later, he sent a text alleging her teaching peers prompted him to escalate her to the Teaching Council, accusing her of insinuating he was evading taxes. He threatened her with a complaint if she resisted cooperation, as heard by the tribunal.
Though denying she ever used the term “tax evader”, the defended conceded she had indeed questioned his tax rectitude with colleagues. In July, she received another threatening text warning her of being reported to the Teaching Council if she failed to clarify her relocation plans.
Her claim provoked him after he was contacted by her unidentified colleagues who reported she’d labelled him a tax evader. This led him to, eventually, lodge a complaint with the council and deliver a solicitor’s note to her. In August, he sent additional texts divulging his suicidal feelings and suggesting his children could end up “without a father and homeless” if he lost his house because of her refusal to leave the dwelling.
Suffering a “nervous breakdown”, the landlord regretted the texts, which he confessed were “out of character”, as reported by the tribunal.
On the 1st of September, 2023, a second termination notice was delivered by him. The renter disclosed that she neglected to answer the proprietor’s communication for a quarter of the year due to the appalling content of his messages, opting to maintain a certain degree of dignity amidst intense pressure from him.
The matter brought up to the educational board was deemed as “demeaning” and “inappropriate for raising grievances” by the panel. Nonetheless, this didn’t constitute an infringement of her rental rights as she expressed concerns over his tax compliance.
Despite acknowledging the landlord’s claim of undergoing mental distress, the board concluded that the tenant was also subject to a deluge of intrusive messages, which impacted her right to peacefully reside in the property. This was detailed in the panel’s report.
The property owner was instructed to compensate the tenant €500 as redress for infringing upon her right to have a peaceful stay in the property. The tenant, on the other hand, was given instructions to evacuate and surrender the property within six weeks because she had overstayed her lease since March 2024.