Mansions landlord is ordered to pay tenants more than €20,000 for withholding deposits
Company puts blame on Covid-19 pandemic
A COMPANY renting Georgian mansions in affluent Dublin areas has been ordered to pay tenants more than €20,000 after failing to return their deposits.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) has found in favour of 13 tenants who took separate cases against landlord Period Door Properties Limited after they had to vacate their homes during the pandemic.
Tenants renting a house on the prestigious Ailesbury Road in Dublin 4 told how the landlord would not return their deposits due to outstanding electricity and gas bills of more than €7,000.
However, the RTB found this was the accumulation of underestimated meter readings “going back years” and related to a period predating their tenancy.
The tenants were served with notices of termination at the start of 2020 to vacate the house within 120 days. Some have been waiting since last March to get their deposits back.
Michael O’Riordan, who works in banking and is originally from Co Cork, paid €1,250 to rent a room and was told this included bills of €150 each month.
He moved out of the property at the start of the pandemic and lodged a case with the RTB after the company failed to return his deposit of €1,800.
The RTB found in his favour. However, Period Door Properties appealed the decision and a tribunal is due to take place on February 5. He described his experience as “incredibly frustrating and stressful”.
In another case, Period Door Properties Limited was ordered to pay a tenant €2,781 by December 23. This included the security deposit of €1,650, overpaid rent of €831 and damages of €300 for unlawful retention.
Some of the tenants reported maintenance issues such as being left with no hot water for long periods. The RTB did not make any determination against Period Door Properties regarding living conditions.
There are currently more than 30 properties advertised for rent by Period Door Properties on website Daft.ie.
Tenants living in houses in Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Rathgar, Ringsend and Rathmines all took cases at the end of last year. Period Door Properties must pay tenants just over €23,000. Some of the tenants received part of their deposits back but took cases over the outstanding amounts.
A spokesperson for the company did not respond to queries sent by the Irish Independent this week. However, in an email sent to tenants yesterday, the company blamed the Covid-19 pandemic.
The email said there had been a “mass exodus” of tenants after multinational companies asked them to work from home, “with over 50pc of our tenants breaking their lease agreements and leaving overnight”.
“The Government moratorium on evictions which we support has compounded these arrears. In spite of all this, we want to assure you that we will continue to assess and return all and any deposits that are rightfully due and remain outstanding. We are aware of the multiple cases with the RTB and we have been unable to represent ourselves due to our shortage in personnel.”
The company said it “strongly disagreed” with some of the orders made by the RTB.
Period Door Properties was involved in more than a dozen other disputes over deposit retentions between 2017 and early 2020. A small number of these were not upheld.