Courts

Former Marc Godart tenant gets RTB payment after taking landlord to High Court

Payment to tenant illegally evicted comes after Godart engaged senior counsel to contest case taken by Bolivian national Lizet Peña-Herrera

Lizet Peña-Herrera has received the compensation she was awarded in 2022 by the Residential Tenancies Board. Photograph: Tom Honan/The Irish Times

Colm Keena
Sat Jun 29 2024 - 10:30

A former tenant of the controversial landlord Marc Godart has finally received the compensation she was awarded in 2022 by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) following her illegal eviction.

Ms Lizet Peña-Herrera, a psychologist from Bolivia who has been living in Ireland since 2008, secured an order in the District Court for the payment of the RTB award when it went unpaid, and when the money was still not paid, she took a case in the High Court.

She took the case against Green Label Short Lets, the Godart company that was ordered by the RTB to pay €15,433 to her because of her illegal eviction from a house on Vintage Court, Cork Street, Dublin 8.

When the case went to the High Court, Mr Godart, the sole director of Green Label Short Lets, said the company was no longer trading and did not have the money to pay the award.

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The company engaged a legal team, including a senior counsel, to contest Ms Peña-Herrera’s claim. Eventually Mr Justice Brian Cregan acceded to a request that Mr Godart, who lives in Luxembourg, should be ordered to come to court to answer questions about Green Label’s inability to pay the award.

On Wednesday Ms Peña-Herrera was given a bank draft for €17,421, to cover the RTB compensation, the costs of her District Court case, and interest.

A hearing next month will consider who should pay the costs of the High Court action, which involved 13 appearances before Mr Justice Cregan, with the more recent sittings in the case involving senior counsel on both sides. An application that Mr Godart be made personally liable for the costs of the hearings has yet to be ruled on.

“I feel proud and I feel relieved, and I really hope that Mr Godart makes his life easier by complying with the law and stopping doing what he is doing,” Ms Peña-Herrera said after the payment was made.

“I am really grateful to my legal team, and to the people at the RTB and Dublin City Council who advised and supported me,” Ms Peña-Herrera added.

Ms Peña-Herrera was evicted after she complained to the council about overcrowding in the house. Her legal team comprised Eoghan McMahon of McGrath Mullan and barristers John Kennedy SC and Liam Bell BL.

Mr Godart and his companies have been the subject of a number of compensation awards to former tenants that have gone unpaid, including €54,000 for five individuals who rented rooms from Green Label at a property in Fairview, Dublin. These former tenants are currently seeking a District Court order for the payment of their RTB awards.

The Luxembourg businessman invested in Irish property in 2014, during the property price slump, and is now involved in short-term letting and other property activities.

Colm Keena

Colm Keena

Colm Keena is an Irish Times journalist. He was previously legal-affairs correspondent and public-affairs correspondent

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