A Dublin solicitor, who is alleged to have been operating his €3,350-a-month city centre rented apartment as an Airbnb, has been directed by a judge to take down online listings, cancel bookings and desist from short-term lettings until a further court order.
The directions were made by Judge John O’Connor in the Circuit Civil Court on Friday against Geoffrey Curran, who has been living in the apartment at Blind Quay, Exchange Street Lower, Dublin 8, for the past five years.
Mr Curran told the court he has “not, at any time, operated a business from the property”. He said in his written evidence that he is concerned the proceedings form part of a concerted effort to secure his removal from the apartment through collateral means.
Barrister David Geoghegan, who appeared for Robert, David and John Paul Ranson, company directors with addresses in Clontarf, Dublin, said it is believed Mr Curran had been operating an Airbnb business allegedly in breach of his lease and without planning permission for more than a year.
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Mr Geoghegan, who appeared with Robert Coonan Solicitors, said his clients discovered in August last that Mr Curran had been persistently engaging in short-term leasing and sometimes leased the entire apartment to guests.
He said that, according to a review left online by “Brian in Virginia”, three couples had at the same time used the premises and there was no doubt Mr Curran was using the property as an Airbnb in breach of his obligations. There had been other reviews posted online by people from all over the world. While Mr Curran lived at the address, he was renting out the rest of the three-bed apartment, the court heard.
After having failed to appear in court on Tuesday last, for which he apologised to Judge O’Connor on Friday, Mr Curran told the court in written evidence the apartment is his principal private residence which he has shared with other people who “changed from time to time”.
The Ransons, as personal representatives of the estate of the late Robert Ransonsnr, had sought the legal restraints against Mr Curran who, on Friday, told the court that at no point had he sublet, signed over or granted any interest in the property to other parties.
“I have from time to time taken paying licensees or guests ... who were occasional and incidental and when I was, at all times, in occupation as my principal private dwelling,” Mr Curran stated. “I have not, at any time, operated a business from the property.”
He had reported certain issues to Dublin City Council under the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations and, following an inspection the local authority, found the regulations had been contravened. A report had directed structural repairs and the restoration of mould and water damage in several areas of the apartment.
The Ransons claim that, under an April 1998 lease with Temple Bar Properties Ltd, the deceased Mr Ranson snr was leased the apartment at Blind Quay for 500 years. Under a residential sublease, they claim the apartment was sublet in 2020 to Mr Curran.
Mr Geoghegan told Judge O’Connor his clients claim Mr Curran was allowed to use the property only as a private dwelling for three people and was not permitted to operate a business from there or take in lodgers or short-stay guests.
Barrister Jack Fenton, who appeared on Friday with Martins Solicitors, for Mr Curran, told the court his client has not let the entire property for more than 90 days in any calendar year.
Mr Curran’s case, he said, is that a short-term let is a licence to occupy and not a tenancy. An assignment was a transfer by a tenant to another person and there was a clear difference between a sublet assignment and a short-term lease.
Earlier, the court heard a Residential Tenancies Board adjudicator determined in July that a notice of termination served by the landlord on Mr Curran last January was valid. Mr Curran has appealed the determination and remains in the apartment pending the hearing of that appeal.
