Two Brazilian students living in Limerick suffered financial hardship, stress and upset when their landlord “fobbed” them off and repeatedly failed to return their security deposit after they left their accommodation, a tribunal of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) has found.
The tribunal decided that landlord Andrew McGee should pay damages of €700 to Natalia Benini Silva and Felipe Bressan Silva for the unlawful retention of the €700 deposit, as well as the deposit itself.
The tribunal hearing, which Mr McGee did not attend, was told by Natalia Silva that they were given a cheque for €700 after they left the accommodation at The Grove, Dooradoyle Road, Limerick, in December 2023. However, the cheque was not accepted by the bank.
The tenants were paying monthly rent of €833 and shared the property with another couple, with both couples moving out at the same time.
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“They assisted the landlord in finding two more couples to move in,” the tribunal report said.
The landlord was impatient, saying “he had a queue of people waiting to move in”.
When the cheque wasn’t accepted by the bank, the students made multiple attempts to meet Mr McGee to get their deposit returned, and got their teachers at their English school to help, Ms Silva said.
“She said that they felt the landlord had treated them differently because they were from another country,” the tribunal said.
The tenants made arrangements to meet the landlord, taking time off school to do so, but “he would just keep them waiting and never show up”, the tribunal was told.
“Ms Silva said that the landlord was keenly aware of their precarious financial situation without the €700,” the tribunal said. “Eventually they asked the landlord why he was doing this. He replied that if they wanted, they could go and contact the gardaí. However, the gardaí said they could not help them and eventually they made an application to the RTB.”
The witness said she was very concerned about how they were treated, being “people who were from overseas and who are vulnerable as a result”.
The tenants said the loss of the deposit was a serious blow, that they had no family here to help them and had to reach out to friends, the report said. The exchange rate with Brazil was very bad and they had to take out loans in Brazil with “exorbitant interest rates”, and sell personal belongings to get by.
In its decision, the tribunal said it was “satisfied that the landlord fobbed the tenants off, agreeing to meet the tenants at the bank to give them their deposit and then not showing up”.
It said the evidence of the tenants was “very compelling”.
The tribunal was satisfied they “suffered financial hardship as well as stress, inconvenience and upset as a result of the landlord’s actions. In particular, the tribunal has regard to their evidence that they had to sell personal belongings to get by and take out loans in Brazil at very high interest rates.”
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