A notice of termination issued by a landlord because his tenant was working from home has been deemed invalid by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).
Matilda Towler, who moved into a room in the seven-bedroom house on Ashfield Avenue in Ranelagh, Dublin, in May last year, received the notice last September stating she was using the property as her “working office”.
The landlord, Nicolas Seguy, said there had been a “massive increase” in the house’s electricity bills – which were included in the tenant’s €865 monthly rent – after Ms Towler moved in. He also attributed the rise to the use of electric heaters in bedrooms.
Noting there was no prohibition in the lease concerning working from home, Ms Towler said she worked one or two days a week on her laptop, mainly in her bedroom, and spent the remainder of the week at a Dublin city office.
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Mr Seguy’s notice of termination said she had breached her tenancy obligations by using the property for a purpose other than residential without his consent. He gave Ms Towler 28 days’ notice to vacate the property.
Before receiving the notice, Ms Towler said she had become a “spokesperson” for the tenants in the house when Mr Seguy sought to make them liable for utility bills.
After lodging a dispute with the RTB concerning the notice, Ms Towler said her former landlord issued varied leases to the other tenants, which prohibited working from home and made them liable to pay utility bills. She said Mr Seguy later offered to withdraw the notice if she signed the new lease, but she refused.
Ms Towler alleged the landlord was using the notice of termination as “leverage” to make the other tenants sign the leases. She said she felt Mr Seguy was “trying to organise the other tenants against her”, the RTB tribunal’s report stated.
Ms Towler said she ultimately left the property last November, but “did not really want to”. She stayed with family and friends after serving her notice to Mr Seguy of her intention to leave.
Although Mr Seguy was entitled to terminate the tenancy giving 28 days’ notice if Ms Towler had breached her obligations, the tribunal said it was not satisfied she had used the property for any purpose other than residential.
Recounting her working patterns, it said Ms Towler had Mr Seguy’s written consent to reside in the property “and that is what she did during the tenancy”. It found the notice to be invalid.
Ms Towler sought damages, but the tribunal said it was not satisfied that her tenancy was unlawfully terminated as she also served a notice of termination and left on an agreed date.
