A landlord in Co Laois has been ordered to pay €6,000 in damages by a Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal after it heard he failed to evict tenants despite their alleged “egregious” and “chaotic” behaviour over a 10-year period.
Several residents living in a development in Mountmellick lodged a dispute with the RTB against landlord Seamus Spollen, saying they “wished their nightmare would end”.
Ann Kiernan, who spoke on behalf of five other residents, told the tribunal there had been “problems from the beginning” with Mr Spollen’s tenants.
Having lived there for 15 years, she claimed antisocial behaviour initially included drug use and drug dealing when they moved in a decade ago, though this escalated over time.
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She claimed before the tribunal that CCTV footage showed her cat being taken into the tenants’ apartment on one occasion and “was never seen again”, believing it “met its end in the flat”.
Ms Kiernan further claimed residents were frequently woken at night by shouting and fighting, and “cars being driven around the courtyard”.
She said gardaí, including the Armed Support Unit, have attended the development in the past.
Ms Kiernan further claimed some of the tenants would “intimidate and threaten residents”, and on one occasion, she alleged a resident was physically assaulted.
While Mr Spollen had issued a notice of termination due to antisocial behaviour in October 2024, Ms Kiernan said he had not progressed the termination and appeared to be “sitting back and making excuses”.
She said residents had suffered “emotional distress” due to the behaviour and were “always on edge”, adding that some had “given up and moved out”.
Mr Spollen told the tribunal he was “unaware” of some of the incidents raised, adding that he was “equally anxious to have his tenants vacate”.
He said his tenants have been overholding since November 2024 and had gone to see them but was “threatened” that he would be “burnt out”, he claimed.
He told the tribunal he had not made an official complaint to gardaí.
The tribunal found Mr Spollen to be in breach of his landlord obligations to the other residents, and had failed in his duty to them in not diligently pursuing the termination of his tenants’ lease.
“The complained of behaviour was not only egregious but was also long-running,” it said, adding that it caused “considerable distress” to the residents.
In awarding €1,000 to each of the six residents, it said the damages reflect the “inconvenience suffered by each of them and, in particular, the distress and upset as a result of sleep deprivation and loss of quiet enjoyment of their homes arising from the ongoing chaotic events”.
The tribunal said it was open to the residents to lodge a further dispute application with the RTB, should the issues persist.
