Number of illegal evictions growing, says Threshold

MORE THAN 1,000 people were threatened with or were illegally evicted from their homes last year, and the number is rising, according to the housing agency Threshold.

The organisation dealt with 196 “completed illegal evictions” in 2008 compared to 141 in 2007. Threshold also prevented a further 813 threatened evictions.

In its annual report for 2008, its 30th anniversary, the agency said that in two-thirds (66 per cent) of cases there was a breakdown in the relationship between landlord and tenant.

Threshold chairwoman Aideen Hayden said one illegal eviction was a middle-aged man in Kerry who owed rent of just €50 and came home to find the locks changed and “all his wordly goods in black bags outside the door”. Threshold got back his accommodation. The largest amount of arrears in an eviction case was €4,500.

Threshold, which last year dealt with more than 20,000 people said the majority of tenants threatened with eviction did not breach their obligations. “For example, tenants who asked their landlord to carry out repairs or provide their PPS number” (so tenants could apply for rent supplement).

Rent arrears “featured in just over a third (34 per cent) of illegal evictions cases” and in the current downturn “tenants with relatively small arrears are being forced from their home. Of the cases of illegal eviction involving rent arrears, 36 tenants owed a month’s rent or less, while 13 tenants owed more than a month”.

Threshold director Bob Jordan stressed the importance of a deposit protection scheme, which he said would greatly improve the private rented sector. Failure to return deposits was the biggest problem, with the number seeking assistance more than doubling from 1,603 in 2007 to 3,688 last year.

The agency says there is a “culture” where some landlords routinely refuse to return deposits. “This is exacerbated in the current climate because many landlords are themselves struggling and cannot afford to repay deposits.”

Up to 80 per cent of landlords have one or two properties and “are not professionals”, said Mr Jordan, adding that a scheme where deposits were held independently by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) would be self-financing and protect both parties.

Minister of State for Housing Michael Finneran said a review of the operation of the PRTB is under way and he is looking at the introduction of such a scheme.