Landlord Paul Howard ordered to pay tenant €2,120 over eviction

Landlord Paul Howard has been ordered to pay a tenant €2,120, after serving her an invalid eviction notice to an apartment in Mountjoy Square, Dublin city centre.

Notices of termination served to Rejane Radtke on October 2nd and November 7th last year were ruled "invalid" in a hearing by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), the rental market regulator.

Ms Radtke was living in an apartment rented from Mr Howard in Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1. Mr Howard was ordered to pay €2,120 for a “breach of landlord obligations,” such as “unlawfully interfering” with the tenant’s right to “peaceful and exclusive occupation” of the property.

Several tenants from the Mountjoy Square apartment took actions against the landlord through the RTB, who are responsible for standards in the private rental market.

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The determination in favour of Ms Radtke is the fifth order against Mr Howard from tenants in the same Mountjoy Square apartment since January.

In four other orders, the RTB ruled Mr Howard had to pay tenants more than €11,500, for similar breaches of landlord obligations.

Mr Howard was ordered to pay Verena Lauer €2,225, Andrea Devoti €5,197, Madigan Johnson €2,175 and Clement Mace €1,980.

The dispute started last November when the businessman sought a rent increase beyond the 4 per cent permitted in a designated rent pressure zone. The tenants, who are all in their 20s and from France, Germany, the US and Brazil, refused to pay the increased rent.

Electricity

Mr Howard then changed the locks and cut off electricity to the apartment, after which several tenants lodged disputes with the RTB.

In January, Mr Howard and several other men entered the apartment, removing the tenants from the property and causing damage to the front door.

The landlord has a history of rulings against him, over issues with unlawfully ending tenancies and not returning deposits.

In May 2017 the tenancies board ordered he pay three tenants in another apartment on Mountjoy Square more than €7,600.

The landlord was ordered to pay Bruno Clement €3,260 over unlawfully terminating the tenancy and unjustifiably keeping a security deposit of €600 from him. Two other tenants in the same apartment were to receive €4,434 over the unlawful termination of the tenancy, RTB rulings show.

Mr Howard could not be contacted for comment at the time of publication.