RTB Order - need lawyer to enforce?

landlordreally

Hi,

I have a tenant who is not paying rent, is around 9k in arrears and won't leave. Got an order from RTB in November ordering tenant to vacate and pay arrears. Now looking to enforce this ASAP as it seems like nothing short of court order will cause tenant to move out.

Have enquired with a solicitor and they were making the point that since I was out so much money (and unlikely to see it again), I might want to consider enforcing it myself. Made me think twice! Having got other quotes it was looking like 2k in legal fees to enforce it. (and would still need to pay county sheriff later in all probability)

My question is whether any non-lawyer out there has had successful experience enforcing via Circuit Court themselves. There is a detailed guide on RTB website with templates for documents needed, but the last thing I want is to mess it up and cause further delay ...

also as I don't live in same area as rented property, how many trips would be needed to the court building/offices?

PS wasn't considering asking RTB to enforce since it will cause further delay and as I have savings, they may well say I can afford to do it myself.

direstraits

9K in arrears>? wow that is just taking the piss big time, I hope you get it resolved ASAP.

Askthe EA

landlordreally wrote: »

Hi,

I have a tenant who is not paying rent, is around 9k in arrears and won't leave. Got an order from RTB in November ordering tenant to vacate and pay arrears. Now looking to enforce this ASAP as it seems like nothing short of court order will cause tenant to move out.

Have enquired with a solicitor and they were making the point that since I was out so much money (and unlikely to see it again), I might want to consider enforcing it myself. Made me think twice! Having got other quotes it was looking like 2k in legal fees to enforce it. (and would still need to pay county sheriff later in all probability)

My question is whether any non-lawyer out there has had successful experience enforcing via Circuit Court themselves. There is a detailed guide on RTB website with templates for documents needed, but the last thing I want is to mess it up and cause further delay ...

also as I don't live in same area as rented property, how many trips would be needed to the court building/offices?

PS wasn't considering asking RTB to enforce since it will cause further delay and as I have savings, they may well say I can afford to do it myself.

Do you not HAVE to go to the RTB for an enforcement order?

GGTrek

Askthe EA wrote: »

Do you not HAVE to go to the RTB for an enforcement order?

The OP has no time to loose. I did send the OP a PM with practical information and pointers. In any case I suggest you to read the following: https://www.rtb.ie/dispute-resolution/enforcement-of-orders/rtb-enforcement-policy
And this very clear statement: "The Board may pursue court proceedings where parties fail to comply with its Order. Decisions on whether or not to pursue legal enforcement are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the Board’s own limited resources, the cost of taking legal proceedings and the likely success of achieving a favourable outcome for the requester."

What the OP was asking for is performing the enforcement order at the Circuit Court without waiting for RTB (which may add further months of delay) and as litigant in person following the RTB guidelines: https://www.rtb.ie/docs/default-source/de---dispute-enforcement/circuitcourtenforcement-2016.pdf?sfvrsn=2

I have an insurance that covers the solicitor/barrister legal fess for evictions up to a limit of 5k (I pay the first 500 eur). The cost in legal fees is between 1.5-2k (I did get a couple of quotes once, but I never needed to enforce it at Circuit court and with my insurance I would just hand over the legal fees issue to the insurance, since I have this cost insured). By being a litigant in person the OP would save the 1.5-2k of legal fees (which could be recovered if the tenant was still solvent:which means a working tenant, that is why social welfare tenants are at high risk of overholding and non-paying rent). The relevant RTA Section is Section 124: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2004/act/27/section/124/enacted/en/html
Notice how the RTA still gives plenty of procedural guarantees to the respondent after he/she has already lost at least one, but possibly two adjudication hearings. This is probably the most pressing issue to remove from the RTA: removing these automatic rights to try to re-hear the case at every stage, remove the Circuit court from the process and make the adjudication orders immediately enforceable at the sheriff office, make tenant pay serious upfront money to challenge a case at High Court (equivalent to the non paid rent, this would cleanup the players big time!). In some US states for non paying tenants the law is brutal: either the tenant comes up with the rent money or he cannot even lodge a defense at the first hearing court! The forced eviction happens 40-45 days after the first delay in rent of just 5 days and then their name goes into a big reference database of non-paying tenants and they are out of the market for good.

The OP, even as a litigant in person, will have to pay a bit less than 200 eur for all the Circuit court fees and paperwork (affidavits, stamp duties, ...) and then a few hundred euros for the sheriff fees to perform the eviction. In any case if he goes down this route, even if successful the OP is looking at another few thousand euros lost + around 1k of fees paid. If the tenant is a social welfare tenant the OP will never see this money again. If the OP has a mortgage to pay then this might well force the OP into arrears and force him to sell at a further loss.

Who caused of all this cra..y situation for non paying tenants: of course your very own Irish govvie and TDs who drafted such a tenants charter law called the RTA, they are just little clowns who wash their hands of their responsibilities (since an evicted tenant becomes then the responsibility of the Councils!). Instead nowadays we get communist clowns like Peter Mc Verry Trust saying that all evictions must be stopped:
http://www.thejournal.ie/national-day-of-protest-homelessness-3745793-Dec2017/

Askthe EA

Thats really interesting. One would think theres a practice for a legal eagle in this sector alone. If anyone wants to see the real picture of the tenant situation now, go have a look at the RTB determination orders.

GGTrek

Askthe EA wrote: »

Thats really interesting.  One would think theres a practice for a legal eagle in this sector alone.  If anyone wants to see the real picture of the tenant situation now, go have a look at the RTB determination orders.

As I said, the legal fees risk can be easily covered with a good landlord insurance so I am not sure if there is such a market for it. The issue is the additional months of rent lost waiting for the Circuit Court and Sheriff to perform their duties after waiting for the RTB first adjudication and then possibly Tribunal appeal (only 10-15% of cases). Again appeal at tribunal for non-paying or anti-social tenant who has already lost the first adjudication should be made real difficult: for example if you want to appeal you pay a security deposit of X% of the rent due established at the first hearing or X% of the damages decided at first hearing, if you don't you walk! It is very easy to make effective/efficient laws if the lawmakers want it.

I know very well that the vast majority of RTB adjudications nowadays are about overholding, rent arrears and termination notices. Shame the socialist Irish media forgets to mention this and they make big scandals about very few isolated cases of very bad landlords: the data just does not support this view, in reality it is the exact opposite of what the media political agenda shows!

On a good note, as The Conductor was saying: overholding cases are now prioritized at the RTB, in November I had a case scheduled in just three weeks for an overholding tenant from application to hearing (tenant tried her luck and when she saw that I was dead serious in kicking her out and asking for damages for the cr..p she did, she left after just a week from receiving a phone call from the RTB dispute office, they actually call the tenant). There was a poster tenant in a previous thread that was closed that was thinking of playing the system on suggestion of the other communist organization called Threshold and also using the socialist media on suggestion of Threshold, believing that it would take more than one year to kick her out: this is not going to happen now (probably looking at max 6-8 months which is still a very long time). With the first hearing waiting time going down from three months to three weeks, it is only the appeal/Circuit court process that is really causing delays now and a working tenant has everything to loose financially if he/she does not move out when told to by RTB determination order. The issue remains with social welfare tenants, but then govvie in its hypocrisy complains that private landlords shun this type of tenants.

Arklow10

Great advice GGtek