Termination Letter from landlord with multiple properties

Dav010 wrote: »

Giving an invalid notice is not a criminal offence, and you said making a false statutory declaration carries a €3000 fine if convicted on each count, it doesn’t.

Again, acting on an invalid notice by evicting someone is a offence, giving invalid notice isn’t. The only notice the LL is acting on is the notice relating to needing for a family member.

The €3000 fee is a laugh, like €500K penalty fee to Facebook for selling our personal details to advertisers. Thats why people are not afraid to break the law. If it's £50 then I have no words.

The guy who got the "daughter needs the apt" letter earlier this year, has moved out while the daughter is abroad. The apt is occupied by some girl (foreign national), not the daughter. I got the very same letter. Is that not convincing enough that LL illegally acts on an invalid notice?
Ok, tell me what in your opinion would it be to act on the invalid notice, if not the above situation where one guy lost a place already and another has one leg out.

To Everyone who contributed to this thread - Big Thanks. I read all comments carefully and took all your advice on board especially about the specific legislation parts to support my case. As I have no legal background, your input and support was invaluable.

I can now share with you that I just won the RTB case - the notice of termination is invalid and I was awarded €5000 in compensation. I never asked for any money but just to be allowed to live in my apt. in peace. I would gladly exchange the money to get the 10 months lost of my life back. He may appeal and if so, you will read about this case in details on the RTB website in a few months.

Tenants and Landlords - please be fair and respect each other's rights.

Thanks to All again.

Salary Negotiator wrote: »

Are you still living there?

Yes, I do. Hopefully in peace for a few more years.

davindub wrote: »

Well done Op! Would you mind detailing what the award was for specifically?

Thanks!

Here is the exact text:
"The Respondent Landlord shall pay the total sum of €5000 to the Applicant Tenant within 21 days of the date of issue of the Determination Order, being damages of €5000 for the consequences of unlawful terminating the Applicant Tenant's tenancy of the above dwelling".

At the hearing the landlord stated that his buildings are not protected structures and that he can do any refurbishments he wants at any time and to any extent. I proved that they all are protected structures and he needs to apply for permission if he wants to substantially refurbish them. The adjudicator was really annoyed that the landlord stated such a bold lie and everything he said later was pretty much overshadowed by this lie. He withdrew the lie later by saying that he misunderstood the question but i think it was too late already. I also proved by showing the Daft adverts that while he handed me the notice quoting the need of my apt for the kid, he advertised 4 apts on Daft. He told adjudicator that the kid saw my apt, loved my apt and wanted only my apt, not the other available 4. The adjudicator pointed out on the "genuine need" versus "desire". This probably won my case.
There are a few other areas that the adjudicator pointed on in the determination order that, if believed the landlord's version of events, they do not make sense and he pretty much lost the case thanks to himself, I didn't actually do much. In fact, I was quite annoyed myself that I got just a few minutes to "freely" tell my story and then the landlord's lawyers took me in their hands trying to trip me over with their questions. In the report the adjudicator wrote about all the issues at length. I think I got awarded because of the two things - one, that it was 10 long months of my landlord's relentless efforts in getting me out using any excuse in the book. I started selling my furniture in December and got €15 for a cabinet that I paid €120 a year before. I applied for a few Daft adverts but got zero replies, was stressed out and this case affected me quite badly. It took a toll on me especially that the lawyers were sending me threatening letter about me not trying to speak to other tenants or they will sue me, seek injunctions, destroy financially and put me to jail. That letter was awful and the adjudicator was not impressed with it. The second reason why I think got awarded the money was because the adjudicator caught him on lying. He changed the story a few times within just a few minutes and the adjudicator asked him about it. He got all red, stammered, he said he has a hearing problem, even his barrister couldnt save him.

I think the money was a form of a severe punishment for the landlord's actions and possible a warning for him not to do it again. If appealed the amount will probably be dropped to maybe €1000 but he will have to pay to his lawyers, barristers, etc. and all the details would be on a public display. I am not sure if he wants to go that route.

The best accidental thing I did was to upload all my evidence to the RTB website on the last allowable day. I didnt do it purposely, I was trying to put everything in order, put a timeline together associated with each attachment and dropped everything to my dispute file at once.
What happened then was that it gave very little time to the landlord's team to process everything and come up with some reasonable excuse to the mounting evidence. They uploaded all their docs also on the last allowable day (5 days before the hearing) but their evidence and submissions were not based on my evidence. They wrote in their statements something like "as we see, there is zero evidence from a tenant to support his claims", etc. They simply didnt see my evidence before they submitted theirs. Then they got not a nice surprise and had to prepare for the case from scratch reviewing each of 30 separate files I uploaded.

I am happy it's "half" over. Hope they wont appeal and we all can move on with our lives.