A doctor has lost his High Court appeal against an award of €7,500 damages to a couple who alleged he unlawfully evicted them two years ago from a house beside his surgery in Co Kildare.
Dr Abdallah Alsaleh continues to engage “in a proverbial game of ‘cat and mouse’” in an effort to avoid being found in breach of landlord obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan said.
Sharon McDonnell and Wayne Frarey had claimed before a Residential Tenancies Board tribunal that the house, their first home together, was rented to them from July 2022 by Dr Alsaleh but they were locked out after about 15 months and another man was moved in.
Dr Alsaleh disputed he was their landlord and claimed his wife owned the house and they were “squatters”. He appealed to the High Court after the tribunal held in their favour in August 2024 and awarded them €7,500 damages.
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In her judgment, Ms Justice Phelan said Dr Alsaleh’s appeal centred on his claim the tribunal wrongly relied on the definition of “landlord” in the 2004 Act when deciding it had jurisdiction to hear the dispute.
The tribunal found an oral tenancy agreement was entered into and rent was paid by the couple. It disagreed it could not have jurisdiction without establishing Dr Alsaleh owned the property.
The judge said the appeal was really based on a complaint about the tribunal’s assessment of the evidence before it and about its finding, on the balance of probabilities, that evidence supported the existence of a tenancy.
The court may not interfere with the tribunal’s findings of facts unless there is no evidence to support them and there was “copious” evidence to enable the tribunal to draw its conclusions, she said.
That included Ms McDonnell’s evidence that she first met Dr Alsaleh when she attended the surgery with her partner, a patient of his. She said a conversation arose about accommodation and he told them he had a house to let.
Her evidence was that they paid €2,600 for the first month’s rent and a deposit before moving into the house in July 2022, after which they paid rent in cash, initially to the then practice manager who put it in a safe. Other evidence included a note from the manager confirming she saw Ms McDonnell deliver several monthly rental payments at the practice. There were also text messages from Dr Alsaleh, including about arrangements for rent payments, she said.
Ms McDonnell’s evidence was that she began working in the surgery in October 2022 and her relationship with Dr Alsaleh deteriorated after she gave notice in August 2023 she was leaving. The circumstances of her decision to leave that work is the subject of a complaint under another process, the judge noted.
In his evidence, Mr Frarey repeatedly acknowledged he foolishly never insisted on a signed lease agreement or rent receipts. They were delighted to get the house and had not anticipated this turn of events, he said.
While Dr Alsalah gave evidence disputing the couple’s claims, it was for the tribunal to resolve any conflicts of fact, and it preferred the couple’s evidence, the judge said.
There was “ample evidence” for the tribunal’s finding it had jurisdiction based on existence of a tenancy agreement.
Dr Alsaleh’s evidence did not establish he was not a landlord on the basis of acting as an agent for another person, she said. He had not adduced proof of ownership and had confirmed in evidence he had since sold the dwelling, despite his earlier claim it was owned by his wife.
The tribunal correctly held proof of ownership is irrelevant to exercise of its jurisdiction under the Act when it is satisfied a tenancy existed, the judge said. The definition of landlord is not dependent on ownership but whether the person involved in the dispute was entitled to receive rent.
