A solicitor must pay his landlord €10,000 of €20,706 rent arrears within a week as a condition to secure a rehearing of his appeal over an attempt to evict him from a rented Temple Bar apartment.
Geoffrey Curran gave a sworn undertaking before Dublin District Court to pay the €10,000 owed in relation to the three-bed property, at Blind Quay Apartments, Exchange Street Lower, Dublin 8, within seven days.
He also undertook to make monthly payments of €4,350 to the landlord, comprising €3,350 rent and €1,000 towards arrears, until they are cleared.
Judge Monika Leech required the undertakings as a condition of granting Curran’s application, made by solicitor Susan Martin, for a rehearing of his appeal before a Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal.
READ MORE
The court heard Curran was “seriously medically unwell” at the time of the appeal on December 5th last, which proceeded in his absence. He had sought an adjournment some days earlier on medical and other grounds, including the existence of separate Circuit Court proceedings.
In sworn statements before the court on Friday, Curran said he believed he was granted an adjournment by the RTB and it was only when he received the tribunal’s determination in February that he realised the hearing had proceeded. He alleged this was in breach of his rights.
The application for a rehearing was opposed by barrister Chris Oonan, instructed by Robert Coonan Solicitors, for Robert, David and John Paul Ranson, with addresses in Clontarf, Dublin.
As representatives of their late father’s estate, the Ransons claim, under an April 1998 lease with Temple Bar Properties Ltd, the deceased was leased the apartment at Blind Quay for 500 years. Under a residential sublease, the apartment was sublet in 2020 to Curran.
On Friday, their lawyers sought enforcement of the tribunal’s decision rejecting Curran’s appeal and requiring him to vacate the apartment and pay rent arrears.
The tribunal upheld a determination by a RTB adjudicator, who last July who deemed a notice of termination issued early last year was valid. The notice was served over Curran’s alleged breach of contract, the erection of an unauthorised structure, a steel shed, on a balcony. The shed is still there and Curran had not paid rent since late November, the court heard.
In her ruling, the judge said she had to decide whether there were “good and substantial reasons”, as required under section 125 of the Residential Tenancies Act, for Curran not attending December’s appeal hearing.
While Curran had said he understood the appeal would be adjourned, it did not seem, from exhibited emails, that the tribunal “had any intention” of adjourning, she said.
Curran is a qualified solicitor “who knows the standards by which he is obliged to operate”, the judge said. His evidence lacked credibility, his attitude “left a lot to be desired” and he “had his head in the sand”.
She added that it seemed Curran’s employer had referred him in December for a medical assessment. He was not legally represented in December and if he had had expert legal advice then, “might not be in this position now”.
After receiving the tribunal’s determination, he got legal advice and it seemed he was “well advised”, the judge said. His solicitor advanced medical issues as being good and substantial reasons for an adjournment of December’s hearing.
While “not impressed” with Curran’s affidavits, the judge said she was “most concerned” about the contents of a medical report obtained on December 4th last, the contents of which she would not set out as they related to personal matters.
On foot of the medical issues, the judge granted a rehearing of the appeal on the condition that Curran undertook to make specified payments to the landlord, personal representatives of an estate who were awaiting a decision for some time and were at “a lot of financial loss”.
The separate Circuit Court proceedings, due back before that court next month, involve claims Curran operated the apartment as an Airbnb in breach of his lease. He said he had not at any time operated a business from the property and had “from time to time taken paying licensees or guests”.
After he reported issues to Dublin City Council under the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, it found regulations had been contravened. A report directed structural repairs and that mould and water damage in areas of the apartment be addressed.
