An invalid termination notice was served two years ago by the brothers associated with the Irish Starbucks franchise on tenants of a Dublin property who have not been paying their rent, a Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal has decided.
Colum Butler (62), of Clonskeagh, Dublin 14, and Ciarán Butler (57), of Foxrock, Dublin 18, are the directors of Villa Emo Unlimited Company, which owned the property on Old Bray Road, Cabinteely, Dublin 18, when the notice of termination was served in April 2022.
A statutory declaration that accompanied the termination was invalid as it was sworn by Ciarán Butler as the owner and did not mention the company, the tribunal decided.
The Butler brothers, as well as being associated with Starbucks and several restaurant franchises in Ireland, are also involved in property investment and the leisure sector. They bought a 37sq ft kiosk at a junction in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, for €330,000, or €8,918 per square foot, in 2017.
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Landlord representative Karl Butler told the tribunal the owner of the Old Bray Road property had four properties on the road, three of which had been sold, and wanted to sell the one that was the subject of the tribunal.
He said the tenants had been overholding for two years, were using the legal process to prolong vacating the building and were “abusing the process”, the tribunal report states.
In response to questions from the tribunal, Karl Butler confirmed that rent payments had been paid into a bank account in the names of Ciarán Butler and Colum Butler, who he said managed funds for the owner of the dwelling, according to the report.
Mr Butler said the landlord had been engaged in the termination process for 2½ years and “a technicality” had been raised which makes the system “very frustrating”. The tenants, he said, had not made any effort to leave and refused to engage.
The tenants — Cayisha Graham, Gerard O’Neill, Edward Ó Rourke, and Haile Le Marie — did not attend the hearing. The tenancy started in August 2021 and the tenants were paying €1,400 a month in rent, the tribunal was told.
As well as deciding that the termination notice was invalid, the tribunal also decided that the tenants should pay six months’ rent arrears, or €8,400.
In the period between the issuing of the termination notice and the hearing, the ownership of the property had changed and it was now owned by Sepray Unlimited Company, the tribunal heard. The Butler brothers are the directors of Sepray and Villa Emo and the Irish companies are ultimately owned by a company in the Isle of Man, company records show.
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