A WEST Cork landlord has been ordered to pay a further €20,000 to tenants who were illegally evicted, bringing the total now owed to the former tenants to €38,500.
The order made by Judge Treasa Kelly, at a recent sitting of Skibbereen District Court, was the enforcement of what the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) calls ‘a determination order’.
The tenants in the case, Gabriela Lake and her daughter McKenzie, were awarded compensation for financial loss, stress and inconvenience after their eviction from his house at Carrigillihy in Union Hall.
It was the second such order made against the landlord, Colin O’Sullivan (46) of Carrigillihy, Union Hall at Skibbereen District Court.
The first determination order, which was made in March 2023, specified that he should pay his former tenants €18,500.
That was for damages for the unlawful termination of their tenancy, the unjustifiable retention of their security deposit, the cost of kennelling dogs, and the value of their cars, one of which had been buried on his land.
The landlord appealed the first order to the Skibbereen Circuit Court, but Judge Helen Boyle ruled that Colin O’Sullivan was to abide by the RTB order.
The second order for €20,000, which was initially made in January 2024, was called at the local court at the end of February.
At that court, Judge John King gave the accused a short adjournment to the March sitting so he could supply a replying affidavit and secure legal representation.
However, the landlord did not appear at the recent court – the court clerk having informed Judge Kelly that she had received a message from him saying a relative had been injured and he had to take him to hospital.
The solicitor acting for the tenants, Michelle Nunan, said the landlord had been instructed to make an initial payment of €5,000, followed by the €15,000 but nothing was ever paid.
The solicitor also said that Colin O’Sullivan had the option of appealing the January 2024 order to a tribunal, but he withdrew the appeal.
In the meantime, she said three warning letters had been issued to the respondent but he has failed to comply with the order.
The amount now owed by the landlord to his former tenants is €38,500.
