A landlord who illegally evicted tenants in Co Cavan after claiming he was selling the property has been ordered to pay €7,000 in damages.
It followed the landlord letting the house afterwards to new tenants for a much higher rent.
The young family were renting the Co Cavan property for more than three years, when the owner verbally informed them in November of 2021 of his intention to sell the residence. No official termination was ever served on the evicted family, and they were never offered the house to rent again after the landlord decided not to sell.
A representative of the landlord told the Residential Tenancies Board it was decided in April 2022 that a sale would have proved too difficult due to right of way matters.
The family that had occupied the house could not find alternative accommodation in Cavan and ended up moving to Mullingar which is 62km away. The rent for their new house in Westmeath was €1,600 a month more than double the €750 that they had been paying in Cavan. Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show earlier today, Amy Molloy from the Irish Independent said it was believed the property was rented two weeks later for a much higher rent.
